Band one of four
Under Four Days, and Why We Will Often Tell You Not to Book With Us
This is the band where a reservations desk in Tucson has to be honest or be useless. The field's own front lots are inexpensive, under canopy and a walk from the door, and for most short trips that is the end of the argument.
01Start with the field itself
The airport's front lots sit directly in front of the terminal, under canopies, and you walk in. There is no van, no wait and no interval to plan around. For a trip of one, two or three days that combination is very hard to beat on anything except price, and the price is not high either.
We do not print the field's figures here. They change, they are not ours to publish, and a page that reprints somebody else's price list is selling their product while pretending to sell its own. Go and look at what the field charges for the dates you have, then come back if the answer below applies to you.
The longer version of this argument is on the airport lots page.
02The two short stay cases where this desk still makes sense
One: the vehicle does not fit comfortably in an ordinary stall. A pickup with a bed cap, a van, a long wheelbase anything. On the mile there are stalls marked longer, and a reservation means the longer stall is there when you arrive rather than being a matter of luck. That is worth a van ride even for two days.
Two: a week in the calendar when the field's front lots fill. It happens, and it is predictable rather than random: the winter visitor weeks, the days around a big local event, the run either side of a holiday. On those days a reservation off the field is not cheaper, it is simply certain. The calendar says which weeks those are.
If neither applies, the honest answer is that you do not need us for three days.
03What a short stay looks like if you do book it
| Step | What happens | Who does it |
|---|---|---|
| Send two dates | The pre-check takes them and nothing else | You |
| We check the mile | Several lots, not one, for that exact run | This desk |
| You get a figure | The band one floor plus any addition that applies | This desk |
| You agree | Then the operator's address, gate hours and van hours come back | This desk |
| You arrive and leave | Payment on the operator's terms, named in the quote | You and the operator |
04What a short stay does not need
- A grade upgrade. Three days of sun does very little to a car. Shade earns its keep over weeks, not days, and we will say so rather than sell it.
- Lead time. Outside the tight weeks, a short stay can be arranged the same working day it is asked for, inside desk hours. That is not a same day promise: it depends on an operator answering, and no operator has promised us that.
- A month of thinking. If you are reading this the day before a flight, the useful sentence is: check the field's own front lots first.
05Where to go next
- The airport's own lotsThe full comparison, and the three times this desk is the wrong call.
- A week to two weeksThe band where a reservation off the field starts to be worth it.
- Rates and additionsThe floor for this band and everything that can sit on top of it.
- Reserve a run of daysEleven fields, no card, nothing held until you agree.