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Passengers leave Albany International Airport on Monday, June 27, 2022, in Colonie, N.Y.
ALBANY – A Y2K scare finally arrived at Albany International Airport.
Several travelers trying to leave the airport’s garages this week received jaw-dropping parking fees, including one woman whose total came to $115,000.
Airport spokesman Doug Myers said the problem was a limited one, which was occurred Sunday evening after a power outage caused the parking computer system to restart. At least one machine in both parking garages spit out tickets to travelers as they came into the garage with the date Jan. 1, 2000.
“After 22 years, Y2K had its revenge,” he said.
When the travelers tried to leave the garages, they were asked to pay for 22 years of parking. That includes the South Garage that opened two years ago. The daily rate at both garages is $14.
Myers said no travelers actually paid for two decades of parking. Instead, the payment machine refused to accept tickets with that date and airport staff were able to help travelers pay the correct amount for their stay in the garage.
The Y2K scare was a fear of potential widespread computer errors at the turn of the century. The concern was that many computers’ formatting and data storage systems at the time used the last two digits of a year for dates. The fear was that on Jan. 1, 2000, systems across the globe would turn to Jan. 1, 1900, potentially causing billions in damage to industries such as banking and air travel.
Myers recalled at the time airport staff set up a command post for Dec. 31, 1999, to monitor the situation. At midnight the airport’s system correctly moved to the new millennium and everyone was gone by 12:30 a.m., he said.
The airport has not received any complaints from travelers about the problem. Anyone with concerns about the amount they were asked to pay should call 518-242-2300.
Steve covers the city and county of Albany for the Times Union. He previously covered police, fire and accidents as the paper's breaking news reporter. Reach him at shughes@timesunion.com or 518-454-5438.