DENVER — When she and her husband left for a weeklong trip, Melissa Larson-Lewis says there was nothing unusual about parking at Denver International Airport. They pulled into a garage space on the east side and followed their normal routine.
“My husband always takes a picture of where we park,” Larson-Lewis said. “It was about 6 a.m. [and] we saw nothing. Got our ticket, park the car, take a picture, go to elevator — no signage, nothing in the garage.”
They left on their trip and didn’t give parking any further thought. But when they returned about a week later, something was wrong.
“When we land, we got our luggage. Went out to the parking garage and got there — there were no cars,” she said. “Not our car, no cars. No signage. Nothing.”
Were they in the right spot? Yes, according to their earlier photo.
“We thought the car got stolen because that’s kind of the history of DIA,” Larson-Lewis said. “But deducing all the other cars are gone — something's up.”
She said they made three separate calls to the parking office before someone could give them an answer: Their car had likely been towed by the airport. Larson-Lewis said the staff didn’t know where it was, but a parking employee offered to help them go look for it.
“He took us right to this lot, filled with 50 cars. All had been towed for power washing,” she said. “It went from covered parking to uncovered. Which he said, 'Good news, this whole week, we had good weather.' Which made me feel better.”
Until she left the airport that night, and still got charged for the full week of garage parking. Larson-Lewis reached out to the Steve On Your Side team to ask - how could this happen?
“I politely called [the parking office] the next day and said, ‘You should put a sign up if you're going to do that, so people know,’” she said.
“They told me they put the sign up on Tuesday and I said, well, I parked there on [the previous] Saturday.”
A spokesperson for the airport said they have warned fliers, posting updates on the airport’s website and social media, as well as placing signage around the impacted areas. The cleaning and restriping work is ongoing, and Wednesday night, travelers were blocked from even accessing one East Garage while crews power washed various floors.
9NEWS asked the airport how far in advance they post the signage to warn travelers on longer trips. A spokesperson said closure signs are posted three weeks in advance. Those signs also include a QR code, directing travelers to find their car if it was relocated.
A spokesperson for the airport says there was ongoing work, and signage, the week Larson-Lewis traveled and shared a few photos.
“No. No, they did not,” she disagreed. “Both my husband and I did not see them. We were able to, again, get our ticket at the gate. Drive through. Park car. Go to elevator – which would have been a great place to put a sign saying, 'If you park here, it's going to be towed.' And went up to [airline] ticketing — nothing.”
Signage? No signage? Confusion all around?
Either way, Larson-Lewis said her family is OK. She’s getting her car checked out this week to make sure there’s no damage after the tow. And she hopes her story can save someone else from a late-night hunt for a missing car.
“We had our cell phone but you worry about somebody who doesn't have that. Or is by themselves. Or somebody who’s disabled. Or elderly. It's just a worry,” she said.
“We’re safe. Everything’s fine. It will make us remember the trip. But I want to make sure the community knows this can happen and who to call and how to get it fixed. So they don’t think their car got stolen or they’re lost late at night.”
If you’re traveling through the airport soon, be sure to check the latest parking closures. DEN is still doing work to clean and restripe the garages. On Thursday, the airport shared two updates for travelers parking in the garage lots:
- Part of the East Garage remains closed through Sept. 15 and crews continue power washing and re-striping work.
- The East and West Garage short-term parking areas (Premium Reserve) will be temporarily relocated to a different spot within those garages. That will happen Monday, Sept. 16 through Wednesday, Sept. 18 while crews power wash. DEN shared this map for guidance:
