Flying for the holidays? Parking at a premium

An airport parking space may be tougher to find than a flight in Fort Lauderdale this holiday travel season.

If past years are any indication, more than 7 million people are expected to pass through Fort LauderdaleHollywood International Airport during the last three months of the year.

But Dr. Phillip Watson might not be one of them. The North Miami physician said he used to fly out of Fort Lauderdale at least 30 times a year, until the airport closed the economy parking lot in May.

“It was easy to get to, the shuttle took you right there, you didn’t have all that traffic congestion,” he said. “Now, I’m seriously looking at flying out of Miami.”

The off-site, 4,000-space economy lot that charged $7.50 per day was converted to an airport employee parking lot.

That was offset with 3,100 additional parking spaces opened to the public on the top three floors of the Cypress garage for twice the price.

The rates in the airport’s Palm, Hibiscus and Cypress garages range from $3 per hour, to $15 per day and $25 for curbside valet parking.

There are three outdoor overflow parking lots on the west side of the airport that charge $10 per day but open only when the garages are full, said airport spokesman Greg Meyer.

“We parked more than 1,200 cars in this area last holiday season with the capacity to handle considerably more,” he said. “We also have another area across from the holiday lot that can be used for additional capacity.”

It was enough to handle the number of holiday travelers last year, he added. “Historically we have not needed all the available spaces,” Meyer said.

There are several private off-site parking lots within 4 miles of the airport with per-day prices that start at $6.99 for self-parking and valet parking lots, with free shuttles to and from the airport.

FLL Park by the Ports is located on Ravenswood Road just east of the airport's old economy lot.

Owner Luis Negron says his valet parking lot has 150 spaces with winter season rates that start at $6.99 per day and a free shuttle but he has not picked up much business from the closed economy lot.

“I think we’ve actually had less business since they closed it,” he said. “Usually when you go from self-parking to valet, people go for other options. They don’t like to give up their keys.”

One of those options is the self-parking lot at the Rodeway Inn & Suites on State Road 84, just west of Interstate 95.

General manager Izzy Fintz has 250 parking spaces for hotel guests and airport travelers to share. Guests park free, but the daily parking rate for the airport starts at $10 with a shuttle.

“Since the airport closed the economy lot we have seen approximately a 19 percent increase in our parking lot for people going to the airport,” he said.

Fintz attributes the increase to the drivers’ preference for self-parking and keeping their car keys, especially those with computer chips that cost upward of $100 to replace.

“People want great service but they want self-service,” he said. “We don’t touch their vehicle at all.”

More than 2,000 self and valet spaces are available outside the airport.

Drivers can find and reserve the best price and parking space at several websites ahead of their departure. The FLL Airport App includes parking availability information. There are public transit and ridesharing options too.

Ideally, the airport would have more permanent parking and economy lots but Broward Commissioner and Regional Transportation Authority member Tim Ryan said there’s only so much you can do on the airport’s 1,400 acres of land.

“You work, basically, on a postage-stamp site,” he said.