Parking at BWI

[mom23guys2]

My son is flying on SWA out of BWI. How is the longterm parking there? Is it better to use an off-site parking area, if so which one? How long does it take to get from the parking area to the terminal? He's not familiar with the airport and has an 8 A.M. flight if that make a difference.

 

[padisneyfan]

The long term parking is not that far out and the buses are constantly going throughout the parking lot. There is a blue and green lot. I have never waited more than 10 minutes for a bus, most of the time it is 5 minutes. It takes about 10 minutes to get to the terminal. So allow yourself 20 minutes to get from parking lot to terminal. The 7th day of parking is free. Another option is to stay at one of the airport hotels the night before and they will shuttle you over.

 

[Pat_Elliott]

I use BWI long-term parking twice a month for business, and have used it several times for Disney trips. I'd mirror padisneyfan
and add that just on our last trip in September, my wife left the overhead light on in the car and our battery died. I walked over to the manager's desk at the payment booths. They had us started within ten minutes.

Nothing but good things to say about the green and blue lots. Use them with confidence.

Pat

 

[momofqandl]

The amtrak lot is just as close , shuttles run often, and is less expensive than the airport lots.

Free parking at the BWI ramada and free shuttle with one night stay . Worth it if he will be travelling for longer than 12 days.

 

[mom23guys2]

Thanks for the info. He's only joining us for a long weekend since he's still in college and its close to exam time. He'll stay with family in Marland about 1/2 hour away but he needs his car at the airport to make his afternoon class the day he returns and they wont be there to pick him up. Are the lots easy to find and clearly marked? As you can see I'm still a nervous mom.

 

[April76]

The lots are very well marked -- just make sure he remembers WHICH color lot and WHICH numbered bus stop he got on from.... otherwise when he returns to BWI he'll be riding the bus all over the place trying to find his car!

Once he parks the car, the buses are constantly driving through to pick up and take him directly to the terminal (we've always been picked up in 5-10 minutes, but I would allow 20 minutes to be safe).... when he returns, all he has to do is wait outside the terminal for his lot's bus (ie, Blue lot, Green lot, etc.).

Relax Mom.... he'll be fine!

 

[Uncleromulus]

Would never, ever use the BWI long-term parking again. We used to--but after putting up with full busses just riding right on by, with us getting on and having no room for luggage, etc etc. we turned elsewhere.
One morning around 5:00 AM we spent 45 minutes waiting for a bus. When one came, it was a "training bus" and the driver laughed at us as he sped on by!!
So when we do fly, we always use Airport Park N' Ride. When you park, a small shuttle bus will pull up right alongside your car, and you'll be taken to the airport almost immediately. Same situation upon returning.
It costs more than the "official" long term parking, but we've found it to be well worth the $$

 

[dcfromva]

Here is a link to the Baltimore Airport Web site:click here

Link to parking info

Unless you park in the hourly parking lot, you get to take a shuttle.... (the hourly parking garage is really cool, but parking rates in the hourly parking is $30.00/day! )

All the less expensive parking options are a shuttle ride away--some of the parking options can be a LONG shuttle ride away! We had one of those waiting for a really long time for a shuttle to pick us up experiences similar to Uncleromulus one time, so we switched over to a private parking concernreflight parking. (They used to be listed on the official BWI web site while BWI was in the process of building more parking lots. ) They advertise their trial rate at $9.00/day--but, I think that may be with the $2.00/day off coupon. They also give the 7th day free.

link to Preflight

link to Preflight's coupon (don't forget to print one out if you are going to use them!)
They also come around to your parking space and pick you up and they also drop you off at your parking space. We have always received very good service from them.


-DC

 

[mom23guys2]

Thanks for the info. Is the preflight lot easy to find, sign etc? How long does it take to get from the lot to the airport? I assume this option would help avoid all the car search delays. Do they require reservations?

 

[Pat_Elliott]

With the links provided by DC, you'll find maps for both. FYI, we always come down from State College and have used both lots. If you have the directions with you, they are both very easy to find, and both shuttles run often. Preflight runs theirs continously, except overnight hours when traffic is slow. And then they just have a shuttle there, and when someone needs it, they go. The longest we ever waited was ten minutes, and that's because we drove in just as the shuttle was taking someone else at 5 AM. It's good to have direcitons to both available. We like Preflight, but they sometimes fill up. This lets you have an option. Both are fine.

Pat

 

[Uncleromulus]

Let me "ammend" my earlier post and say the service we use is called airport FASTPARK.
The 4 times we used them, we always arrived at their lot at or near 5:00 AM. The longest wait time was "zero" minutes. Each and every time their shuttle bus actually followed my car to the parking space we used.. We got out our luggage, got in the shuttlebus, and off to the terminal we went!!