At RDU, I circle around until my party emerges. They got rid of the short term parking close to the airport apparently to prevent lazy, non-suicidal truck bombers. Parking in the deck is rather inconvenient especially to get to the Southwest terminal, which I swear seems like it is a good 15 minute walk with bags. I think you do get the first half an hour free though.
I think that departure areas are calmer simply because people aren’t waiting/circling the airport to get there like the arrivals area. But we do similarly in using the departure/ticketing area for picking up incoming people, it cuts off 5 minutes for the entire experience due to faster traffic, etc.
I live 12 minutes from the Cleveland airport, and even when you COULD meet people at the gate, we just waited for a phone call (in the pre-cell phone days they would stop at the first payphone on the concourse) and then, by the time we drove there, they had walked to the baggage claim exit and were either getting their bag or waiting on the curb, and we’d do the swoop and scoop. You might have to circle the airport a few times if they had baggage and it was slow coming, but now with the cell phone lot, I can park if I don’t see them on the first pass. Since it costs a lot more than a quarter to park in the short-term lot, and the parking lot is a lot farther to walk to, and we are all older and creaky, this is the easiest and most efficient way.
There really isn’t a comfortable place to wait inside the Minneapolis airport. Or at least not one that is anywhere close to where the passengers leave the security area.
So, since I live about 15 minutes away, the person I’m picking up usually calls me as they are taxiing to the gate, and I meet them outside the terminal. If for some reason I’ve got time to spare, I hang out in the cell lot with a book, and watch the planes land (the cell lot faces the runway).
I park and go inside. I can’t see using the cell phone lot for picking up anyone in my disorganized family. Inevitably, the phone would be left on the plane, the battery would be dead, they’d lose my number (despite having called it thousands of times before and having it in memory)… If there’s a way to mess it up, my family will find that way. Besides, if the flight is delayed, I’d rather wait in the airport than in my car.
When BWI (my nearest airport) is busy, they’re real sticklers about keeping the pick up/drop off lanes moving. I’ve been told to move along when I’ve done no more than pop out to get a bag out of the trunk. I think they expect me to slow down while my passenger leaps from my still moving car. So I’m not waiting there. Those lane police scare me!