Boston Airport May Initiate Drop-Off, Pick-Up Fees

In most major U.S. cities, there is more than one way to get to the airport. Trains, buses, taxi cabs and sometimes even Uber offer convenient door-to-door airport service for varying prices. But one of the cheapest ways to make your next flight is to have a friend or family member drop you off at the departures terminal, a favor that can cost your loved one just a few minutes or hours of their time.

Unfortunately, Boston’s Logan International Airport may soon turn this once-free favor from a friend into yet another revenue stream for the airport and the Massachusetts Port Authority. The airport plans to initiate a fee for vehicles that visit the airport to drop off or pick up passengers.

BOS is not the first airport to enact such a fee: At Dallas/Forth Worth International Airport, drivers must pay $2 to spend eight–30 minutes dropping off departing travelers or waiting for arriving passengers. Elsewhere in the world, Glasgow Airport charges approximately $2.50 to drop off travelers, while London’s Heathrow Airport charges almost $5.

The new proposed tariff comes from a deal struck with the Conservation Law Foundation, which hopes that the fee will deter the nearly 20,000 daily vehicles from visiting the airport. Both parties plan to begin charging for drop-offs and pick-ups by July 2019.