I frequently go to the airport to pick up my wife. A funny thing is that they never allow you to directly drive up to the arrivals area. You have to go through the parking lot, even though there is a direct road to arrivals.
Initially, you could enter the parking lot and go to arrivals without having to pay any parking charges since the first 15 mins were free. On one of my recent visits however I saw that they have changed that policy and if I need to take my car to arrivals I have to pay a minimum of Rs. 30!!!
Now that’s a pure rip-off! If my passenger is already waiting outside arrivals and I only have to drive up to pick them up why should I be paying at all??? I’ve not seen this happen at any other Indian or international airport. While I understand that GMR needs to recover its investment, I’m sure there are better ways of doing that rather than use dirty tricks.
Anyways, I doubt any amount of ranting is going to help, so here’s the trick to pick up your passenger without having to pay the stupid parking fees. Ask your passenger to come upstairs to the departure area. There is an elevator as well as escalators which the passengers can use. Driving up to the departure area is free. It might still be inconvenient for the passengers, esp. if they have lots of luggage, but atleast there’s an option.
