Airport cell phone parking lot

I’m picking up my mother at the airport today, and I took the day off. It was just easier versus trying to take a half-day.

Anyways, on the way to the airport, a few weeks ago, I noticed a sign for a cell phone waiting area parking lot. When I got home, I went to the los angeles airport website and found the information on that parking lot. Apparently, you can wait there for up to 2 hours, while waiting for your party to call and say they’re standing outside

I’d never heard of this, and it was just coincidence that I happened to see the sign

I’m planning to be in that parking lot and listen to npr radio, until my mom calls. Hopefully it’s not full. On the map, it didn’t look like a very large lot.

Is this type of cell phone parking lot a recent thing?

Do many other large cities have this?

Seems like a good idea to me . . . hopefully I won’t report back and say what a horrible experience it was

Yes, very common. All major airports have them.

A number of airports have this arrangement now; it saves time and money. My son uses it regularly since his wife does management workshops all over the country.

They’ve been around a few years, Dallas Love field has one that I use, DFW doesn’t (that I know of), folks park on the shoulder of the access road, dangerous…

Is this fairly recent?

I’ve never heard of it, but, then, I don’t get out much. I like the idea.

It kind of irks me, because a few months ago, I picked up my brother and his family at the airport. Had I known, I would have been in that cell phone parking lot, waiting for his call.

Driving to the main parking lot, walking to where my brother was and walking back to the car cost a lot of time, and several dollars

When I picked up a friend at JFK airport last year, I don’t recall anything like what the OP describes, but perhaps I may have missed it. If JFK doesn’t have it, I wish that they would copy what LAX (and apparently some others) have done. The drive to JFK is bad enough, but when you add in the parking fees for their “regular” lots, it becomes distinctly unpleasant.

Cell phone lots are a good idea and require cell phones and passengers who don’t need help being picked up.

There was a 2006 article
http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/tech/wireless/2006-07-17-cell-lots_x.htm

I noticed them popping up after the rules regarding waiting at the terminal changed after 9/11. Before that it was pandemonium at the pick up areas with three cars deep, scattered all over the place or making endless loops around the airport waiting for a spot to open up. Or paying to park and walk in to greet them. The cell lots changed all that- assuming your party has a cell phone!

@Waterbuff

Thanks. That was interesting reading material.

Here’s a cut and paste. It’s a comment about the los angeles cell phone lot

“Buying radio and newspaper ads to promote usage.”

Your article was from 2006, yet I’d never heard about the cell phone lots until just a few weeks ago. NOBODY I know here has ever heard about it. I listen to the radio all the time, on the way to and from work, and sometimes in the house. Mostly npr. I don’'t read the newspaper very often, though, so if there was an ad in the LA times, I wouldn’t know

Coincidentally, a few days ago, they were promoting the cell phone lot on the radio.

So, since 2006 . . .

I coincidentally saw the cell phone lot sign, because I happened to be looking in the direction of the sign. If I was looking in the other direction, I would have missed it

One single time, I heard it mentioned on the radio. But that’s after I already saw the sign and looked it up on the airport website

And now you guys have mentioned it

Clearly, they are not doing enough to make the public aware of the lot(s). I’ve been to the airport plenty of times since that article was published in 2006 . . .

Yeah same in Minneapolis. Since 9/11 you can’t stop or park near the terminal because of possible bomb damage. So I end up either continuously circling around while the wife goes inside, or parking in the cell phone lot waiting for the call. If you have a bomb in the cell phone lot, not much damage will be done. Its really insane how far we have come.

Seattle has had one for about 10 years now, maybe more?

The Boston Airport has one…so does Manchester NH airport have one. I’ve used both waiting for wife or one of my kids. You wait there until your loved ones call to tell you that they’re waiting outside with their bags.

They built them after 911. Before 911 you could wait around the airport terminal waiting for your loved ones arrive.They have several police at each of the airport terminals to keep traffic moving and not parked waiting for someone.

How did you other guys become aware of the cell phone lots in your cities . . . ?!

Word of mouth

newspaper

radio

friends

church

etc.

I’m really curious, because as I said, nobody I know here has ever heard of it

Saw it when I drove by, it’s just a plain small lot with a small sign.

Just saw the signs as I was entering the airport. Arrivals, departures, rental car return, cell phone lot, long term parking, etc…

I saw the one in LAX, probably more than 2 years ago. Honestly, the horseshoe in LAX is a parking lot itself esp with the constructions going on!

@db4690 God bless you for picking your mom up. I have given up. Ask my family that visit from Germany to just take the shuttle. I am more than happy to pay the shuttle fee. It is much cheaper than the gas, time and aggravation of driving to LAX.

Sounds like they’re not trying very hard to make people aware of them

Some of the airports I’ve been to have these lots and some of them don’t. Sometimes you can use the cheapest long-term lot for this purpose for free.

I suppose I started to see these after 9/11 when you couldn’t wait by the terminals any longer, as others have already said.