DCA Parking

[DCTooTall]

Right now it looks like for flight cost and availability issues, I may be flying out of DCA (Reagan) for my trip next year. I was wondering about what to do about airport parking. Obviously there is the onsite parking options, but i was wondering about the possibility of offsite parking.


Does anybody have any recommendations or ideas for offsite parking for a flight out of DCA?

One thing I saw and was thinking about was parking at a Metro station and taking the train to the airport, but from what I'm gathering from the metro site is there are only 3 metro stations that offer multiday parking, but I don't see much info on cost or actual availability. Has anybody done this?

 

[disfan07]

I would look at what a hotel would cost to stay at and parking there for the trip.

If you go onto Metros website you can find out about long-term parking. It is only offered at 3 stations and they only have about 15 spaces at each of those stations that you can park in for up to 10 days. Only 2 of these stations (franconia, and huntington) are on a line that goes directly to the airport BUT both of these stations are south of teh sirport so it wouldnt really make sense to drive past the airport to take the train back.

Onsite parking is expensive. There is only 1 economy lot which is $12/day and the daily garages are $20/day.

We flew out of DCA a few times when we lived in Virginia but we always took the metro in but we didnt have to park at teh metro. We either took a cab to the metro station or we got a ride from someone.

We have never done offsite parking at National.

 

[prncess674]

DCA is pretty sparse for long term offsite parking and what is there is expensive. I see that you are flying from York, PA, you may want to wait and see what SWA opens up out of BWI which is much closer.

 

[saphyre]

by the time you drive to dca, pay for parking, get there 2 hours ahead, get on plane, get off plane, get baggage.....you could have driven, save lots of money and not lost much time at all, especially with 2 drivers. We do it all the time from southern maryland.

 

[jsilvers]

Some of the hotels in neighboring Crystal City offer parking, but it isn't clear if you'll end up saving very much; a website which provides information about park-and-fly deals at the hotels is http://www.airportparkingreservations.com/washington_reagan_airport_parking_dca, but you might be better off contacting them directly.

 

[DCTooTall]

I did the Drive last year to Florida, and while it was doable, It's not something I'm in the immediate mood to repeat. Besides the fact it's just me driving (Solo trip, though meeting friends down there), I'm driving a different vehicle this year that I just wouldn't trust to make the drive.

I'm also not a big SWA fan. I'm a tall guy, so reserved seating is a BIG plus for me since I can try and sit myself someplace with some semblance of decent leg room if I am flying coach.

 

[prncess674]

I did the Drive last year to Florida, and while it was doable, It's not something I'm in the immediate mood to repeat. Besides the fact it's just me driving (Solo trip, though meeting friends down there), I'm driving a different vehicle this year that I just wouldn't trust to make the drive.

I'm also not a big SWA fan. I'm a tall guy, so reserved seating is a BIG plus for me since I can try and sit myself someplace with some semblance of decent leg room if I am flying coach.

Not sure what airline you are flying but I wouldn't expect extra legroom just because you have a reserved seat. Most airlines hold back bulkhead and exit row seats for elite level flyers. I assuming you are flying US Air which in fact does reserve exit rows for elites. They will sell for a small fee seats at the front but they have no more legroom than the seats at the back of the plane. The flight is only two hours. I wouldn't drive an additional two hours, pay sky high parking just to get a reserved seat. If you want your pick of the seats on SWA buy the EBCI.

 

[DCTooTall]

Not sure what airline you are flying but I wouldn't expect extra legroom just because you have a reserved seat. Most airlines hold back bulkhead and exit row seats for elite level flyers. I assuming you are flying US Air which in fact does reserve exit rows for elites. They will sell for a small fee seats at the front but they have no more legroom than the seats at the back of the plane. The flight is only two hours. I wouldn't drive an additional two hours, pay sky high parking just to get a reserved seat. If you want your pick of the seats on SWA buy the EBCI.

I normally fly out of BWI, so DCA is only about an extra hour...maybe? I'm actually more of a Delta flyer. I have to fly Delta for any work flights, so I've got a frequent flyer account with them. Besides Delta, I tend to fly Airtran, but i'm not sure how that's going to change with the recent changes.

 

[prncess674]

I normally fly out of BWI, so DCA is only about an extra hour...maybe? I'm actually more of a Delta flyer. I have to fly Delta for any work flights, so I've got a frequent flyer account with them. Besides Delta, I tend to fly Airtran, but i'm not sure how that's going to change with the recent changes.

Delta reserves for elites as well. I haven't heard you mention that you are an elite level flyer. With traffic of either transiting thru DC or going around DC it is easily over an hour with minimal traffic, more if during weekday peak hours. Don't forget to add Delta baggage fees to your cost analysis.