Valets Seen as Key to Solve Airport’s Parking Woes : Burbank: Officials hire a curbside parking service for a 90-day trial to discourage overnight travelers from using short-term spaces near the terminal.

They’re all lined up wearing little red jackets, Bistro Garden style, but this is no trendy restaurant and it’s only 6:30 a.m. If you doubted that the L.A. area is the capital of valet parking, take note: You can now pull up to Burbank Airport and just turn over the keys.

“It’s reassuring,” said Kammie Cole, a TV commercial production manager, as she eyed the familiar uniformed lineup Friday. She and colleague Alan Sadler were returning from overnight business trips and were waiting to pick up their car from the new valet service area, just across from Terminal A.

“I love seeing those six guys in red,” Sadler said. “It’s really hard at the end of a couple of days to remember where you put your car. It’s great to have somebody remember it for you.”

Comments like his are music to Chula Ratwatte’s ears.

“This is my baby,” said Ratwatte, whose card says he is a “parking specialist” with Valet Parking Service Inc.

Ratwatte worked with airport administrators to come up with a plan that would discourage overnight travelers from using the short-term parking lot closest to the terminals. The administrators recently discovered that almost half the 500 indoor spots meant for people picking up and dropping off passengers were being used overnight by travelers. The 24-hour rate of $18 was not enough of a deterrent.

“As air fares went down,” said airport spokeswoman Elly Mixsell, “people had more money to splurge on parking closer.”

Rather than further raising the rates, the airport administration turned to valet parking, hiring the parking company for a 90-day trial period that began Wednesday. The airport pays the company $12.50 an hour per employee, of which the parkers get $5 plus tips.

Customers pay $5 for the first hour, $10 for up to two hours and $18 for up to 24 hours, the money going to the airport.

“This is tailored and designed to give maximum personal service,” Ratwatte said, explaining that customers can call on an internal airport phone as soon as they deplane and have their car waiting with the motor running by the time they get outside.

Mixsell estimated that the airport spent $60,000 to set up the designated area and that monthly costs could run $50,000 to $70,000. Despite the expense of staffing the lot 24 hours a day, airport administrators expect the operation will be self-sustaining when it becomes more popular, she said.

The service got off to a slow start Wednesday when 75 customers used it, with the total rising to just over 100 the second day.

This does not worry administrators, who eventually expect to park 250 to 300 cars per day.

But it was the 16 employees shivering in the 42-degree chill at 6:30 a.m. Friday who wished for more action. “It’s really cold,” said Angel Valdivia. Only two cars had pulled in so far. “We want more people to park so we can keep moving.”

Valdivia and many of his crew are valet parking veterans. He recalls receiving $100 tips from customers in Beverly Hills.

At the airport, all tips are shared. Thursday’s take was only about $5 each.

“We made good tips in Beverly Hills,” said Lorenzo Gutierrez wistfully. “I knew Tina Turner . . . Robert Wagner, Mr. T., Julio Iglesias,” but Gutierrez has yet to see his first star at Burbank.

Mel Cohen and Dudley Cohn wanted to see how they did in Las Vegas before deciding on a tip. “Eighteen bucks is a lot of money,” Cohn said as he handed over the keys. ‘Ask us tomorrow when we get back what we think.”