I can understand why you are annoyed. I would be too.
Compare your experience to an experience I had flying into Le Touquet a number of years ago. I landed just 1 minute before the end of ATC time. Just after landing I was given taxi clearance and told my parking space and told that upon reaching I could shut down and leave the frequency and “Goodnight”. As I reached the parking area the door at the bottom of the ATC tower opened and the (presumably ATC) jumped on his motor bike and ride off.
While I didn’t expect to be locked airside or chucked out, we were concerned that we could be locked airside so one of us when inside to ask when they would lock up and if the did, was there a way we could exit ourselves. The response was “I’ll lock up when you are out. There is no rush. Take your time.”
We did make a deliberate effort to hurry up and get ourselves out as quickly as we could. About 10 minutes after ATC closing time we had the aircraft shut down, covered up and our overnight gear taken out. As we exited the terminal and said good night, the guy asked where we were staying, and very kindly gave us a lift to the door of our hotel.
No extra charge of course.
€100 for being airside for 15 minutes after the last landing was permitted is a bit much. Obviously there is no way to land at closing time and be landside the same minute.
The extra charge, that Portoroz (LJPZ) put on the invoice, was 100€.
Since it has been confirmed as correct by management, no reason not to mention them.
So, just plan to land there way early: a go-around, weather, anything making you leave the airport after 20:00 in summer (or the equivalent in winter), even when you landed well within the opening hours, may mean you pay extra.
How much was the extra charge?
Well – since the airport does apparently intend to sit it out… it is Portoroz. Feel free to check the docs on their website.
AFAIK i have provided the whole story, because I wanted to understand the situation – not blaming anyone.
(Flying since 2014, I consider myself an advanced beginner, only)
ch.ess wrote:
where do you read that I expected services ?
I assumed so based on what you wrote. I just feel we don’t know the full story. What exactly does the airport regs say for instance? What is it that closes at 20:00 ?
The OP did not and does not expect any service after landing ;-)
We had our bikes and a bag each and were happy to walk to the building (<100m), but werent allowed to.
We only wanted to bike to town and would not have needed anything – where do you read that I expected services ?
Airborne_Again wrote:
It is not unreasonable to expect the “service” of being able to leave the airport after landing, when you have landed during published hours. It is also not unreasonable to expect that you don’t have to pay for being able to leave the airport.
I agree. But it’s also not unreasonable to pay for service when this service is done outside operational hours is it?
It depends on what this is all about. If the regulations for the airport specifically say that the airport closes the doors at 20:00, then there isn’t much to argue about IMO. If the ATS closes at 20:00, that’s a different thing. If the owner of the restaurant say “The lights goes of and the door closes at 20:00” is very different than “no more orders after 20:00”
LeSving wrote:
The OP expect some kind of non-specific service outside operational without paying for it.
It is not unreasonable to expect the “service” of being able to leave the airport after landing, when you have landed during published hours. It is also not unreasonable to expect that you don’t have to pay for being able to leave the airport.
skydriller wrote:
I would also think that the published hours are when you can expect to fly in or out of the airport
It’s all in the details, or perhaps what is not written. A look at what kind of different operational hours Avinor is using:
Admin
Customs and immigration
MET Office
ATS
Fuel
Handling
Security
De-Icing
Rescue and fire fighting service
There is no mention of when the airport as such is open or closed. What matters is when those services are available. If ATS closes at 20:00, then as long as you land/take off within the second of 19:59:59 – 20:00:00, it’s within the opening hours. However, the Admin is since long gone. Customs and immigration are also gone (if they ever were there to begin with). MET office is closed and so on. Rescue and fire fighting is perhaps the only one that could still be around, but not necessarily so. Then, since ATS is remotely operated on several fields, not a single person would necessarily be at the airport. The airport could be empty of people, in principle, hours before 20:00.
To me it’s a bit odd that:
Looks to me like a situation that can go either way 
I totally understand where the OP is coming from with this. I would also think that the published hours are when you can expect to fly in or out of the airport, not when they lock the door or gate, especially a GA flight where you don’t need handling.
Regards, SD..
