NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — As summer travel hits its stride, your wallet may feel the strain.
The Nashville International Airport upped its prices for parking late last year.
As travel picks up this season, you may notice how expenses have changed.
BNA charges $20 a day for economy lots, $30 for garages, and $40 for valet.
Compare that to airports in similar-sized cities, like Columbus, Austin, Charlotte, Raleigh-Durham and Atlanta, and you'll find lower prices.
"When you start calculating how much that adds up to, it's a lot of money," said one flyer at BNA Saturday.
"I debate whether to park in the $30 a day which is super close but a little more convenient, or maybe doing the valet which is more like $45 a day," added Kevin White, who travels often for work.
David Oates, who oversees the economy lot at BNA, says although he often hears complaints, he believes it's a fair price.
"Usually they're pretty good about their prices, they haven't went up in a while," said Oates, noting while the price increased in December, it was pretty consistent in years prior.
In the future, the airport may increase parking space.
In recent BNA Board meetings, airport leaders mentioned that the current parking lots are not enough to keep up with the number of passengers.
They've approved many studies looking into solutions for this and have discussed potentially adding hundreds of new parking spots.
In response to our questions about pricing, a spokesperson with BNA says they "regularly benchmark prices nationally against the top 30 airports" and have a "commitment to competitive pricing".
BNA adds their rates are lower than those in downtown locations, and the rates include not only parking but the costs of lighting, security, maintenance, and cleaning.
In regards to new parking space, BNA hopes to make a decision on this by the end of the year. The process was brought to the forefront with their Donelson Pike project with TDOT.
Fostering Hope provides Christmas for kids in foster care. I'm delighted to see Fostering Hope expand this year to expand their reach to now include kids in Foster care in metro AND foster kids in East TN hard hit by Helene.
-Bree Smith
