How ParkingAccess collects and verifies airport parking rates

Parking Intelligence Methodology v0.1. Frozen 2026-09-28. First published snapshot: parking-index-v0.1, as of 2026-09-28.

ParkingAccess records the parking rates that airports publish themselves, keeps the source for every figure, and checks each figure against a fresh copy of that source. When an airport's official information is incomplete or contradictory, we say so and do not rank it. This page explains exactly how the figures are produced, so any reader can check them.

ParkingAccess also sells parking through partners and may earn a commission on bookings. The rates on the index come only from official airport sources, never from partner inventory, and partner offers are always labelled as such.

1. What counts as an official source

We accept three kinds of official source, and we record which kind each figure came from:

• Official airport source: the airport operator's own website (for example dfwairport.com or flystl.com).
• Official authorized operator source: a parking website run by the airport's parking operator that the airport itself sends travelers to. Example: San Antonio's airport website links its "Parking" menu to www.flysatparking.com, which the parking operator runs.
• Official government source: a city or county website for the government that runs the airport (for example broward.org for Fort Lauderdale).

Every approved website is listed per airport, with the reason it was approved. A website approved for one airport is not approved for any other.

Not official, and never used for the index: booking-partner inventory, third-party listings (parking apps and comparison sites), news articles, and traveler reports. We may show some of these elsewhere, always labelled with their source.

2. Source hierarchy

For the index, only official sources count. Among official sources, the airport's own website, an operator website the airport routes travelers to, and a government website are recorded separately, because they can differ in how current they are. When two official sources disagree, neither wins automatically (section 12).

3. What we record for each rate

For every parking product we record: the product name exactly as the source writes it; the figure; what the figure means (a daily maximum, a flat daily rate, or not stated); whether tax is included, as the source states it; any fees the source states; the exact words we relied on; the web address; and the date we read it.

We only record a fact when the source states it. A word appearing on a page is not enough: a question ("Is tax included?") states nothing, and a negation states the opposite ("non-covered parking" means not covered). Where the source is silent, we record nothing and treat the fact as unknown.

4. How each figure is verified

Before a figure is used, we fetch a fresh copy of the source page and confirm that the exact words we quoted are on it, close together, so that a heading from one table cannot vouch for a price in another. A figure that fails is set aside for a person to check. Checks that fail because a page could not be reached are retried.

5. Who may park, and how

For each product we record four separate facts, each only when the source states it:

• Who may park: open to the public, or restricted (for example to permit holders).
• Reservations: required, offered, or not available.
• Arriving without a reservation: allowed or not allowed.
• Operating status: open, seasonal, or closed.

None of these is inferred from another. "Reserve now" tells us reservations are offered; it does not tell us whether you can arrive without one. A price labelled "drive-up rate" does not tell us either, because one airport uses that label on a reservation-only product.

Very few airports state in so many words that a lot is open to the public. We therefore publish a figure for a product in one of two cases, and say which:

• Stated public: the source says so (for example "3,750 public parking spaces").
• Public listing: the product is listed with a daily rate on the airport's official passenger-parking page, as a normal parking product, with no restriction stated and no official source saying otherwise.

6. The two figures we publish for each airport

• Cheapest general-public rate: the lowest published daily rate among the airport's official products that any member of the public can use, whether by arriving or by booking. Reservation-only products count.
• Cheapest unreserved-arrival rate: the lowest published daily rate among products the source shows you can use without an advance reservation. It counts when the source describes arriving without one: first come, first served, taking a ticket, or paying at the exit. It also counts when the airport says reservations are not available. A product that requires a reservation never counts.

On ParkingAccess pages these two figures are labeled "Lowest Verified General-Public Rate" and "Lowest Verified Unreserved-Arrival Rate". "Verified" means the check in section 4 passed on the date shown. (Added 2026-09-28 at the methodology owner's direction.)

Both are the published daily rate for one day of parking, not the cost of a whole trip. When two products tie, we name both. Every figure names the products and the official page it comes from.

7. Reservation-required products

A reservation-only product counts toward the general-public rate and never toward the unreserved-arrival rate. A mandatory reservation fee is always shown beside the daily rate and is never folded into it. Example: at St. Louis, Lot E is reservation only at $27.00 a day "with a separate $10.00 reservation fee".

8. Restricted rates

Rates limited to particular groups are recorded, and never used for either figure. That includes disabled permits, veterans' plates, employees and paid memberships. Example: Portland's disabled-permit rate of $15 a day ties the cheapest public rate; the public figure names only the public lot.

9. Seasonal products

A seasonal product is recorded with its rate. It counts only when an official source shows that it is operating on the date of the figure. Otherwise it is left out, and we say so beside the airport's figures. Example: Phoenix's West Economy Park & Walk ($10) is marked seasonal with no operating dates, so Phoenix's figure is $16.

10. Effective dates and changes

• We record an effective date only when the source states it as the date the rates take effect, on the page we cite. A date elsewhere on the site, in a press release, or no longer on the page is not attached.
• Rates with no stated date are treated as current until the source shows new ones.
• Announced changes are recorded in advance and take effect on their date. Dated access rules work the same way: Minneapolis requires reservations at its Quick Ride Ramp from October 11 to 17, 2026, and the unreserved-arrival figure changes for that week.
• A date the source gives without a time ("effective October 1") takes effect at midnight at the airport, in the airport's own time zone, unless the source states another time or time zone. (Added 2026-09-28 at the methodology owner's direction.)
• Every published set of figures carries a "valid until" date: the day before the next announced change. On the change date, at local midnight, the figures it affects are withdrawn until a new snapshot is published.

11. Taxes and fees

Taxes are shown exactly as the source states them: included, extra, or not stated. We do not estimate taxes or adjust rates for them, and figures with different tax treatment are labelled wherever they appear side by side.

Fees the source states are shown beside the rate and never folded into it. That covers card processing, per-transaction, service, booking and reservation fees. Example: Detroit adds "2.65% processing fee per transaction for credit or debit card payments", and its Green Lot takes cards only.

Rules that change the cost of a longer stay are shown beside the daily rate too. Example: Portland's Economy lot has its seventh day free.

12. When official sources disagree

• If two official sources publish different figures for the same product, both are marked disputed. Neither is used until a person confirms which is current, and the airport is not ranked. Example: San Antonio's airport FAQ lists economy parking at $7.00 a day, while its official parking site lists $10.
• If an official statement contradicts a figure without publishing a competing one, the figure stays and the contradiction is recorded and shown for review. Example: Phoenix's FAQ says valet costs "$9 more per 24 hours" than the garage, while its rate table shows $43 against $33.
• (Amended 2026-09-28 at the methodology owner's direction.) A figure that an official statement contradicts is no longer used until a person resolves the conflict (section 16). A conflict about a detail the index does not publish, such as New Orleans' half-hour increment, does not withdraw the daily figure.

13. Incomplete airport coverage

If an airport's official pages do not show every parking product's rate, the airport is listed with the facts we could verify, marked as incomplete, and not ranked. A cheapest rate calculated from part of an airport's products would be misleading. Example: Denver's parking page currently shows one product's rate.

14. How a "starts at" figure is calculated

When ParkingAccess shows "official parking starts at $X", X is the airport's cheapest general-public rate or its cheapest unreserved-arrival rate from the current snapshot, and the label says which. It is never taken from partner inventory, never a "from" price for booking online, and never a trip total.

15. When rankings are withheld

We publish no figure for an airport, or for one of its two figures, when:

• its official coverage is incomplete, or official sources disagree;
• any official rate in effect has not passed verification;
• a cheaper product's access is not established by the source, so the true minimum is unknown;
• no product has the access the figure requires (for example, no product the source shows you can use without a reservation).

16. Update cadence

Every published set is a numbered snapshot, for example parking-index-v0.1 as of 2026-09-28. Each snapshot lists the exact records behind every figure, so it can be reproduced, and every figure shows the date its source was last checked. Airports are re-read before an announced change takes effect.

Validity and re-checking are separate (decided 2026-09-28 by the methodology owner). There is no universal age limit: a figure does not stop being current because time has passed. A figure stops being current when:

• a known effective change takes effect (section 10);
• its source changes: a re-check no longer finds the quoted words, or finds a different rate;
• a correction supersedes it;
• an official source contradicts it (section 12).

Re-checking is an operational schedule: the airports in the index are re-checked weekly, and a cadence by airport traffic may follow. A re-check coming due does not by itself withdraw a figure. Every figure shows the date its source was last checked. An earlier text of this section set a 30-day expiry; the methodology owner did not set that rule and rejected it on 2026-09-28.

17. What these figures are not

• They are not availability: a lot can be full or sold out on your dates.
• They are not trip totals: daily maximums, partial days, weekly rules, fees and taxes change what a trip costs.
• They are not the cheapest parking near the airport: private off-airport lots are not official airport parking and are not included.