Originally Posted by
TWA884
Just and FYI, I always have my parking reservation to enter in time as if I were to catch the earliest flight of the day and exit at 11:59 pm on my return date. If my return flight is due late at night, I'll make the reservation exit time the next day approximately an hour earlier than the reservation entry time (full days plus 23 hours).
You just answered a question that they don't address in the FAQ anywhere and I hadn't gotten around to asking: what if I show up late for my reservation? And how late can I show up without losing my reservation?
Once you're past 4-5 hours I think you can go all the way to 23:45 without getting a bump up in price.
Originally Posted by
CaliTravelbug
This makes a lot of sense. For some reason I had it in my head that I can get a better rate if I minimize the hours, but it obviously counts the number of days, not the hours.
It's ever weirder than that. Once you hit 5 days the total price (not price per day) stays constant until you hit 8 days, so when you're pricing it out, it pays to try adding even full days to your reservation to see if the price changes. Pricing is also dependent on how far out you book and I suspect how many bookings they already have for your days.
And to address your original question, I thought I read somewhere when they first started taking reservations that if you go more than 2 hours past your exit time they basically start it as a new entry at the drive-up rate. There shouldn't be any penalty other than paying the higher rate. If I can find it again I'll post a link. You should get a 2 hour grace period at the end of your reservation and I've used it to my advantage in the past. You also get one at the start - you can show up up to 2 hours before your booked entry time without paying extra.
ETA: found it on
this FAQ page in the "Parking Reservation FAQs" section and it's better than I thought, you get the same rate as your reservation:
- What if I overstay my reservation?
You will be charged your daily reservation rate for every day you overstay. Press the “Help” button upon exit for assistance.
And another edit: The
Terms and Conditions page gives information that's inconsistent with that, but it does codify the 2 hour grace period:
Extensions to the Reservation Period
Your reservation is not active until 2 hours before your reservation begins. You are not guaranteed a parking spot until the time you have reserved. If you arrive early, a parking spot may not be available.
If your vehicle stays in the parking facility more than 2 hours after the reservation ends, a new parking session will begin at the posted rates. This additional payment will be required to exit the facility. No refunds are provided for parking stays that are shorter than the reservation period.
So worst case they'll charge you the $30/day drive up rate, and you can probably argue that it should be your daily rate based on the FAQ, but they'll probably fix the FAQ after you do that.
Originally Posted by
azepine00
short term parking is a royal mess now - needed to meet someone at Bradley yesterday, took 3 loops as arrival parking entrances at 3, B, 4 and 5 were closed for short term entry (a couple were available for reservations) and then 10 min to snake up the ramps and 3 floors of P6 in a long line of cars in a similar situation followed by a hike to B.. wasted at least half hour... perhaps departures level is better or just park at economy and take a bus
The CTA parking has been a total mess for quite a while. Even if you have reservations, they're coned off and you have to show your reservation to a person who then scans you in. And you block the traffic lane while that's happening. Kinda defeats the purpose of having it all automated.
I've talked to a few people on the bus who did exactly what you suggested - park at the economy lot and take the bus to meet their people. If you're picking people up, it's probably preferable to wait off-airport in the cell lot and have them call you when they're headed to the curb, then just do one loop. Or even better, have them take a bus out to meet you.
If you're parking overnight or a couple days in the CTA, unless you have some overriding reason to do so (and I sometimes do), then you'll probably get in and out of the airport faster by parking in the Economy Lot and taking the bus, because the bus gets to use the LAWA reserved lanes closest to the terminals. It can easily take more than 20 minutes to get from B to the airport exit in the free-for-all lanes, or 40 minutes to get all the way through the U.