May 3, 2013, 1:32 pm
Last edit by: cptlflyer
Short term parking:
ParkSFO
Pros:
QuikPark
Pros:
Burlingame Airport Parking (ParkBAP)
Pros:
Anza
Pros:
BART
Pros:
SFO Long Term Parking and Lot D
** The shuttle buses look exactly the same! One says 'Lot D', the other says 'Long Term Parking' (likely no longer a concern? see below re: AirTrain)
SFO Long Term Parking
Pros:
Cons:
SFO Long Term Parking Lot D
Pros:
ParkSFO
Pros:
- Fast and regular shuttles
- Register for emails to receive monthly coupons
- Coupons for 1 free with 3+ days, 2 free with 5+ days, 3 free with 7+ days, and 4 free with 9+ days parked in a single stay.
- Coupons are blacked out during Thanksgiving, Xmas, and other peak periods
- www.parksfo.com/coupons/
- June 2013 Coupon
- Often full or forced to valet at higher rate
- Somewhat expensive now
- Reservations required or risk likely being turned away at entry
QuikPark
Pros:
- Online reservations
- Relatively cheap
- must prebook online for best rate and bring printout to give to attendant
- Slow shuttles
- Even with a reservation, sometimes fill up and hard to find a spot
(note: if you book on-line and the lot is full, they will find you a space-you will be stopped at the gate but all you have to do is show them your pre-paid receipt)
Burlingame Airport Parking (ParkBAP)
Pros:
- Consistently one of the cheapest, especially for weekly rates.
- Generally do not have to prebook to get the best rate.
- 3 shuttles an hour only, and a bit slower than average due to distance. Try to arrive at or before :00, :20, or :40 to allow a few minutes wait.
- September 2013: For pickups late, I feel the turnaround times are more consistent with 2x per hour for the shuttle. No posted change, however.
Anza
Pros:
- With Burlingame Airport Parking, the only parking South of airport (Other than BART)
- Shuttle frequency is good
- Valet is free (no extra charge) when they are near capacity
- Frequent parker program: Each 30 paid days yields a 5-consecutive-day park for free. Check in on facebook and receive credit for 1/2 paid day as well. (Note: This program has changed. It is now tied into the Fivestars card rather than a paper punch card.)
- When partially full, they require you use their free valet service, and this requirement varies from hour to hour. Be sure to have nothing valuable in your car!
- Need a printed coupon from their website to get the best rate
BART
Pros:
- Free over the weekend (except the cost of using BART to the airport) and holidays if you're only there for the free days (paid if you're there on weekdays and then stay over a weekend)
- Online reservations for weekday parking
- BART schedule is known well in advance
- Pretty much guaranteed a parking spot
- Hard to use if you're trying to park or pick up when BART is closed for the night
- Possibility of getting a ticket if you overstay your reservation
- Can wait up to 20 minutes for BART in off-peak hours, or have to go to San Bruno and back to Millbrae during peak hours (or take a taxi for about $12)
SFO Long Term Parking and Lot D
** The shuttle buses look exactly the same! One says 'Lot D', the other says 'Long Term Parking' (likely no longer a concern? see below re: AirTrain)
SFO Long Term Parking
Pros:
Regular shuttles (not the fastest, not the slowest)- AirTrain blue line now goes to Long Term Parking (no more bus shuttles) but makes quite a number of stops before reaching the domestic terminals
- Sometimes if the normal area and lot d fill up, you'll get a voucher to use the short-term parking at long-term rates
- Covered Parking in the garage - it gets full at peak times
Cons:
- Expensive
- However, current promo is $12/day for 3 days prepaid online (and the rate decreases for additional days)
SFO Long Term Parking Lot D
Pros:
- Sometimes if the Long Term Parking area and Lot D fill up, you'll get a voucher to use the short-term parking at long-term rates
- Expensive
Tips for Long Term Parking and Lot D- Park near Stop 5 in Long Term Parking and you are the first off the bus and out of the parking lot!
- Although the signs will indicate that a floor is full, I am often able to find a spot on these floors.
- Airtrain station is on level 5 of the garage
Month or longer parking:
Someone who's done this please add experiences - I (rob_flies_ua) would just pay for a shuttle or car service at this point. unavaca recommends taking Uber in this case.
AirportParkingReservations.com coupon:
$5 off: FBFRIENDS415
EXPIRES 12/31/16 @ 11:59 PM PST Coupon Valid Online Only
SFO Parking
May 22, 2018, 4:56 pm
#256
Join Date: Feb 2003
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Parked at Park SFO twice this month and both times all self-park spots were gone. The first of the two times it was 5 am on a Thu and the place was a zoo. Had to valet both times but they charged self-park rate. For 5 days paid $67 including 2 day free coupon and all taxes and fees.
May 23, 2018, 7:13 am
#257
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This is exactly what I would expect, given the ongoing expansion and temporary reduction in the number of spaces that I mentioned above.
May 23, 2018, 2:34 pm
#258
Join Date: Mar 2007
Posts: 4,967
This is not consistent with my experience. I've always been charged based on the time I get the ticket and the time I pay, and not a fixed calendar time. What may have changed is h what they calculate if one goes past the same time of day by only a little. They don't specify a policy.
Cheers.
Cheers.
May 23, 2018, 3:13 pm
#259
Join Date: Sep 2012
Posts: 10
Just called and no Bay Area Costcos carry them any more :(
ARGHHHH!!!!!! Been using these for several years. If anyone sees them come back, please update this thread.
May 23, 2018, 4:14 pm
#260
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That makes more sense. I am guessing the guy at the counter was just making stuff up since the lines were long. In any case not worth parking here on busy weekends anymore due to how packed the structure gets now and how busy the shuttles are. Miss the days where they were the best in the area.
May 24, 2018, 8:30 am
#261
Join Date: Mar 2007
Posts: 4,967
Parking is by 24 hours only - no hourly proration - frustrating when I realized that my last charge was an extra day due to the long shuttle and payment wait times.
May 26, 2018, 12:03 pm
#262
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I wonder if they made that decision before the impact of Uber/Lyft kicked in. That's converted a lot of parkers into passengers. Given the fixed-cost nature of a parking business, almost all of that lost revenue is lost profit.
May 26, 2018, 1:42 pm
#263
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But back to Park SFO - they've always been a bit sketchy on their charges - even imposing tax on the free days, which is an SSF percentage tax, so it makes no sense. If they actually turn it over to the city, still sketchy but fine.
May 28, 2018, 12:01 pm
#264
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In fact, the bolded part appears twice.
The only thing that bugs me about the taxes and fees is that ParkSFO does not disclose anywhere on their website (that I could find) what the formula is for taxes and fees. I realize that California and city/county sales taxes actually change pretty frequently (at least in recent years -- and they have even gone down, of all things!), so ParkSFO probably doesn't want to be burdened with updating their website every time a change occurs. Still, greater transparency would be nice. I do realize that you can easily look up local sales tax rates online, but there is also a question of whether ParkSFO pays any special taxes/fees to the SFO airport authority in addition to the regular sales taxes.
May 28, 2018, 12:17 pm
#265
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To be fair, they do disclose that on their discount coupons with the following verbiage: "Daily rates are based on a 24 hour period. Taxes and fees are not included and must be paid by all customers." (Bolding mine)
In fact, the bolded part appears twice.
The only thing that bugs me about the taxes and fees is that ParkSFO does not disclose anywhere on their website (that I could find) what the formula is for taxes and fees. I realize that California and city/county sales taxes actually change pretty frequently (at least in recent years -- and they have even gone down, of all things!), so ParkSFO probably doesn't want to be burdened with updating their website every time a change occurs. Still, greater transparency would be nice. I do realize that you can easily look up local sales tax rates online, but there is also a question of whether ParkSFO pays any special taxes/fees to the SFO airport authority in addition to the regular sales taxes.
In fact, the bolded part appears twice.
The only thing that bugs me about the taxes and fees is that ParkSFO does not disclose anywhere on their website (that I could find) what the formula is for taxes and fees. I realize that California and city/county sales taxes actually change pretty frequently (at least in recent years -- and they have even gone down, of all things!), so ParkSFO probably doesn't want to be burdened with updating their website every time a change occurs. Still, greater transparency would be nice. I do realize that you can easily look up local sales tax rates online, but there is also a question of whether ParkSFO pays any special taxes/fees to the SFO airport authority in addition to the regular sales taxes.
May 28, 2018, 1:10 pm
#266
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Just to update: Both Anza and ParkSFO currently have coupon offers on their respective websites. Anza is $13.95/day + tax and Park SFO is 1 day free with 2 day min or 2 days free with 4 day min or 3 days free with 6 days min. (valet or self-park).
Jun 6, 2018, 5:16 pm
#268
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ParkSFO taxes/fees total 15% (including on free days); still a decent deal, depending
A quick search of this forum suggests that the "good old days" were over more than a decade ago....
Anyhow, my recent stay at ParkSFO went as follows: arrived early (4:30-ish AM) on a Wednesday morning (non-holiday week) for a 6:00 AM domestic flight. Luckily, I found a self-park spot fairly quickly (even bypassing a few open but "less desirable" spots for a spot on Level 3 close to Level 2). My total stay was for 6 days (or more exactly, 5 days and 20 hours+, charged as 6 days as stated on ParkSFO website). On my return very early the following Tuesday morning, the structure was not overcrowded either.
I paid at a machine using a 3-free-day coupon. Here is the math: 6 days x $17.95/day = $107.70. Less 3 days free = -$53.85. Plus tax, $16.16. Total, $70.01.
Tax/fees shown as: CTAX 8%, AFEE 5%, FSUR 2%. So, total taxes/fees = 15%. Charged on the whole 6 days = $16.16.
(Presumably, CTAX means city and/or county tax. AFEE, airport fees? FSUR, some kind of surcharge?)
By comparison, I believe the SFO Long-Term Parking current charges are $25/day, with tax/fees included. I don't know of any coupons for that. So, I paid (after coupon) less than half that per day at ParkSFO. A decent deal, but that's in part because of the length of the stay. The max coupon at ParkSFO (that I know of) is 3 days off of 6 or more, so I was optimizing the discount (vs. 1 day off 3, or 2 days off 5, etc.).
https://www.parksfo.com/coupons/
Anyhow, my recent stay at ParkSFO went as follows: arrived early (4:30-ish AM) on a Wednesday morning (non-holiday week) for a 6:00 AM domestic flight. Luckily, I found a self-park spot fairly quickly (even bypassing a few open but "less desirable" spots for a spot on Level 3 close to Level 2). My total stay was for 6 days (or more exactly, 5 days and 20 hours+, charged as 6 days as stated on ParkSFO website). On my return very early the following Tuesday morning, the structure was not overcrowded either.
I paid at a machine using a 3-free-day coupon. Here is the math: 6 days x $17.95/day = $107.70. Less 3 days free = -$53.85. Plus tax, $16.16. Total, $70.01.
Tax/fees shown as: CTAX 8%, AFEE 5%, FSUR 2%. So, total taxes/fees = 15%. Charged on the whole 6 days = $16.16.
(Presumably, CTAX means city and/or county tax. AFEE, airport fees? FSUR, some kind of surcharge?)
By comparison, I believe the SFO Long-Term Parking current charges are $25/day, with tax/fees included. I don't know of any coupons for that. So, I paid (after coupon) less than half that per day at ParkSFO. A decent deal, but that's in part because of the length of the stay. The max coupon at ParkSFO (that I know of) is 3 days off of 6 or more, so I was optimizing the discount (vs. 1 day off 3, or 2 days off 5, etc.).
https://www.parksfo.com/coupons/
Jun 6, 2018, 5:18 pm
#269
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According to their website, the coupons are: 1 day off 3 min, 2 days off 5 min, 3 days off 6 min.
https://www.parksfo.com/coupons/
Dec 9, 2018, 10:43 pm
#270
Join Date: Jul 2013
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Parked at Park SFO twice this month and both times all self-park spots were gone. The first of the two times it was 5 am on a Thu and the place was a zoo. Had to valet both times but they charged self-park rate. For 5 days paid $67 including 2 day free coupon and all taxes and fees.
Normally when I drive from Monterey to SFO I park at Anza since I'm going back down south but I want covered parking this time. I'm heading north after this trip so was going to use Park SFO, is the SFO Long Term garage down the street usually pretty packed? I'll be aiming to park around 2-3pm on the 14th, longer trip so I don't want to use the short term/hourly in the middle of the terminals.