Posted on: Friday, March 23, 2007
Airport parking a gamble
By Robbie Dingeman
Advertiser Staff Writer
|
AIRPORT PARKING TIPS
Get someone to drop you off so you don't have to park. Get there early. State officials suggest arriving 45 minutes earlier than current routine of arriving two hours before a domestic flight. Park in the overseas lot instead of the interisland lot, which fills up faster. Valet park. Pay a little more — $15 a day instead of $10 a day — to use the airport valet parking service available in the interIsland terminal at the second-level center median, across from the Aloha Airlines and Hawaiian Airlines check-in lobbies, 5 a.m. and 10 p.m. Valet service is also available on the fourth floor of the interisland terminal parking structure between 6:30 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. Valet vehicle pick-ups are located at the second level center median. Park Air Express offers about 400 parking spaces and a free shuttle service to and from the airport at its Pai'ea Street lot between the airport and Nimitz Highway. It charges $8 a day, but company officials said the lot tends to fill up early on holiday weekends. Airport shuttles. An increasing number of door-to-door services are available on O'ahu. Find them in the telephone yellow pages. Taxis and limousines. Taxi cabs and limousines charge various rates for a ride. When all the other parking fills, the state will open an "emergency overflow" lot at the former United Cargo Lot on A'olele Street. Signs will be posted to direct traffic to the overflow lots when regular parking lots are filled.Source: State Department of Transportation
|
|
 |
|
|
OTHER TIPS FOR OTHER ISLANDS
Kahului Airport (Maui) Additional airport parking will be provided at the A'alele Street overflow lot with shuttle service between 6 a.m. and 10 p.m. daily. Emergency parking will available in Lot S. Signs will be posted to direct traffic to the overflow lots when regular parking lots are filled. Kona International Airport (Hawai'i) Overflow parking will be available in the Pao'o Street overflow lot next to the employee parking lot. When necessary, the U'u Street remote parking lot will also be opened. Signs will be posted to direct traffic to the overflow lots when regular parking lots are filled. Hilo International Airport (Hawai'i) Additional parking will be available in the overflow grass lots on both ends of the airport terminal parking lot. Signs will be posted to direct traffic to the overflow lots when regular parking lots are filled. Lihu'e Airport (Kaua'i) Additional parking will be provided in the overflow lots at both ends of the airport terminal. Signs will be posted to direct traffic to the overflow lots when regular parking lots are filled.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
If you're catching a plane this weekend, have someone drop you off at the airport or arrive at least 45 minutes early to find parking during the spring break/holiday crush.
That advice comes from state transportation officials and airline folks who are already feeling the squeeze at Honolulu International Airport.
State Department of Transportation spokes-man Scott Ishikawa said the "perfect storm" of parking problems is forming as spring break ends for some travelers, begins for others and a three-day Kuhio Day weekend is thrown into the mix.
Aloha Airlines has 15,000 passengers booked to fly today, nearly double a weekday average of 8,000 and well over a weekend average about 11,000, said spokesman Stu Glauberman.
Most of Hawaiian Airlines' seats are filled for the rest of the month, said spokesman Keoni Wagner. "We're basically full. There are a few seats left."
Both agree that it would be best for travelers to catch a ride to the airport.
Another option, Ishikawa said: "Take the 5 to 10 minutes extra to park at the overseas terminal and walk back rather than going around in circles for half an hour at interisland looking for parking."
He cautioned that some stalls are out of service because crews are working on the top floor of interisland parking, installing water sealant to prevent water from leaking downstairs onto parked cars. Those stalls will not be available until next month.
Ishikawa said the work was scheduled after the Christmas rush and before summer.
Another option for travelers is to use the valet parking, which costs $15 a day compared to $10 a day for self-parking, but can save time.
He said the valet service began July 15 — modeled after Mainland airports that offer it — and it seems to be catching on.
Glauberman said Aloha still offers drive-through check-in on the fourth floor of the interisland terminal, which may save some time.
But unless someone drops you, he warned, "you still have to find a place to park."
Reach Robbie Dingeman at rdingeman@honoluluadvertiser.com.
• • •
