Parking @ DTW
 

Honestly, I don’t know where to post this, so if this is the wrong place, I’m sorry.

Where do people park for flights @ DTW?

Most of the people I know park either at short term or the big blue deck, because it’s business travel so it gets reimbursed anyways.

I’m going to by flying for leisure in the end of December, and I will need parking for what ends up being 6 days. I can get AAA/AARP discounts or whatever.

Last year I went to Florida and parked for like 8 days @ a place called “Park N Jet”, and it was like 4.50 or 4.75 a day after the AAA/AARP discount.

When I called them again a few days ago, I found out they changed their name to “connect park” and now charge like $7.50/day or something like that.

Does anyone know about other cheap places around there to park at?

If it Matters, I’ll be traveling out of the McNamara terminal, and will need a shuttle.

Allright, Thanks!

I'm a big fan of Qwikpark. They send out 1 day and 2 day free coupons, with the rest of your time at $7.50/day. Sorry this doesn't help you with a long stay. Plus, their coupons are always available for printing at qwikpark.com. Just used a 2 day coupon for a 3 day stay and paid $7.50. Have used 2 day coupons before and owed nothing.

I always use friends or family for long trips, because I don't want to pay to park my car. And I tell them I'll repay the favor.

Another fan of Qwik Park. I've even been parking there for business travel lately because the McNamara deck is full so often - and it really sucks to drive down there and find that out and then have to go find other parking... and the airport shuttles from the other lots don't run very frequently and drive around to three different lots. Even if you don't have the coupons for Qwik Park, the AAA discount is good. Their shuttles run constantly - sometimes there are two or three at a time in the pick-up area.
All of the off-airport lots have gotten more expensive because of the surcharge they have to pay every time one of their vans enters the airport pickup/dropoff area.

I've been using US Park on Middlebelt for several years -- but just learned that Quik Park, Airlines Parking and US Park are all owned by the same people.

I prefer not to park on airport property because it's hard to tell where the open spaces are and once I'm parked it's a *long* walk to anywhere....

At US Park they tell you what row to go to and within about 5 minutes you'll be picked up by their van. Assuming you don't have to check luggage, I would allow 30 minutes from the gate to the parking lot to the *other* side of security. I'd add another 15 minutes if I have to check bags. You might pick up a few minutes by parking on site, but that doesn't include the time to find a parking space.

All of the off side lots let you off in the lower part of the deck and there's a trick on the way home ... turn to the right and you get a down escalator. Typically, including a rest room stop on the way home I can make it from the gate to my car within about 20-30 minutes (maybe less) of when the plane gets to the gate and they open the door. Add a bit of time if your the last one off, have checked luggage, add some more if they lose it.

On the outbound leg, if you have to check bags, turn to the left at the top of the first escalator and NW has a nice check in area.

The only thing I don't like about parking off airport is having to scrap snow off my car... but we're already doing a lot of that because it's part of living up here.

Hope this helps a bit.

Bob H

Thanks for the suggestions everyone...

I think I recieved a QwikPark coupon in the mail this week, so I'm pretty sure that's where I'll be going.. Although the $6/day at the Big Blue Deck is tempting.

LOL, US Park and QwikPark are owned by the same company? So much for competition.

This looks as good a place as any to ask this. We are flying out of DTW on NW this Friday. Depending on traffic and weather, we should arrive in the aiport area around noon for a 315pm flight (we have a couple hour drive, and a border crossing to do, so we are leaving hopefully early enough LOL).

We have 4 adults with luggage. My plan was to park at the big blue deck, assuming they have any $6 spots left, and take the shuttle over to McNamara. Would it be better to drop 3 off with all the luggage at the terminal, then I go park and take the shuttle back, or better for all of us to go to the parking and shuttle over to McNamara together? I plan to check-in online before leaving here, but I don't know the procedure for luggage check in at the terminal. Does curbside really mean curbside, or will we have to carry to somewhere else if we aren't parking at the McNamara deck? The diagram on the airport website indicates luggage check-in on level 6 of the parking deck, but I don't know where this relates to if I was driving up, dropping off, and leaving to go back to the big blue deck.

I'd really encourage you to follow the advice above and use Qwik Park or US Park. (Assuming you're coming from the border, US Park on Middlebelt would be slightly closer). I parked at the Big Blue Deck about two months ago, after I tried to park at McNamara and it was full. I ended up waiting at least fifteen minutes for a shuttle to pick me up, and then had to travel all around the lot before heading to the terminal. On the way back, we had to visit two other parking lots before I got dropped off. It really was a pain. As of the last time I got dropped off for a flight (maybe six months ago) curbside was curbside. The parking lot check-in is separate - it's where you'll end up being dropped off when you take the van in from whatever parking you choose. Here's a link to a recent article from the Detroit Free Press that details all of the parking options:
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/a...ES07/511130304

If you click on the links for USPark or Qwik Park, you can print out a coupon.

Thanks for the advice. I also found an older thread on the NW board about problems parking at DTW, so I decided we will follow the suggestions here and there about parking off-site. The consensus seems to be it's quicker to park off-site and hop their shuttle rather than park in the nether regions of the blue deck and walk back to where the shuttle is and wait.

Any issues getting the shuttle back to the lot on our return? It will be 830 on a Saturday night.

There shouldn't be any trouble at that time of the evening. Later in the night shuttles run less frequently though. You can always call for pickup when you get to baggage claim. The phone number is usually printed on the parking ticket.

I took several redeyes and really early flights the past several months. It may jinx me, but I NEVER had to wait for a Quikpark shuttle. Ever. 5AM from the terminal, one was waiting both times. 5:45 AM at Quikpark, shuttle was waiting when I parked. Quikpark does a huge business with people that work at the airport (security, food workers) who are coming and going at all hours. The worker I talked to paid $2.50 a day.

8:30 at night should be a total piece of cake.

Does anyone know if Quik Park takes expired coupons? I still have a few that expired 12/31, and it would be easier just to use those instead of printing a new one from the website.

They might, but why not just keep a few from the website in your car.

Bob H

Any latest ideas here for cheaper parking at DTW?

Best I can find presently is around $9/day for the offsite lots by using the various coupons, etc depending on length of park.

Personally I don't understand why parking costs so much at DTW when land is so plentiful and cheap in southeastern Michigan. Heck, I've been reading about people parking in the SF Bay Area for much less than DTW :confused:

Any ideas on how to reduce my parking expenses? I often park for 14 days a month. This is becoming frustrating in a city with no public transportation options at all like park-n-rides, decent bus service, etc.

I used to find some 2-for-1 type coupons but I don't think that would help you with a 14 day park. Why not book a park and stay with a hotel?

Park and stay actually does seem like a decent deal, but due to my work hours and the times I usually depart and arrive I would get little if no use from the hotel room. I work in the evening, so I usually end up going straight from work to the airport (via the gym for some exercise and a shower) for a 6-7am flight out. I'd get something like 4 hours in the room otherwise that I don't really need. Even after subtracting a modest value for the room this would still cost me around $8/day to park after the service fee and 11.5% hotel tax on the entire amount of hotel+parking is factored in.

I think I'll have to call a few of the lower end motels near the airport and see if they have any cash parking only deals to just stay in their lots.