Charlotte Observer Logo

Empty spots, so why closed lots? | Charlotte Observer

×
  • E-edition
  • Customer Service
  • Advertise
  • Newsletters

    • News
    • Local
    • Crime
    • Databases
    • Education
    • Election
    • Politics
    • Nation/World
    • Special Reports
    • North Carolina
    • South Carolina
    • Corrections
    • Columnists
    • Retro Charlotte
    • Your Schools
    • All Blogs & Columns
    • Sports
    • Carolina Panthers
    • Charlotte Hornets
    • That's Racin'
    • High Schools
    • College Sports
    • Charlotte Knights/MLB
    • Other Sports
    • Blogs & Columnists
    • Inside the Panthers
    • Inside the NBA
    • Prep Insiders
    • Scott Fowler
    • Tom Sorensen
    • All Blogs & Columns
    • Politics
    • Elections
    • The North Carolina Influencer Series
    • RNC 2020
    • Business
    • Banking
    • Stocks Center
    • Top Workplaces
    • National Business
    • What's in Store
    • Development
    • All Blogs & Columns
    • Living
    • Religion
    • Food & Drink
    • Health & Family
    • Home & Garden
    • CLT Style
    • Travel
    • Living Here Guide
    • Blogs & Columnists
    • I'll Bite
    • Kathleen Purvis
    • All Blogs & Columns
    • Arts/Culture
    • Events
    • Movie News & Reviews
    • Restaurants
    • Music/Nightlife
    • Television
    • Books
    • Comics
    • Puzzles & Games
    • Rewards
    • Blogs & Columnists
    • All Blogs & Columns
    • Opinion
    • Editorials
    • Influencers Opinion
    • Kevin Siers
    • Letters
    • Submit an Op-ed
    • Submit a Letter
    • Viewpoint
    • All Blogs & Columns
    • Blogs & Columnists
    • O-Pinion
    • You Write The Caption
    • Taylor Batten
    • Peter St. Onge
  • Celebrations
  • Obituaries
  • TV Listings

  • Public Notices
  • Cars
  • Jobs
  • Moonlighting
  • Virtual Career Fair
  • Homes
  • Classifieds
  • Place an ad
  • Mobile & Apps

  • MomsCharlotte
  • Carolina Bride Magazine
  • South Park Magazine

Business

Empty spots, so why closed lots?

By Jefferson George - jgeorge@charlotteobserver.com

    ORDER REPRINT →

May 28, 2008 12:00 AM

Rising airfares may curtail some travel this summer, but they likely won't curb complaints about parking at the Charlotte airport.

In particular, some travelers are convinced that the airport keeps long-term parking lots – which cost $3 a day – closed when they're not full to force cars into more expensive daily parking areas. Airport officials say there's no conspiracy, just a system that's efficient for the airport and its customers.

Sign Up and Save

Get six months of free digital access to The Charlotte Observer

SUBSCRIBE WITH GOOGLE

#ReadLocal

The start of the summer travel season over Memorial Day weekend brought fresh gripes from people steered to the daily lot. The combination of leisure and business travelers could make such rerouting more common in the coming weeks.

At $6 a day, daily parking at Charlotte/Douglas International is cheaper than at other Carolinas airports. And while there are more $3-a-day spaces – about 8,600 – than anything else, airport officials don't promise that cheap parking will be available, especially at busy travel times.

The problem, some customers say, is that some of the cheap spots are empty, even though the long-term and remote lots are closed. In this era of record-high gas prices, they say, paying double what you expected for parking is even more painful.

John Peterson of Fort Mill, S.C., said via e-mail that he saw multiple spaces in more than one closed lot at about 2 p.m. Friday.

“It was very evident,” said Peterson, a sales representative for a manufacturer, calling the routing of traffic to daily lots “a prime instance of fleecing.”

Not so, said Will Plentl, the airport's deputy director. Instead, he said, it's a matter of managing customer traffic and shuttle buses efficiently.

Reopening a parking lot with only a few empty spaces – out of more than 1,000 – would leave travelers hunting for those spots, possibly to the point of missing a flight, Plentl said.

“Then the complaints would be more vocal,” he said. “We opened the lot, and they couldn't find an empty space.”

That's why the airport doesn't reopen a lot until at least 2 percent of its parking spaces are empty, Plentl said. In the smallest $3-a-day lot, that's about 20 spots; in the largest, almost 70.

Otherwise, Plentl said, travelers must try daily parking. That costs twice as much, he said, but “they won't spend 30 minutes trying to find an empty spot.”

Holidays, such as the Fourth of July and Labor Day, often bring the biggest crowds, Plentl said. Parking lots also may consistently fill up from late June to early August, when schools are out, he said.

Airport officials originally expected an increase of as much as 5 percent in passenger traffic this summer before the recent surge in oil prices and airfares, Plentl said.

Although that may limit some growth, he said, “we are preparing for another heavy summer season.”

About those signs

Airport customers also have complained of trouble finding an open parking lot, specifically making sense of the signs that the airport posts along Josh Birmingham Parkway.

“Those handwritten directional parking signs are what I expect to find at a carnival,” said Ben Lambert, a Realtor in Charlotte, “not a major airport.”

Lambert previously lived in the Washington, D.C., area, where “you need a Gold credit card to pay for parking” at airports, he said. Charlotte airport parking is cheap, Lambert said, but the signs are confusing.

Another traveler, Trey O'Neale of Concord, also said parking rates are reasonable, but that traffic management is lacking. While leaving the daily lot Friday, he said, only two exit lanes were open, creating long lines of customers waiting to pay.

Both traffic flow and signs should improve next year through projects now under way, Plentl said.

Paying for parking will be easier in a new revenue-control system, he said, including machines through which customers can swipe credit cards, similar to those at Raleigh-Durham International Airport. More than half of customers now pay with credit cards, Plentl said, and upgrades could cut wait times at exits by two-thirds.

Airport officials also expect to take bids later this year for a new system of programmable signs, Plentl said. Besides real-time updates on lot closures, the new signs may be able to show special messages, he said.

That would replace the sandwich boards installed a few years ago, after air travel bounced back from a post-9-11 dip, Plentl said.

“We went with simplistic signs trying to show where open lots are,” he said. “All that was designed to be temporary.”

  Comments  

Videos

Owners HQ shoe showcasing event at Mint wows fans

Potential Carolina Panthers training location

View More Video

Trending Stories

After multiple attempts, Charlotte council member Braxton Winston gets served

February 15, 2019 11:29 AM

That trendy CBD product in your smoothie? Adding it is illegal, NC officials say

February 15, 2019 11:56 AM

The NBA All-Star Celebrity Game was looking weak. Then some strong basketball saved it.

February 16, 2019 02:26 AM

Largest tribe in East called NC home for centuries. Feds say it’s not Indian enough.

February 15, 2019 08:40 AM

In Charlotte, Dave Chappelle makes more transgender jokes — and makes no apologies

February 15, 2019 01:47 AM

things to do

Read Next

Police: Aurora attacker used gun he shouldn’t have owned

National Business

Police: Aurora attacker used gun he shouldn’t have owned

By DON BABWIN and CARYN ROUSSEAU Associated Press

    ORDER REPRINT →

February 16, 2019 06:42 PM

The man who killed five co-workers at a suburban Chicago manufacturing plant took a gun he wasn't allowed to have to a job he must have known he was about to lose.

KEEP READING

Sign Up and Save

#ReadLocal

Get six months of free digital access to The Charlotte Observer

SUBSCRIBE WITH GOOGLE

MORE BUSINESS

The Latest: CEO: Gunman passed background check when hired

National Business

The Latest: CEO: Gunman passed background check when hired

February 16, 2019 06:05 PM

National Business

Correction: Lithium Ion Batteries-Recycling story

February 16, 2019 10:12 AM
The Latest: OKC’s Diallo leaps over Shaq to win dunk contest

National Business

The Latest: OKC’s Diallo leaps over Shaq to win dunk contest

February 16, 2019 10:34 PM
No peanuts or Cracker Jack at the old ballgame in Hartford

News

No peanuts or Cracker Jack at the old ballgame in Hartford

February 16, 2019 09:27 PM
Adam Silver’s annual NBA address keys on competitive balance

National Business

Adam Silver’s annual NBA address keys on competitive balance

February 16, 2019 09:10 PM
Merkel defends Iran deal, multilateralism but Pence resists

National Business

Merkel defends Iran deal, multilateralism but Pence resists

February 16, 2019 07:48 PM
Take Us With You

Real-time updates and all local stories you want right in the palm of your hand.

Icon for mobile apps

Charlotte Observer App

View Newsletters

Subscriptions
  • Start a Subscription
  • Customer Service
  • eEdition
  • Vacation Hold
  • Pay Your Bill
  • Rewards
Learn More
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Newsletters
  • News in Education
  • Photo Store
Advertising
  • Information
  • Place a Classified
Copyright
Privacy Policy
Terms of Service


Back to Story