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Southwest Airlines Community

Your airport & parking

jksobonya
Aviator A

Hi SWA folks,

 

Having recently flown, I am curious to know your parking habits when you fly. Do you park in your airport's parking garages, an economy lot, or an off-site lot? If you have someone drop you off/pick you up, consider yourself lucky 😉 

 

PHL (my home base) has 5 terminal garages with short and long term parking, and an economy lot. The economy lot is a huge surface lot divided into sections (A, B, C, etc.)  and shuttles pick you up at each section and drop you off at the terminals. If you park super close to the economy lot entrance, you could walk to the terminals if you wanted. 

 

I've always used the economy lot since it was cheaper than the garages - it is a flat rate of $13/day - but COVID has changed all of that. The economy lot at PHL is *still* closed, as of last weekend. There is no news on when it will reopen. They probably don't want the liability of using shuttles to take people to the airport terminals 24/7, but that's another discussion for another day. I always avoided parking in the terminal garages because they were expensive ($20/day pre-COVID) but now I don't have a choice. PHL gives you a break if you park in long term more than 72 hours and they give you a rate of $16/day, but if you park less than 72 hours it is a whopping $24/day. (Anything over 4 hours/day is considered a full day and they charge $16/$24.) Naturally, many of my trips are over weekends and I park less than 72 hours, and I end up paying a crazy $72. To park my car. 

 

All of that to say, I am wondering what your airport parking rates are and if they are anywhere close to mine. I could be wrong, but I am willing to bet that PHL has some of the highest parking rates in the country. 

 

--Jessica

18 REPLIES 18

Re: Your airport & parking

dfwskier
Aviator A

Jessica,  you win that bet.

 

Love Field is a lot cheaper

Cheapest city owned parking is a top floor of the LT garage: $7/day (uncovered)

I think it's $9 day in the old garage for LT covered parking (I've never used it),

I think it's $13/day in the old garage for ST covered parking (have never used it)

New garage covered parking $13/day (also have not used it)

All include taxes

 

I have used Parking Spot remote parking for years. I have enough points for something like 8 weeks of free parking. I park so much that I'm a Platinum parker.  Rates vary by demand, but are never more than $13/day plus tax for covered parking.

 

I'm parked in the uncovered lot right now: $5.50/day (cheaper if paid in advance).

Right now covered parking would have been $7.50 day (cheaper if paid in advance).

 

Plus tax for both.

 

Re: Your airport & parking

bwallet
Frequent Flyer A

Norman / Oklahoma City. I take a shuttle every Monday morning at a 5am. $47 including a tip. Uber/Lyft is too unreliable, even if you schedule in advance. I get the same driver pretty much every week. He is older and Pakistani. He used to live in Saudi Arabia, and I work for a (the) Saudi company. He and I usually discuss the Middle East. I get Lyft home at the end of the week for about $23.

Re: Your airport & parking

TheMiddleSeat
Aviator A

In snowy and hail prone Denver I only park in covered lots.  The airport's only covered lot is super convenient, no shuttle required, but it is $28/day.  Thankfully there are a number of private parking lots nearby with covered parking and frequent shuttle service.  My current place runs $13/day plus a couple of bucks for the shuttle driver.  There are numerous uncovered lots, both private and run by the airport with rates starting around $7/day and probably even less with coupons.  The airport's shuttle service to their economy uncovered lots is horrendous so private lots are pretty busy.

 

--TheMiddleSeat

Re: Your airport & parking

jksobonya
Aviator A

Dang, $28/day! 

 

I haven't tried any of the off-site / private parking lots-shuttles, although to be honest I haven't researched them much. Driving to a different location, even if it's only a mile away from the airport, and then taking *their* shuttle to/from seems like an unnecessary, extra step. It might be worth if if their rates were significantly cheaper, but I don't think they are. From what little I've seen the rates are on par with the economy lot, maybe a little more, which to me isn't worth it. I'd rather stay on site at the airport. 

 

--Jessica

Re: Your airport & parking

dfwskier
Aviator A

I just looked at PHL parking spot.

 

It's not much better 

 

$21 uncovered / $24 covered for stays of less than 5 days (cheaper if you pay in advance)

$18 uncovered and $20.25 covered for longer stays (cheaper if you pay in advance.)

 

I gotta believe there is something cheaper than that around there.

 

 

Re: Your airport & parking

jksobonya
Aviator A

Oh I should also add: on rare occasions when my flight times are perfect I can take the train to/from the airport. Parking in a SEPTA surface lot is just $1/day 😁 and Norristown has a bigger parking garage that is $3/day if you get your pass validated at a SEPTA station, $6/day if you don't. Actually, come to think of it I am not sure if the Norristown Transportation Center garage has opened back up yet. I don't think it has. The SEPTA surface lots have actually been free to use to encourage more people to ride again. I just checked and the free parking is good until December 2021! SEPTA train rates vary and that's a whole other topic of discussion, really, but suffice to say, taking the train is cheaper overall. Unfortunately SEPTA doesn't run the Regional Rail 24/7, and often my flights either leave too early or arrive too late, so it is rare that I can take the train. But if I could, I would, especially now because parking is free!

 

--Jessica 

Re: Your airport & parking

bec102896
Aviator A

In AUS i just take the city bus and its only $2.50RT and from my place its not too long of a ride. 

 

My dad and other family members use the parking spot about $5 a day plus taxes. If he's late he will park at the economy lot now that it has finally reopened $8 a day. During the covid closure the only options were Red and Blue garage at $20-$25 a day the garage was full most of the time and unreliable so the parking spot started getting extra business from my family. 

Re: Your airport & parking

Goforwand1
Adventurer B

In Nashville, here is the cost and pricing structure https://flynashville.com/park-at-bna

 

As my company reimburses up to $25 a day in parking expenses for travel, I will use the Terminal Garages which are less than a 5 minute walk to check in which is incredibly convenient!

 

Not 100% sure of the comparison to PHL but if the "best" parking is $44 at PHL vs. the "best"parking in at BNA at $24, then you definitely win that bet..heck valet at BNA is $33!

Re: Your airport & parking

jksobonya
Aviator A

@Goforwand1 wrote:

In Nashville, here is the cost and pricing structure https://flynashville.com/park-at-bna

 

As my company reimburses up to $25 a day in parking expenses for travel, I will use the Terminal Garages which are less than a 5 minute walk to check in which is incredibly convenient!

 

Not 100% sure of the comparison to PHL but if the "best" parking is $44 at PHL vs. the "best"parking in at BNA at $24, then you definitely win that bet..heck valet at BNA is $33!


Nice! Getting reimbursements for parking is a good perk. I'd park in the garages too, if I could get all of it reimbursed!

 

Well, $44/day is for short term parking. That's not really a part of the discussion since I would never use short term parking - and who would park 24 hours or more in short term?! The long term parking is $24/day (or $16/day if you park more than 72 hours), and that's what I've been paying since summer of last year. 

 

--Jessica