Airport parking is one of those trip costs that can grow quietly. According to Yahoo's report on advice from travel expert Ricky Durrance, the main way to avoid overpaying is to understand exactly how your car park charges, plan around more than your flight times, and add only a sensible buffer.
That matters for anyone heading out on a trip, whether it's a food-focused weekend away or a family holiday. Every pound or dollar saved on parking is money for a market lunch or a proper sit-down dinner at your destination. Here is how to put the advice into practice.
Start With How Your Car Park Actually Charges
Before you pick a time slot, find out how the car park counts a day. The two common approaches are worth knowing:
- Calendar-day parking: you're charged by the date on the calendar. In simple terms, crossing midnight can mean paying for another day.
- 24-hour parking: you're charged in blocks of 24 hours from the moment you enter. Return a little late and you may tip into another block.
These are our plain-language definitions of the two models, and the exact rules vary by operator. The point of Durrance's advice, as reported by Yahoo, is that the charging method decides which timing mistakes will cost you. Read the terms before you book, not after.
Plan Around Your Real Times, Not Your Flight Times
Your flight time is not the time you enter or leave the car park. Per the report, the useful habit is to plan beyond flight times. Work out two numbers:
Your real entry time
This is when you'll pull into the car park, which has to be well before departure once you account for any shuttle transfer and getting to the terminal. If you're using a car park with a shuttle bus, remember that the bus ride sits between your car and check-in.
Your real exit time
This is when you'll drive out of the car park on your return, not when your plane lands. Between landing and leaving, you still have to get through the airport, collect any luggage, and take the shuttle back to your car if there is one.
A late-evening arrival is where this bites. If your flight lands close to midnight, the walk, the baggage wait and the shuttle can push your exit past it. Under a calendar-day system, that can mean paying for an extra day you never intended to use.
Add a Buffer, but Keep It Sensible
Delays happen, so a little breathing room is smart. The advice here is to add only a sensible buffer, meaning enough to cover a delayed flight or a slow shuttle without booking far more time than you need.
A simple way to set it:
- Write down your scheduled landing time.
- Add time for getting through the airport and any shuttle transfer.
- Check whether that total lands near a day boundary (midnight on a calendar-day system, or the 24-hour mark on a block system).
- If it does, decide whether a modest extra cushion is cheaper than risking an additional day's charge.
If your estimated exit sits comfortably inside a charging period, you may not need much extra at all. If it sits right on the edge, the buffer is where your money is won or lost.
A Quick Pre-Booking Checklist
Run through these before you pay:
- Does this car park charge by calendar day or by 24-hour block?
- What time will I realistically enter, including shuttle and terminal time?
- What time will I realistically leave on my return, including baggage and shuttle?
- Does my return time come close to midnight or to a 24-hour boundary?
- Have I added a sensible buffer for delays, without padding it far beyond what I need?
The report also frames these as the checks to make before booking, so doing them at the booking stage gives you the most room to adjust.
Why This Is Worth Doing Before Busy Travel Periods
Yahoo's report ties the advice to October half-term travel, when more families head to airports and look to trim holiday costs. Busy periods raise the odds of delays, and small timing mistakes can quickly turn expensive. The checklist above works just as well at any time of year, because the way a car park counts its days doesn't change with the season.
The Takeaway
Before you book airport parking, look up how the car park counts a day, write down your realistic exit time rather than your landing time, and add a buffer only where your return sits close to a day boundary. Five minutes of checking could save you an entire extra day's charge, and that's a few more meals out at your destination.
