One Hour Free Parking at Sea-Tac Airport During Thanksgiving Holiday

Airport opens 1900 new garage spaces, hopes to reduce congestion at curbside

(Seattle)--In an effort to relieve congestion on the curbside drives at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, the Port of Seattle announced today that during the Thanksgiving holiday parking in the airport garage will be free for those who stay less than one hour.

"We're hoping this will reduce traffic on the drives," said Port of Seattle Commission President Jack Block. "We want meeters and greeters to use the garage instead."

The program will be in effect beginning Tuesday, Nov. 21 through Monday, Nov. 27.

"We hope this will make holiday travel a bit more pleasant for northwest families. The drives are so congested that we think using the garage will be quicker and much less frustrating than trying to drive up to the front door, " Block said.

Helping the cause will be 1900 new parking spaces in the garage's south wing. Those are expected to be available starting Saturday morning, and represent the final phase of a $77 million garage expansion project.

Block had some tips for dropping off or picking up passengers:

Park anywhere in the garage. Parking spaces are most likely to be available in the general parking area.
Minimize your waiting time by making sure the flight you are interested in is on schedule. Visit the Port of Seattle's website at http://www.portseattle.org and follow the links to Sea-Tac Airport, All About Flights, and the Current Flight Status function.
For arriving passengers, plan to meet in the main terminal instead of at curbside.

Block stressed that those who park for less than an hour will still need to process their Exitxpress parking ticket just as they would normally. He added that those who stay longer than one hour will owe the regular one to two hour parking fee of $6.

In a related effort to shift auto traffic off the crowded drives, the Port of Seattle Police Department will strictly enforce rules against parking or waiting in front of the terminal building. Those stopped on the ticketing or baggage claim drives must be actively loading or unloading their vehicles.

Work on the garage expansion project started in 1997. The project added a total of 3000 new spaces, bringing the total garage capacity to 13,000 vehicles. More than 4 million vehicles use the airport garage every year.