Finding parking at Hartsfield-Jackson like finding gold ahead of busy July 4 travel week

CLAYTON COUNTY, Ga. — During this week’s upcoming July 4 holiday and big travel , finding a parking spot before flying out of Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport is like finding gold.

At multiple points during the day on Friday, six of the Atlanta Airport’s 10 parking lots hit full capacity.

Channel 2′s Michael Doudna was at the airport hearing how the parking capacity was impacting travelers.

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More than six million people are expected to fly in, out and through Hartsfield-Jackson over the holiday travel week ahead of the Fourth of July, but where people park may end up being valuable real estate.

The world’s busiest airport said how busy the holiday travel is is causing the lots to fill up fast and recommends that if you’re flying through, you may want to make plans or set aside time to make sure you can park, or commute to the airport without issue.

Channel 2 Action News talked to multiple people at the airport who said even before the holiday rush really started, getting one of the 32,000 spots was a challenge.

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“I was in a deck when they closed it,” Amy McGhee said. “They closed all the parking decks, so you just circled. The north one, the south one, and the west one, all were closed.”

The busy travel weekend is going to have an impact on everyone coming through, even those visiting Atlanta from somewhere else.

“It took us about 45 minutes to find a flight on Sunday morning, and our flight was at 7,” Yolanda Jackson said. “We are okay, but the people coming in that are trying to fly out maybe Sunday to stay for the week, it’s going to be rough.”

Uber driver Rubin Perkins says he expects a busy holiday week-- and as spots fill up-- prices could surge.

“The airport is usually busy, but even right now, I have been booked up reserved, and waiting. That shows me how busy it is going to be, so I expect a ton of business. I think it is going to be booked up all weekend,” Perkins said.

You can only reserve spots at four of the lots, and the other six are all first-come, first-serve, and will fluctuate depending on how many people are arriving or departing.

You can see which lots are available online at ATL.com.

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