Questions
Fourteen questions, answered the way the desk answers them by phone
Fourteen that arrive repeatedly, roughly in the order the post brings them. Anything outside the fourteen still gets a proper answer from a person.
The fourteen
Is my car secure while it is parked?
The operator is the party responsible for the lot and for whatever their own terms provide. Every lot we book with is fenced and lit, most are attended during shuttle hours and cameras at the gates are standard along this corridor, and all of that is the operator's arrangement described to us by the operator. This desk makes no security promise of its own and carries no insurance on any vehicle.
What happens if my flight is delayed on the way back?
Tell us and we extend the reservation at the daily rate before it lapses. Give the return flight number when you reserve and we can often do it before you have landed. Say nothing and the operator charges the extra day at the gate, which is the same money in a worse mood.
How far ahead should I reserve?
For an ordinary bay in an ordinary week, the day before is comfortable. For an oversized bay, for a peak week, or for a drop off before six in the morning, give us as much notice as you can. Oversized is the thin category along the whole corridor.
Can I find out the price without committing?
That is the normal way round. Send dates on the reservation form and a free quote comes back with the daily rate and every applicable addition beside it. Accepting is optional, no bay moves into your name beforehand, and nobody owes anybody anything until you say yes.
Why does the site say rates start from a figure instead of quoting one?
Peak weeks, oversized bays, extra days and local taxes each move a total, so one promised figure would end up arguing with our own rates page. What is printed are floors. The number that counts is the one on the quote you accept, and it stays put unless the reservation itself changes.
How long does the shuttle take?
Eight to eighteen minutes of driving from a lot on this corridor to the terminals, plus whatever the interval adds while you wait. Intervals run about ten to twenty minutes through the day and stretch late at night. The SFO page sets out all three legs with real numbers.
What size vehicle needs an oversized bay?
Anything much over eighteen feet, anything with a roof box, and anything with a rack on the back that does not come off. The table on the bay types page turns a vehicle into a bay type, and getting it wrong is the most common way a drop off goes badly.
Do you take payment on this website?
Never. No page here carries a card field and none is going to. Money changes hands with the operator, either at the gate or when you collect, and the quote names which of the two applies. No call from this desk will ask anybody to read a card number aloud.
What is the notice period for cancelling?
A day ahead of the drop off hour in an ordinary week, two days ahead in a peak one. What falls inside those windows, and how a cancelled flight is treated, is written out on the cancellation policy page.
Do you cover Oakland or San Jose?
No. This desk books one corridor, between San Francisco and SFO, and it says so on the service areas page. A request for either of the other airports gets a straight no the same day rather than a maybe.
Can I leave the car for a month?
Yes, and past about ten days ask for the weekly figure rather than multiplying the daily one. Several operators here price a week under seven day rates and we will name it when it applies.
Nobody was at the gate when I arrived. What now?
Start with the operator's number on your confirmation, since they know which of their people is where. Nothing doing? Then +1 (415) 906-2431 during desk hours. Where a booking we handed over was not honored, we name it as such and sort it out instead of trading blame with the operator.
Why is a parking desk called The Constant Travellers?
Because the two people who started it were flying out of SFO about forty times a year and got tired of solving the same problem from scratch every time. The name is what they were, not a claim to be a travel publication. The about page tells it in a paragraph.
Still not answered
Ring +1 (415) 906-2431 during desk hours to speak to a specialist, or put it in writing to holds@theconstanttravellers.com. Requests are worked Monday to Thursday from 7:00 am to 7:00 pm and Friday from 7:00 am to 4:00 pm, Pacific Time. The desk is closed at weekends, and a request that lands then is answered first thing on Monday.
On the day of travel, for a reservation that already exists, the operator's number is quicker than ours: their feet are at the gate and ours are not.
The related pages
Daily rates
Where each bay type begins, plus every addition that can land on top.
Cancelling or changing
Which windows apply, what falls inside them, and how an airline's own change is treated.
Which bay you need
A table that turns a set of measurements into a bay type.
Make a reservation
Twelve fields in, a free quote back, and no bay reserved until you agree.