Cell Phone Lots at Airports (2015)

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Airports operate cell phone lots as an element of the ground access system, allowing greeters to wait temporarily in a free parking lot until an arriving air passenger is ready for pickup. These lots can assist airport operators in managing congestion at the curb and they deter greeters from circling the airport or waiting unsafely alongside airport roads. As a parking product, cell phone lots have a cost and benefit. For most airports, cell phone lots do not generate revenue. Individual airports treat airport cell phone lots in different ways: as a vehicle staging area, a free or time-limited parking product, or a concession. The perception of its principal function has led airport operators to differ- ent decisions regarding location and capacity of the lots, and to different levels of investment in cell phone lot improvements and amenities. Airport cell phone lots touch on many issues facing airport management today, including: • Airport cost recovery for services rendered; • The need for security and reduction of congestion at the curbside and around the landside terminal area; • Air quality management on airport property; • Revenue development for parking and other non-aeronautical on-airport businesses; • Enhanced customer service to ensure customer satisfaction, remain competitive with other airports in the area, and respond to customer requests; and • Use of mobile technologies to assist greeters in timing pickup of arriving passengers. How an airport operator balances and addresses each of these issues results in a unique cell phone lot solution. The objective of the synthesis was to shed light on current airport practices to size, locate, develop, manage, and maintain cell phone lots. The intended audience for the synthesis includes airport landside and parking operations and airport managers. This synthesis included a literature review and Internet research; an Internet search of the top 110 airports in the National Plan of Integrated Airports Systems, including social media comments about cell phone lots; an online survey of airports representing diverse geography and airport size; and follow-up telephone interviews with survey participants. Although there have been press releases about cell phone lots and a few published articles, this synthesis represents one of the first efforts to gather data about these lots. The report’s findings are summarized here and discussed in more detail in the report that follows: • From the airport operator’s perspective, a cell phone lot provides a waiting place away from the terminal area that can lessen congestion at the curb and reduce environment pollution from recirculating and idling vehicles. • Cell phone lots are increasingly common offerings at airports. An Internet search of 110 of the largest airports in the United States and Canada identified 96 airports with one or more cell phone lots. • As the lots are usually free, airport operators do not recover operating and maintenance costs. • Cell phone lots tend to be small. Of the 96 airports with cell phone lots, two-thirds (65) have fewer than 100 spaces, and 29 have 30 or fewer. CELL PHONE LOTS AT AIRPORTS SUMMARY

2 • Airport operators interviewed for this synthesis viewed cell phone lots primarily as a customer service. Several airports have or are contemplating non-aeronautical revenue-generating activi- ties at their cell phone lots. • Staff from landside operations typically manages and maintains cell phone lots. Airport security patrols the lots as part of regular rounds. • Because most airports require drivers to stay with their vehicles at all times, drivers reported (through social media) that they used the time waiting in cell phone lots to view aircraft take-offs and landings, clean out cars, walk dogs, read, or access the Internet while waiting for arriving passengers. • In interviews, airport operators identified the following as issues: – Overcrowding and congestion in the cell phone lots at peak arrival times and around Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays – Congestion on airport access roads near the entrance or egress points of the cell phone lot – Use of the lot by for Transportation Network Carrier (TNC) vehicles, taxis, or other com- mercial vehicles – Notification of greeters when passengers are at the curb ready for pickup (as opposed to when the aircraft lands). The chapters that follow examine the ways that airports address cell phone lots as an important component of ground access and how different airports operators have implemented a cell phone lot strategy that fits within their business models.