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Parking providers say DFW Airport is using 'unfair' fees to push them out

Private park-and-go service operators say the airport is levying unfair fees to price them out of competing with its own parking offerings. The airport calls the fees reasonable, saying they’re necessary to improve infrastructure.

Private park-and-go services say DFW International Airport is imposing unfair fees to price them out of competing with its own parking options.

Leaders of three off-site parking providers — FreedomPark, Park 'N Fly and The Parking Spot — raised  their concerns Thursday at a meeting of the airport's board of directors.

The airport called the fees reasonable, saying they're needed to improve infrastructure.

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DFW Airport staff members determine the fees, which are required of commercial vehicles that pick up and drop off passengers curbside.

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“We are here to ask this board to become actively engaged in resolving this inequitable treatment,” Jeff Foland, chief executive of The Parking Spot, told board members, according to a transcript of the meeting that he provided. “I think we can all agree that fees assessed by DFW on private enterprises should be fair, equitable and not anti-competitive."

Because DFW Airport offers its own parking services, Foland said he believes the airport is trying to price out its competitors.

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He was joined at the meeting by FreedomPark chief executive Ken Kundmueller and Noah Mehzun, chief internal auditor for Park 'N Fly.

Foland said he and his colleagues are willing to pay reasonable fees.

"Charge everyone via the same mechanism and the same amount, and adjust by type of vehicle," he said. "We want a level playing field, as opposed to a fox watching the henhouse, where people running their parking operation are determining fees."

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DFW Airport reissued a statement from late 2018 in response to inquiries from The Dallas Morning News. The statement, initially released after the airport raised the off-airport service providers' fee from 10 percent of gross revenue to 12 percent, cited the airport's $500 million investment in "transportation enhancements" over the last 10 years.

“Reasonable fees and charges are the best way to facilitate infrastructure improvements for the roads and bridges that these providers and our customers use every day," the statement said, noting that it was the first fee increase for the parking services since 2010.

Off-airport parking service providers on Thursday morning showed DFW Airport's Board of...
Off-airport parking service providers on Thursday morning showed DFW Airport's Board of Directors a slide illustrating the difference in curb access fees for various service vehicles.

Foland said that after that increase, he and others tried to work with airport staff to overhaul the fee model, but they felt the airport wasn't doing enough. He said his company pays more to operate at DFW than at any other airport in the country.

He also said off-site parking providers pay more for curb access than any other transportation service at DFW, including hotel vans, taxis and services such as Uber and Lyft.

Under the current system, most providers are charged for access on a per-trip basis, which Foland said was preferable to being charged a percentage of revenue.

Airport officials did not say whether the board would issue guidance on the issue, noting that it was not on the meeting agenda and no action was taken on the issue.