Sky-high prices: Colorado man hit with $19,824 airport parking fee after system glitch
Denver International Airport parking glitch sent a man from Glenhaven, Colorado, a $19,824 bill after only 27 minutes in a garage – the second big error at the busy hub in two months.
Jim Boyd parked his truck in a DIA parking lot to drop his wife off for a flight to Germany. He expected the usual $7 fee, but the kiosk posted a huge surcharge. When he left, his credit card was hit for nearly $20,000. “I heard the Chase Bank alert on my truck,” Boyd told 9NEWS. “It felt familiar – the other mistake from last month.”
The do‑over came when the parking system realised it had mixed up Boyd’s license plate with another car’s. The two plates differ by a single character—a “B” instead of an “8”. Because of that mix‑up, Boyd’s receiver recorded a start time of June 6 and a duration of 169,000 minutes—about four months. He checked his calendar and found he was nowhere near DIA then.
Airport officials said the mistake cost the U.S. $19,824 and denied that it was an isolated case. DIA had logged four wrongful charges since June 1, including a Denver woman billed $2,300 for 14 hours of parking when the system said her car had been there for more than two months. The June incident was blamed on an “entry ticket that had not been closed out in the system.”
The parking vendor, Flash Parking, has now updated the software. The fix rolled out to all kiosks Friday afternoon, a day after Boyd’s haul. DIA said the four errors out of roughly 1.5 million transactions “are not widespread.” The airport refunded Boyd’s $19,824 and the $7 parking fee and offered an apology.
Boyd, who had enough credit to cover the charge and the refund, warned other travelers: “Other people could get maxed out and create all kinds of problems.” He stressed the need for safeguards and said he would watch the kiosk screen closely next time he drops his wife off at the airport.
For all users, the airport recommends double‑checking the amount on the kiosk screen before finalizing payment. If the total looks wrong, press “cancel,” re‑scan your ticket, or hit the help button to talk to an attendant.
In the coming months, DIA plans to install a camera‑based system that reads license plates and captures full vehicle details, hoping to prevent future mismatches. Awọn menimen!
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