Airport eParking: $14 a day, Infinite — or Free?
Being a budget-conscious traveler, I elected to swipe my credit card at the airport parking ramp rather than take a paper ticket the other week.
Fancy name for the above: “eParking.”
Savings per day: $2.
The catch?
When I returned home three days later — near midnight, of course — the electronic checkout was on the fritz.
Instead, a parking attendant was simply waving people through (dead tired, I went).
Open-Ended Liability; Confused Kiosk
Of course, with no closed-out ticket, the parking ramp vendor would think that my car was still at the airport, and continue charging me $14 a day ad infinitum.
After several phone calls, being put on hold, etc. it turns out the solution was to insert my credit card the next time I parked at the airport (yesterday), then press “Help” when the confused kiosk said I was already parked in the ramp.
The attendant who answered acknowledged that the ramp’s server was indeed out of commission earlier in the month, verified my credit card . . then deleted the charge.
Total parking fee: $0 (vs. around $50).
Still, given the hassle, next time I’m going to think twice about going paperless . . .
See, “The Downside of Going Paperless.”
