BWI Marshall Airport Daily Garage — Local services in Ferndale

DO NOT TAKE PARKING TICKET THROUGH SECURITY SCANNERS

Parking was easy and the wait for the shuttle to the terminal wasn’t long. (For reference, we arrived and parked at 3:00am and was able to get through security and to our gate within the next hour.) It was smooth sailing for the most part.

HOWEVER, we had issues leaving the garage late Sunday night when we came home. Like most vehicles, we went to the prepaid/credit card lanes to check out of the garage but the card reader would not read our ticket. We were told it was because we took the parking ticket with us through airport security and the scanners deactivated the magnetic strip. There was absolutely no signage warning us about this and we’ve never had this issue before with any airport garage- you think they would warn us about something like that before people use the daily parking garage? Especially if they are traveling solo.

What an absolute nightmare.

This created massive build up as we were not the only car that had this problem. Easily 10-15 cars from what we’ve seen got stuck at the gate and we’re instructed to back up and go to the cash only lane. Imagine being blocked in at a gate with 15 cars behind you and are told you have to back up all the way up and go back into another line all the way across the garage. This caused massive confusion and all sorts of vehicles were out of grid lock, cutting in front of the other, and creating one big mess. They really should have just let the cars that were stuck at the gate go because this caused such a headache trying to leave and it was not something you wanted to deal with after traveling all day. Especially when it was clearly an issue on the airport’s end.

And then to top it off, one of the workers had a HUGE attitude during all this mess. She wasn’t even dressed in her uniform, walking around in sweats, and she was placing orange cones around cars and closing off available lanes, rudely shouting “They can just wait.” to whoever was about to go next. I get that it was probably stressful on their end too, but come on!

My advice is be prepared to take the cash only exit if you are leaving the garage. Leave your parking ticket in your glove box. And get out as soon as...

BWI PARKING OPTIONS

• HOURLY PARKING * Most $$, but critical to save time & stress if you're flying out & back within 24 hr. period & have to work the next day.

Park opposite of your airline baggage checkin point or security point when toting a carry on bag.

NOT ALL security points are TSA Precheck.

Park nearest the walkway bridge that coincides with your BAGGAGE or SECURITY ENTRY POINT to shave off minutes.

Allow 10 to 15 minutes in your schedule to get to (SECURITY or BAGGAGE drop) point.

• DAILY PARKING * (Covered Parking Garage) Chevy VOLTS Not Allowed.

Bus stops at TWO locations on EAST and WEST sides of garage at GROUND level.

Park near the CENTER areas on upper floors to access the elevators quickly. Take a PICTURE of the garage column marker (Example 4F) as soon as you exit your vehicle to avoid stress upon return.

Board at Stops 1, 2 or 3 - bus fills QUICKLY during busy season/s.

Stop numbers relative to daily garage compass points STOP 1 - North/West STOP 2 - South/West STOP 3 - South/East STOP 4** - North/East

** Bus may not always stop at stop 4 even if not completely full!

I think that's to maintain an even pickup/dropoff interval.

Allow 23 minutes to your schedule for daily parking.

• EXPRESS PARKING * Reserve 15-20 minutes in your schedule to get to the terminal.

Express parking is the best balance of proximity to the terminal and cost. $2 more/day than long term and 10-20 minutes less time enroute.

The lot is SMALL so it fills quick. **Must use CC to Enter & SAME CARD to exit.

• LONG TERM PARKING * Reserve 30 minutes in your schedule for Longterm A or B. Lowest cost for airport parking.

• OFF SITE PARKING * Nearby but less secure and limited shuttle sometimes requires an Uber/Taxi. Allow up to 45 minutes in your schedule depending on location.

• RETURNING TO BWI * Expect UP TO 1 hour wait to get your luggage! BWI is challenged in this area just like they are challenged for gate attendees when your aircraft pulls up to the gate as are a few airports.

• BWI TSA SECURITY * NO delay issues as long as you have TSA Precheck, CLEAR or other. Otherwise allow 30 minutes in your schedule during...

BWI is my home airport and I fly 2 to 3 times every other month. Last month I was in a hurry to park in the daily garage and usually there's a space available on the first floor level. We'll this time it was coined off so I just drove up to the next level and quickly parked my jeep and dashed to the elevator down to catch the shuttle to the airport. Well....when I returned several days later I completely forgot where I parked my jeep. This has never happened to me before. Ughhhh. I was feverishly looking for it toting my bags becoming completely frustrated. I'm also type 1 diabetic and I was falling into a hypoglycemic attack. Thankfully one of the nicest guys who works in the garage as security driving around in his car saw that I was having a hard tike finding my jeep. He asked me to get in his car describe in detail what my black jeep looked like (black lifted wirh big tires with a "Joker" face metal plate on the back gate by the CB antenna) and we combed each aisle on each level - he was so patient and very cool. Then my diabetes really took effect and I had to get out of his car and attend to my glucose drop. He drove me toward the vending immediately and I "refuelled" with an orange juice, water and cookies. As I was getting my glucose level back up He drove back and said "I found your jeep!! It's on level 3 by the ramp!!" I couldn't of been more happy and thankful 🙏 I wish i knew his name for i wouldve added it to this post. If he didn't help me I seriously don't know what I would've done and my diabetes would've really put me in a bad situation to try to get help back at the airport. I hope this gets to the management at the garage.I just flew put for work again today and I'm adding my jeep space photo to this post lol Thank you so so much for going beyond your regular day of work in the garage brother you were awesome....