BWI Parking - holy guacamole!!

I’m leaving Jacksonville in a few hours for a weekend conjugal visit/family reunion/50th anniversary party in Baltimore. Last night on line, I found a parking/shuttle deal at the airport here for $4/day - seemed like a pretty good deal, and the lot is on the road to the airport, so it’s convenient.

Hubby’s going to be flying down here over Labor Day weekend, and for giggles, I looked up parking at BWI. Unbelievable!!! The garage runs something like $30/day - obviously they’re targeting the short-term trade. The cheapest airport parking at a remote long-term lot is $6/day. Off-site at the only places I saw that listed prices was over $11/day. Transport from downtown - where his marina is - runs $18 round trip.

It wouldn’t be half bad if public transportation in Balto wasn’t such a hassle. Whew! I’m going to suggest he bribe my sister into taking him - even giving her $10 will more than cover gas.

Not a rant - just an observation. All that money to have your car sitting. What a racket…

You were looking at the short-term lot prices, FCM. From www.bwiairport.com:

Any of these are better than the $30 one. That’s for the short-termers - they charge $30 so they can keep long-term parkers out of it.

Some of the Satellite Parking lots are closer than others. (They’re the ones with the color-coded names, btw - Blue Lot, Green Lot, Gold Lot, etc.) The Blue and Green lots are just a short shuttlebus from the terminal, and service is pretty frequent. We use 'em for all but the shortest trips. Sure, it would be nice if parking at the airport was cheaper, but $7/day is really pretty reasonable, IMHO.

Here’s BWI parking info, and a map of their lots.

And here’s private off-airport parking, which is what it sounds like you had in Jax, FCM. This one was the cheapest, at $8/day; the others were $10.80 and $11.75/day, so BWI clearly isn’t trying to rip you off.

Yeah, just wait until I get back to pick up my car from the Green lot. I’ve been parked there since the 27th. :eek:

That’s $84, assuming I come home tomorrow, and that’s a big assumption.

You want expensive parking, try Newark’s lots. Even the long-term ones are a mint and a half. For one weekend it used to cost me $60+.

For transportation from downtown, would it be possible to take the MARC train to and from BWI? IIRC it’s only $5.

The parking garage at the MARC/Amtrak station doubles as a BWI long-term lot, with a free shuttlebus between the train station and the airport terminal.

That might help FairyChatDad, depending on where he’s coming from. Wouldn’t help Doors, who undoubtedly drove down from PA; I’m sure airport parking is cheaper than parking in downtown Baltimore.

Taking the Light Rail to BWI is $1.35 for a one-way trip. Parking at some of the stops is free.