Glasgow International Airport
Scotland, United Kingdom
A little bit of history - Originally named Abbotsinch then to HMS Sanderling during World War Two, it opened its doors to holidaymakers in 1966 being officially opened by Her Majesty The Queen who was ten minutes late…due to her flight being delayed - typical!
Getting there
Glasgow Airport is easy to access due to having direct motorway access making getting there by car exceptionally easy.
Train: Their isn't a train station at the airport, It's an 18 minute journey from Glasgow Central Station to the nearest station Paisley Gilmour Street costing around £5. From here you need to catch the McGill’s 757 bus service train runs 7 days a week and the train calls at London Liverpool Street, London Victoria and London Baker Street.
Taxi: Metered taxi's are available 24/7, the 15 minute journey to Glasgow centre should cost roughly £25.
Bus: Buses stop right outside the airport terminal - no chance of getting lost. The bus takes you to Buchanan Bus Station which is the main bus terminal in Glasgow and a hub for connecting services. The journey is around 25 minutes and buses come every 15 minutes and run 24/7.
Parking
The biggest favour you can do yourself is to prebook airport parking, turning up on the day you will pay full price!
Between May and September, the long-stay car park is £23.50 a day reducing to £21.50 between October and April. Due to lack of planning on the other half side, we paid just under £65 for Friday morning to Sunday afternoon.
Top tip - take a photo of the area, colour, location or bus stop number, when you return all jet-lagged and tired you'll be able to find your car without dragging kids around aimlessly! Even better Google Maps have also designed a genius solution, open Google Maps, press the dot showing your current location, and press 'Save your parking'. You can also save notes, save photos, enter times and share the location with others. To find this spot later click into the search bar and it's there at the top of the list!
Amenities
Wi-Fi - use it wisely, you can enjoy 1 hour of free Wi-Fi before paying, the current rates are 3 hours £5, 24 hours £9! SSID: Glasgow Airport.
Whilst we only had a few minutes to wait after the kids desperate for a toilet trip, we took a marching tour through one of the airport lounges, food and drinks costs are reasonably cheap but if you dine high-class restaurants in The Lomond Lounge or the UpperDeck Lounge expect to pay more. If food is your concern you can download their food app, yes pre-order takeaway, pay and they’ll keep you updated, you can even get 20% off your first order use code GLA20.
Alternatively, there are other retail stores such as boots and a number of high street stores to keep you entertained while you wait for your flight.
Good to know
Glasgow International Airport is not as busy as it once was, the declining numbers work in our favour making it a fairly quiet airport which makes getting around, through check out and customs much quicker. Even though I was sure I’d thoroughly checked my bag was pulled aside, therefore I was the one to hold us up by 5 minutes while customs rummage through my bag to find half a fruit shoot, thankfully I was excused quickly with my tail between my legs and head hanging with embarrassment – I blame the kids!
If you’re one of the lucky passengers who sit in the right chair you might be blessed with a USB charging port, I think my phone achieved 1% by the time I had located my cable and the announcement for our flight came across the tannoy 2 minutes later. Travelling with a bear? The cuddly bear that is, asks for a ‘Take Care of my Bear’ tag at check-in, fill in the owner details to avoid distressed children later!
Travelling with children? I insisted we spent a few precious memories pocking the kid's heads through the ‘head in the hole’ artworks by Steven Brown located along the route to the shops.
Not to put a damper on Glasgow International Airport because I defiantly rate it but they were the target of a terrorist attack back in 2007, this was no doubt was a shock, Scotland has never seen an attack like this before, thankfully a concrete pillar stopped the vehicle from entering the building. The silver lining being the airport put more safety measures in place to prevent this from happening again.
