Disabled plates or placards get you closest to elevators
Accessible Parking at Memphis (MEM) lives in every lot: short‑term, long‑term, economy, and the Blue/Yellow areas, always pulled up near elevators and walkways. One Google reviewer with mobility issues calls out that the handicap spots by the garage elevator made it “easy to get to check‑in.” If you want the least walking plus moving walkways, the terminal garages beat the shuttle lots most of the time.
Rates are straightforward: you pay the same posted price as everyone else in that lot, with no discount for handicap parking. That matches a Google Maps Q&A comment: “No discount for handicap parking, just closer spots.” You still need a disability plate or hang tag displayed to use these spaces, or you risk a ticket and being towed, even in the economy and Blue/Yellow lots.
Functionally, accessible spaces cluster near the vertical cores: elevators in the short‑term and long‑term garages, plus walkways feeding into concourses A, B, and C. Flyers who use canes or walkers often pick the garages so they can use elevators and moving walkways instead of waiting on a shuttle from Blue/Yellow. If you’re trying to save money by parking economy, expect a noticeably longer push or walk from some accessible spots to the terminal doors.
Watch out for: during holidays and Sunday evenings, reviews mention the lower garage levels filling up, including the accessible rows. That can push you up a level or two before you find a marked space, which adds a few extra minutes in the elevator back down to ticketing. Regulars with placards say they add 15–20 minutes to their normal pre‑flight buffer on peak days to avoid last‑minute scrambling.
One practical move: on arrival, drive slowly past the first row of marked accessible spaces near the elevator core before committing to a level; grabbing a spot there can cut your walk to check‑in in half compared with parking deeper in the same level.