Flying out of Pangborn? Here’s how parking works now

WENATCHEE — You pull into the parking lot at Pangborn Memorial Airport, scan the QR code on the sign, and it tells you your stay will cost $0 for 0–4 hours. You enter your email anyway, just to be safe, and walk toward the terminal wondering if you did it right.

As of Feb. 1, that moment of uncertainty matters a little more than it used to.

Pangborn Memorial Airport has moved to a prepayment system for parking, meaning travelers are now expected to pay for their parking before leaving on their trip, rather than settling up when they return.

“The format hasn’t changed,” said Trent Moyers, Director of Airports for the Chelan-Douglas Regional Port Authority. “It’s a matter of educating people on how to do it.”

Parking rates remain the same. Long-term parking costs $10 per 24 hours. Short-term parking costs $13 per 24 hours, for travelers who prefer to be closer to the terminal doors. Obviously the advantage for one over the other is if you need to park for more than 24 hours, because it rounds up — 24 hours and one minute will cost the same as 47 hours and 59 minutes. Just plan on another few feet of walking from long-term, and save yourself a few bucks.

There are no gates, ticket arms, or pay-on-exit machines like those found at larger airports, something Moyers said would be a significant expense the airport is not prepared to take on.

Instead, travelers have several options to pay ahead of time: through a parking app, through the airport’s website, by using a text-to-pay option, or at a kiosk located inside the terminal near the ticket counter. The kiosk option, Moyers noted, is limited and only allows travelers to prepay for up to eight days at a time.

If a vehicle is found parked without prepayment, the airport may assess a fee after the fact. Towing is generally reserved only for repeat offenders who consistently ignore notices.

One of the challenges airport staff have heard from travelers is not resistance to paying, but confusion about how and where to do it.

“We offer a lot of different options,” Moyers said. “I think it’s getting the word out to people that they’re there.”

That confusion is compounded by parking lot signage that can be difficult to interpret while standing in the lot. Long-term areas have blue signs and short-term areas are marked with green signs on the tall light poles in the lots, but Moyers acknowledged that the color coding and lot identification could be clearer. That’s because, for now, the signs that have actual parking stall numbers on them have all the colors the same, although they do each say “Long Term” or “Short Term” on them.

“I think that’s where the signage issue could be addressed,” he said.

The airport plans to improve parking lot signage later this year, with airport staff and Port maintenance personnel working together to make lot identification more intuitive for travelers. Input from parking enforcement staff, who regularly interact with confused visitors, will help shape those improvements.

The emphasis on parking clarity comes at a time when Pangborn is seeing consistently strong passenger numbers. Flights are currently departing at roughly 85 percent capacity, a noticeable increase from past years. Winter flight cancellations, once a concern for travelers wary of mountain weather, have dropped dramatically in recent years following upgrades to the airport’s approach lighting system that allows aircraft to land in lower visibility conditions.

Moyers said parking revenue plays an important role in keeping the airport financially self-sustaining, which is why the airport is focusing on compliance rather than changing rates or installing costly infrastructure.

“We just want people to pay for what they’re using,” he said.

For travelers, the key takeaway is simple: before heading out of town, take a moment in the parking lot to use one of the available payment options — app, website, text, or kiosk — and make sure your stay is covered.

It may take an extra minute before your trip, but it can save confusion when you return home.

Andrew Simpson: 509-433-7626 or andrew@ward.media