ATLANTA — Thanksgiving travel looms, with the holiday expected to set off a mad scramble for precious parking spots at Atlanta's airport.
The recent closure of the South lot for renovations has made space scarce at other official lots at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport.
For holiday travelers, in many instances it means changing up routines that have long been comfortable.
"I usually park in the lot that they're tearing up - but no more," Mark Jeffries told 11Alive's Jerry Carnes.
Jeffries is a seasoned traveler who now shuttles to the airport from an off-site lot. He said you should treat airport parking like you would dinner at a popular restaurant.
"Oh I do reservations. I got an app on my phone, because you can't get in there unless you got a reservation," he said.
The closer it gets to Thanksgiving, the harder it will be to reserve a spot. You can make reservations at four lots run by the airport.
However, we went to the airport's website to check on prices for a spot from the Wednesday before Thanksgiving to the Sunday after - all we found available were spots for oversized vehicles at $145 for the five days.
As for off-site parking, there are several services available. One of them, Peachy Airport Parking has added spaces for the holidays. If you want covered parking with a shuttle to the airport, the current price is $88 for the Wednesday before Thanksgiving to the following Sunday.
There were 100 of those spots available left to reserve as of Friday morning.
"Usually book, I reserve it days or weeks in advance, so it hasn't been an issue," said one traveler at the airport.
Experienced travelers make the same recommendation - "please, make reservations," said Jefferies.
By the way - if you're thinking ahead for Christmas, there's current availability on the MyParkATL site from the Friday before to the Friday after. But that may not last long.
Security
Officials also outlined security efforts and their recommendations for travelers on Friday in a press conference at the airport. You can watch that in full below:
