By Lisa Whitlaw

You’ve planned your awesome vacation, and you can’t wait to go, but then you remember you need to pay to park at the airport. Bummer! No worries, I’ve sleuthed out a way to save on airport parking…

Parking and getting to the airport works differently for everyone, depending on where you live, if you have family to take you, if you have access to public transportation and more. Some people take public transportation to the airport, others call an Uber, while still others park in the airport parking lot, because it’s there, though it can be crazy expensive.

Some people, like me, search for the cheapest parking available!

I know that I like having my car waiting for me when I arrive home from a long trip. I don’t want to wait on a train or talk to an Uber driver. I  just want to get to my car and drive home :).

I also want to make sure I get to the airport in plenty of time before my flight. Once, when taking the Blue Bus in Washington D.C., I had to RUN to the plane and seriously thought I was going to miss my flight. Never again!

save airport parking

Economy parking at Atlanta Hartsfield International, which is my home airport, starts at a horrifying $14 per day. Um, no thank you!

I might also mention that I always want covered parking, which of course costs more, but I feel better knowing my car is not getting scorched in the Atlanta sun :).

 

How I Used to Save on Airport Parking

Airport Parking 

Here’s what I used to do… I’d search the parking lot websites and sign up to become a member so I could get discounts. I’d also search for parking on Groupon and often found good deals.

I learned the hard way, though, that even though you’ve purchased a Groupon voucher to park at a lot, you still need a RESERVATION at that lot :)! We arrived for our Spring Break trip one year to find the lot was full, so we had to park across the street and pay FULL PRICE. I can’t stand those words ;-). 

The last trip my husband and I took, I started my search and found my regular lot had increased their prices. They’d undergone a major renovation and made amazing improvements to their lot, but now we had to pay for it. Ugh.

I searched other parking lots, but all were more than I wanted to pay. I couldn’t do it, knowing I had paid less for parking so many other times.

Next, I went to the Southwest Rapid Rewards Shopping Portal to search Groupon for parking. You can earn points when purchasing Groupons when you click through to Groupon from the Shopping Portal. That would allow me to get a deal on parking while also earning Southwest points! Win/win right?!

Wrong! There were no Groupon vouchers for parking available :(. So I sat thinking what to do next.

While looking at the Rapid Rewards Shopping Portal screen, I decided to just type “parking” in the search box, and lo and behold Looking4Parking appeared. I’ve never heard of this or used it before, but out of curiosity, I took a look and was happy I did. 

 

A New Way to Save on Airport Parking

Looking4Parking - Southwest Rapid Rewards Shopping

Looking4Parking is a great site that searches airport parking lots over the dates you need and gives you a summary of what lots are available along with a list of discounted rates. Some lots have covered and uncovered parking, while others only have uncovered. 

You can choose based on price, covered/uncovered or location. I was looking for the best price, and it just happened to be at my favorite, new improved lot! Hooray!

I needed parking for four days, which would cost $56 at the “official” airport economy lot. With this super parking search site, I got covered parking at a great lot for a mere $28. There is a service charge ($2.95), but I still came out better than paying directly through the lot or at the airport parking lot. 

Within the Rapid Rewards Shopping Portal, you can earn 2 points per $1 when booking through Looking4Parking. While that’s not a ton, I still earned 56 Southwest points (better than none!) on top of my major savings. I’ll take it!

I’ll definitely be checking this service going forward for all airport parking needs and starting my search at the Rapid Rewards Shopping Portal!

Read More:

Author