At the time of writing (September 2026), Edinburgh Airport charges £8.50 to use its pick-up and drop-off zone for up to 10 minutes, then £1 a minute. Glasgow Airport charges £7 for up to 15 minutes, then £1 a minute, and £50 once you pass 30 minutes. Both airports also have a free option in their Long Stay car parks.
Charges at a glance
| Airport | Option | Where | Charge | Getting to the terminal |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Edinburgh | Charged pick-up and drop-off | Ground floor of the multi-storey car park | £8.50 up to 10 minutes, then £1 a minute | Directly outside |
| Edinburgh | 1 Hour Parking | Terminal Parking, near the coach park | £10 up to 15 minutes, £19 up to 30 minutes, £26 up to 1 hour | About a 2-minute walk |
| Edinburgh | Free pick-up and drop-off | Long Stay car park | Free for 30 minutes, then £14 up to 1 hour | About a 10-minute walk, no shuttle bus |
| Glasgow | Express pick-up and drop-off | Terminal multi-storey, outside the terminal | £7 up to 15 minutes, then £1 a minute, £50 after 30 minutes | Directly outside |
| Glasgow | Terminal multi-storey | Across from the terminal | £15 up to 60 minutes | A short walk |
| Glasgow | Free pick-up and drop-off | Long Stay car park | Free for up to 1 hour, then £15 up to 2 hours | Free shuttle bus, usually under 5 minutes |
Both airports take payment by card only.
Edinburgh Airport
Edinburgh's charge went up by £2.50 to £8.50 on 18 May 2026, and the 50% discount for electric vehicles was removed. The charged zone is on the ground floor of the multi-storey car park and is barrier-controlled. You pay at a pay station or at the exit barrier by card, Apple Pay or Google Pay.
If you expect to be longer than 10 minutes, the airport points drivers to its 1 Hour Parking in Terminal Parking, which it says is more cost effective for longer stops. Up to 15 minutes there costs £10.
The free option is in the Long Stay car park, where the first 30 minutes cost nothing. The catch is distance: it is about a 10-minute walk to the terminal and there is no shuttle bus, which matters if you have heavy cases or young children. Stay beyond 30 minutes and the charge jumps to £14.
Vehicles carrying a passenger with a Blue Badge get an hour free in the airport's car parks. The driver presses the intercom at the exit barrier and gives the badge's 16-character code.
Glasgow Airport
Glasgow's express zone is in the terminal multi-storey, directly outside the building, and you pay at the exit barrier by card or contactless. It costs £7 for up to 15 minutes and £1 for each minute after that. Once you pass 30 minutes the charge becomes £50, so a delayed pick-up gets expensive quickly.
For anything longer than 15 minutes, the airport suggests the terminal multi-storey car park instead, at £15 for up to an hour.
The free choice is the Long Stay car park, where you can stay for up to an hour at no charge. You can wait there for your passenger or take the free shuttle bus to meet them. The airport says the ride usually takes under 5 minutes, and the shuttle runs 24 hours a day.
Blue Badge holders get 30 minutes free in the terminal multi-storey. The physical badge has to be scanned at the exit barrier, and it can only be used once in 24 hours.
Penalties and overstaying
Both charged zones sit behind barriers, so you pay before you leave rather than online afterwards. Neither airport's drop-off pages describe a separate penalty notice for these zones.
The real risk is overstaying. At Glasgow, staying 31 minutes costs £50. At Edinburgh, the £1-a-minute rate starts once you pass 10 minutes. Stick to the signed zones rather than stopping anywhere else on airport roads.
Lifts from friends and family versus a pre-booked transfer
When a friend or relative drives you from Stirling, the drop-off fee is only part of the cost. Edinburgh Airport is roughly a 60-mile round trip from Stirling and Glasgow Airport roughly 70 miles, before any charge.
Pick-ups are where charges add up. Flights land early or late, and passport control and baggage reclaim take time, so a 10- or 15-minute window is easy to miss. It is usually cheaper for the driver to wait in the free Long Stay area until the passenger has their bags. At Glasgow the passenger can then take the shuttle across; at Edinburgh they walk over.
Edinburgh Airport's taxi rank is run by a single company. The airport says other taxi operators can still access the airport using its charged or free pick-up and drop-off zones, so a car you have booked with another firm pays at the same barrier as everyone else if it uses the charged zone.
When you compare quotes, check whether any airport charge is included in the fare or added on top. Fixed fares for transfers from Stirling are listed on the My Airport Transfers prices page, with route details on the pages for transfers from Stirling to Edinburgh Airport and transfers from Stirling to Glasgow Airport.
Sources
- Edinburgh Airport: Drop off and pick up
- Edinburgh Airport: Drop off charge increases by £2.50
- Edinburgh Airport: Free drop off and pick up
- Edinburgh Airport: By car
- Edinburgh Airport: 1 Hour Parking
- Edinburgh Airport: By taxi
- Glasgow Airport: Pick up and drop off
- Glasgow Airport: Long Stay parking
- Glasgow Airport: Twilight Bag Drop
- Google Maps: driving routes from Stirling railway station, checked 15 September 2026