Note 06
The weeks the corridor fills, in the order they tighten
For most of the year a reservation the day before is comfortable. Four or five windows a year it is not, and the pattern is the same every time.
26 May 2026Availability
Availability here is not a smooth curve. It is flat for nine months and then four or five windows where every operator on the corridor tightens within the same forty eight hours.
The windows
Late December. The two weeks around the end of the year, and the second of them is worse than the first. Oversized bays are gone about three weeks ahead, covered decks about two, surface bays about ten days.
The week of Thanksgiving. Sharper and shorter. The Tuesday and Wednesday before it are the two hardest days on this corridor all year, and the Sunday after is the hardest collection day.
Spring break, which is not one week. It moves by school district and spreads across three or four weeks in March and April. Less severe, harder to predict, and the reason a March reservation should not be left to the day before.
Any large event in the city. A convention that fills the hotels also fills this corridor, because a share of the attendees drive in and leave the car. These are the ones that catch people out, because nothing about the calendar looks unusual.
The first genuinely hot week of the year. Small effect, real one: weekend departures rise and the surface lots nearest the stand go first.
What goes first, every time
- 1. Oversized bays. A fixed quantity, and the first category to disappear in every window above.
- 2. Covered decks. Second, and they empty from the lots closest to the airport outward.
- 3. Surface bays near the shuttle stand. Where an operator sells position, this is the part that sells.
- 4. Everything else. Which is why the corridor rarely runs out completely; it runs out of what people want.
How much notice each window needs
| Window | Oversized | Covered | Surface |
|---|---|---|---|
| Late December | 3 weeks | 2 weeks | 10 days |
| Thanksgiving week | 2 weeks | 10 days | 5 days |
| Spring break | 10 days | 5 days | 2 days |
| A large city event | 2 weeks | 1 week | 4 days |
| An ordinary week | 3 days | 2 days | The day before |
Those are the numbers this desk works to. They are not promises about somebody else's inventory, they are what has been true along this corridor.
The peak week rate on the rates page exists because of these windows, and it is named in the quote before you accept rather than added at the gate afterwards.
What we will not do in a peak window
Take a reservation we cannot fill. In late December we will tell you the corridor is tight, name what is actually open, and if that is nothing we will say so the same day.
It would be easy to accept the booking and sort it out later. That is how somebody ends up at a gate on the twenty third of December with a reference number and no bay.
Reserve early for the windows
The reservation form is the same form in every season; what changes is how much lead time it needs. For anything in the four windows above, call +1 (415) 906-2431 instead and we will tell you honestly where the corridor stands. Monday to Thursday 7:00 am to 7:00 pm, Friday 7:00 am to 4:00 pm, Pacific Time.