May 3, 2013, 1:32 pm
Last edit by: RichardInSF
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:
- Generally highest rated by FTers
- Fast and regular shuttles
- Quick & easy access from 101 freeway
- 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
- More expensive than other off-airport options, especially if no coupon
- Reservations required or risk likely being turned away at entry
- Price listed online does not include tax and fees (which is around 16%)
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.
- Poor ratings (see yelp)
Anza
Pros:
- With Burlingame Airport Parking, the only parking South of airport (Other than BART)
- Easy access dropoff, not so easy to get back on freeway (S-101)
- 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!
- Poor shuttle service for SFO arrivals at busy weekend/holidays (30-45min wait)
- 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, even as part of a longer stay
- 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
Oct 9, 2011 | 9:07 am
#76
Join Date: Oct 2005
Programs: Continental
Posts: 1,662
It's actually faster now that the Clarion is closed.
The shuttle bus used to wait at the Clarion hotel lobby, then it took an extra 10 mins to get through that lot and stop at the gate between the hotels.
As long as you don't mind walking to the Westin, this lot is good.
(Although it seems the shuttles for pickup at the airport don't run as often as the other parking shuttles. I believe they only have 2 of them)
The shuttle bus used to wait at the Clarion hotel lobby, then it took an extra 10 mins to get through that lot and stop at the gate between the hotels.
As long as you don't mind walking to the Westin, this lot is good.
(Although it seems the shuttles for pickup at the airport don't run as often as the other parking shuttles. I believe they only have 2 of them)
Oct 9, 2011 | 8:58 pm
#77
Join Date: Apr 2009
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Oct 9, 2011 | 9:39 pm
#78
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Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (Linux; U; Android 2.2.2; en-us; MB612 Build/KRNS-X4-1.1.5) AppleWebKit/533.1 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0 Mobile Safari/533.1)
Me too. Guess theyre just late this month.
Me too. Guess theyre just late this month.
Oct 13, 2011 | 1:59 pm
#79
Moderator: United Airlines
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: SFO
Programs: UA LT Plat 2MM, Hyatt Discoverist, Marriott LT Gold, Hilton Silver, IHG Plat
Posts: 73,160
What's up with parking around SFO?
Last week and this week ParKSFO was full and the SFO airport long term was nearly full! Did not have enough time to try the other places either time but why this high capacity utilization? aren't we suppose be in a business turn down?? it was tight a couple times in the summer but thought with the tourist traffic being down, things would get better not worse.
Oct 13, 2011 | 2:02 pm
#80
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Last week and this week ParKSFO was full and the SFO airport long term was nearly full! Did not have enough time to try the other places either time but why this high capacity utilization? aren't we suppose be in a business turn down?? it was tight a couple times in the summer but thought with the tourist traffic being down, things would get better not worse.
FastTrack Parking off the 101 closed. And SMA Parking closed last year.
That, and SFO has had increased traffic for the past 7 years. Many of the Bay Area reductions were at OAK and SJC.
Oct 13, 2011 | 8:31 pm
#81
Moderator: United Airlines
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: SFO
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thanks, knew about the latter but did not know about the former -- make sense. Quite a boomer for the remaining outfits, so I guess all the off-site vendors are maxed out. Bummer, I really liked using ParkSFO. , but valet prices are too rich for me.
Oct 13, 2011 | 9:28 pm
#82
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Oct 13, 2011 | 9:44 pm
#83
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Can you post what day of week and what time you ran into this? I'm looking at some Saturday morning flights and beginning to wonder whether it's better to overnight down there the night before now.
Oct 13, 2011 | 9:58 pm
#84
Moderator: United Airlines
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Location: SFO
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Posts: 73,160
Van driver had mentioned something like what you said when it was nearly full earlier in September
Oct 13, 2011 | 10:26 pm
#85
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Oct 13, 2011 | 10:33 pm
#86
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Any reports from the lots to the south (Anza, BAP)? I've only had the need to park once at BAP on Labor Day weekend and they had plenty of spaces then. I was in their lot around 4am Friday though so maybe I beat the rush as 1/3 of their lot was still open. Every AA flight was oversold that day and would think the UA side would be pretty busy, too.
If the lots to the north are full on Thursday and Saturday morning, those folks have to go somewhere else. Are they heading to Anza or BAP?
If the lots to the north are full on Thursday and Saturday morning, those folks have to go somewhere else. Are they heading to Anza or BAP?
Oct 13, 2011 | 11:48 pm
#87
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I think it was $52 per night I paid to park at Fairmont San Francisco.. Makes parking at Fisherman's Wharf look cheap..
Oct 14, 2011 | 7:50 am
#88
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My last 5-6 times at ParkSFO they've been valeting everyone. What I dislike about that is your car likely gets parked outside.
Oct 14, 2011 | 8:13 am
#89
Join Date: Feb 1999
Location: San Jose, California, USA
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ParkBAP: Never been full; always covered spaces available underneath the Hilton.
The choice is clear to me.
NB: I mostly do weekend trips so depart on Friday night/Saturday morning. Also, I'm coming from the south, so ParkBAP is closer to me.
Oct 14, 2011 | 9:30 am
#90
Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: Palm Springs
Programs: UA, VX, AA
Posts: 490
The best thing about parking at SFO long term parking is that if the garage and outdoor area is full, they give a voucher which allows you to park at the short term lot at the airport for the same daily rate as the long term lot. I actually hope for the SFO LT parking to be full. This has happened several times.