Getting a Jump on Parking at the Airport

Travelers with an insecurity complex about airport parking may want to consider reserving a spot by Internet, especially during the holidays, when lots can fill up.

One growing player in that field is AirportParkingLots.com (www.airportparkinglots.com), a Suffield, Conn.-based company that began the year with listings at six airports and now lists more than 50 in the U.S. (including LAX, San Diego and Ontario, Calif.) and 14 in Britain, according to Tom Lombardi, the company president.

Usually the company contracts with just one private lot or operator at each airport. (It doesn’t cover public lots.) On the Web site you can reserve parking for particular dates. At LAX, the service uses 105 Airport Parking and Park Air Express (owned separately but managed together, Lombardi says), and last week, both were offering rates of $10 a day for a Dec. 21-to-26 stay in indoor parking. That’s in the low to middle range of rates the Travel section listed Nov. 18 for private lots near LAX (not all have garages); public lots outside the terminal cost $5 to $7 per day.