Every North Texan eventually develops an airport allegiance. Love Field loyalists swear by the ten-minute walk from car to gate; DFW regulars point to nonstops everywhere on earth. But when someone asks you to drive them at 5 a.m., or you are pricing a week of parking for a summer trip, allegiance matters less than arithmetic. The two airports charge differently, structure their garages differently, and handle pickups differently.
Here are the posted rates at both, straight from the airports themselves, plus the free-wait rules that keep a pickup from costing you anything at all.
Parking at Love Field: simple, close, mid-priced
Love Field keeps it to three garages and a valet, all steps from the terminal, and the city-run airport posts its daily rates plainly. Garage A, the closest to the ticketing hall, runs $24 a day on all levels. Garage B is $21 a day covered or $18 on the uncovered roof, about an eight-minute walk. Garage C, a four-minute walk with its own skybridge, is $21 covered and $20 on the roof, with a third-level premium section at $30. Contactless valet is $35 a day, no reservation needed.
Payment is flexible by airport standards: NTTA TollTag, credit card or cash at the exit or at kiosks near the entrances. Spaces are first come, first served, and parking is limited to 60 days.
Parking at DFW: a wider price ladder
DFW’s on-airport options span a much broader range, and the airport publishes rates for each product. Terminal parking, the garages attached to all five terminals, tops out at $32 for a day. Express parking near the north entrance runs $18 a day uncovered or $21 covered, with shuttles that pick you up near your trunk. Remote lots at the north and south ends are the budget play at $14 a day with nonstop buses to every terminal.
Two DFW quirks to know. First, there is no cash: the garages take major credit cards and TollTags with a credit card on file, so a cash-only wallet gets stuck at the exit plaza. Second, DFW rewards planning. The airport’s prebooking system offers up to 50 percent off drive-up rates with no booking or cancellation fees, which over a two-week vacation can amount to real money. Parking at DFW is limited to 90 days.
The math for a real trip
Take a five-day trip. At Love Field, Garage B covered costs $105; Garage A convenience costs $120. At DFW, remote is $70, express covered is $105, and the terminal garage is $160. In other words, the two airports price their covered, shuttle-free-ish middle tiers almost identically, DFW’s remote lot undercuts anything Love Field offers if you do not mind a bus ride, and DFW’s terminal garages are the premium of the market, priced for the traveler who wants an elevator ride to check-in.
Off-airport private lots surround both fields at lower sticker prices, but compare honestly: add the shuttle wait on both ends, and check whether the quote includes taxes and fees. The airports’ own economy options have narrowed the gap in recent years.
Cell lots: the free way to do pickups
Circling the arrivals curb is the most expensive free activity in aviation, and both airports would rather you wait in a designated lot until your traveler is actually standing on the sidewalk.
At DFW, there are two free cell phone lots: one at the north end just before the north toll plaza, one at the south end near Rental Car Drive and Southgate Avenue. Waiting is free for up to two hours, and the one firm rule is that a driver must stay with the vehicle; these are waiting lots, not parking lots, and cars cannot be left overnight. This matters at DFW more than anywhere, because simply driving through the airport’s plazas without stopping triggers the minimum charge, listed at $9 for up to eight minutes on the airport’s rate table. Idling in the cell lot until the “I’m outside” text arrives costs nothing.
Love Field has its own free cell phone waiting lot as well, and a backup trick built into the garage rates: Garages A and B are free for the first 30 minutes, and Garage C is free for the first 59 minutes on most levels. If your arriving passenger wants help with bags, you can park, walk in, and still pay nothing if you are quick about it.
The bottom line
For drop-offs and pickups, both airports can be done for free with a cell lot and a little patience. For short trips where convenience rules, Love Field’s $24 Garage A and DFW’s $32 terminal garages buy the shortest walks in North Texas aviation. For long trips on a budget, DFW’s $14 remote lots are the number to beat, especially prebooked. Check the airport’s own parking page the week you fly, since rates and construction closures change, and whatever you do, do not improvise at the toll plaza.
This article was produced with AI assistance and reviewed by a human editor. Figures are linked to their primary sources; where a claim could not be verified from the public record, we say so.
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