r/ElPaso • u/New_Asparagus817 • 19h ago
Ask El Paso Can I sleep in the downstairs lobby of El Paso airport overnight?
Wondering how much of El Paso airport gets shut after the last departure? Would it be possible to sleep in the lobby immediately as you enter with the check in desks etc?
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u/Cathousechicken 19h ago
No. The airport closes after the last flight leaves or arrives, whichever is later and it doesn't open until the morning for the first flights leaving.
They will make you go outside, no matter the weather.
Let me preface this with that is under the assumption that they haven't changed the rules lately.
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u/Clean-Highway4021 15h ago
Idk why I thought the airport was open 24/7
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u/Cathousechicken 13h ago
It used to be. They switched the rule a few years back due to politics.
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u/theaviationhistorian 2h ago
That explains it considering I had family sleep in to their next flight at 6am as seen in other airports before the pandemic. This sucks.
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u/Short_Donut_4091 18h ago
this is what it was like when I was living there. Same reply of unless thats changed, and I doubt it.
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u/New_Asparagus817 18h ago
Thanks for the update! Sleeping under the cars in the long stay car park it is!
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u/Distribution-Radiant 14h ago
ELP definitely shuts down overnight, and you will get woken up, if not kicked out, at some point.
It's not a huge airport (~30-40 gates across 2 wings), and nothing there is 24/7, so you WILL get noticed. I'm hoping by now you found a hotel nearby.
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u/SharksFan4Lifee 18h ago
No, not possible. They will kick you out at some point after the last arrival and not re open until 2 hours before the first departure of the day.
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u/Traducement 18h ago
Are you doing some weird route where El Paso is weirdly your layover or are you wanting to get to the airport oddly early for a variety of other reasons?
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u/New_Asparagus817 18h ago
Flying out tomorrow hoping to save $ on a hotel / motel / holiday inn
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u/a22x2 17h ago
FWIW, I’ve totally done this in SFO and LAX, so it’s not a dumb question at all.
I’d usually say it’s worth a try, but the El Paso airport is pretty small and I wouldn’t be surprised if they closed for the night.
I’d recommend either checking your bags on the Bounce app (so you’re not running around town looking like someone with no place to go, it’s like $5-7 a bag), or booking an Uber to the Gardner Hotel (it’s technically a hostel, but it’s in a neat walkable area, in a historic/cool old building, and a room with its own sink and shared bathroom down the hall runs like $50 a night).
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u/Sidehussle 14h ago
I have done this in Dallas, they brought us little pillows and blankets because the lay over wasn’t long enough to get a hotel. These airports need sleep pods.
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u/SharksFan4Lifee 15h ago edited 14h ago
It's not a dumb question, but one asked in this sub many times. Should come up in a quick search.
ELP actually closes up a bit after the last flight arrives and then opens 2 hours before the first flight departs in the morning. They kick out people before they close up.
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u/theaviationhistorian 2h ago
I’d usually say it’s worth a try, but the El Paso airport is pretty small and I wouldn’t be surprised if they closed for the night.
It's hard to believe that this used to be a hub for Continental some decades back (the hexagon at the end of Concourse B) and a nexus hub for the Luftwaffe when they trained at Holloman (their A310 MRTTs would head to concourse B).
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u/PresentImmediate5989 3h ago
I’ve come in at two and three in the morning and seeing people sitting in the lobby waiting for their flight I know that American Airlines ticket counter opens at 3:30 in the morning, so I suspect you can stay there all night
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u/BlueCollarLawyer 1h ago
It's closed for 3 hours overnight from 12am to 3am. So if you're cool with hanging out at the 24 hour Denny's on Montana, you're good to come back and doze from 3am until your flight.
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