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At a few U.S. airports, travelers have a new option besides paying for long-term parking or finding a ride. A service named FlightCar allows them to leave their car in the company's lot — and rent it out while they're away.

In exchange, the travelers get a ride to their terminal and, after their return, a check for the use of their vehicle. FlightCar just opened its third location, at Los Angeles International Airport, Wednesday.

The company was founded by two teenagers, Kevin Petrovic, 19, and Rujul Zaparde, 18, who tell member station KPCC that they're delaying college to give their new business a chance.

"At any moment there's something like 360,000 cars in long-term parking lots in the top 30 U.S. airports," Zaparde tells KPCC's Ben Bergman. "That's very inefficient."

The pair say they got the idea of letting other people use those cars from Airbnb, which allows private individuals to rent rooms or entire homes over the Internet.

"Among the investors are Airbnb's founders, along with Ryan Seacrest and Ashton Kutcher," as Ben reports.

FlightCar says it pays an average of $30 for a five-day rental. But that rate can go higher. A luxury car that's only a few years old can earn 20 cents a mile for its owner. Mileage is limited to 75 miles a day. If it's not rented, the car's owner has still avoided paying for parking.

After dropping off a vehicle, travelers are taken to their terminal in a black town car. As for insurance, the vehicles are covered under a policy that will pay up to $1 million in liabilities or damages.

Before an owner returns, their car is washed and vacuumed. As Ben notes in his report, some negative online reviews have emerged in which people complain of finding food in their car, or having trouble being reimbursed for damages. Petrovic and Zaparde say they're trying to make sure those incidents aren't repeated.

Ben spoke to two customers who say they're happy with the service.

"To me, the great value of this is that before I learned about FlightCar, I was paying to park at the airport $15-$18 a day," Walt French, 65, says.

After returning from a recent trip to China, French said, "I got a check a couple hours ago for $111" for the use of his Acura.

FlightCar opened its first location in San Francisco in February. Boston followed soon after.

San Francisco officials have filed a lawsuit against the company, saying it breaks the rules for car-rental companies at the city's airport. Among other things, those rules call for the airport to be paid a transaction fee and a cut of the profits. The founders maintain that FlightCar is a peer-to-peer car-sharing service.

"I think anytime you do something really innovative in a market you are going to run up against opposition," Petrovic said.

You can find more stories about the emerging "sharing economy" at NPR's All Tech Considered blog, as well as on the sharing economy series page. To respond to any of these stories, just email, leave a comment, or tweet.

As the young U.S. senator takes the oath to become president, he sets out to fix an economy struggling with rising unemployment, slumping profits and depressed stock prices.

He knows the deep recession could prevent him from advancing his broader domestic and diplomatic agenda. Yes — all true for President Obama.

But that's what John F. Kennedy faced as well. On his frosty Inauguration Day in January 1961, Kennedy had to start fulfilling his campaign pledge to "get America moving again." Like Obama, he would need to win over a deeply skeptical business community.

The similarities mostly end right there.

Since taking office, Obama has struggled with the aftermath of a global financial crisis and a home foreclosure meltdown. Even after nearly five years in office, he presides over an economy stuck with a 7.3 percent unemployment rate and a disappointing growth rate well below 3 percent.

In contrast, Kennedy enjoyed a nearly miraculous economic turnaround. At the time of his death in November 1963, an employment boom was beginning. Stocks were soaring, swept up in the emerging "go-go" era on Wall Street — a time when investors were falling in love with mutual funds and conglomerates.

So, what exactly did Kennedy do? And as the nation marks the half-century anniversary of his assassination, do the experts credit him with having a lasting economic legacy?

Most historians say Kennedy's long-term economic impact was profound but complicated. Virtually all agree that in the short run, his policies did contribute to that golden era of the mid-1960s when the United States was enjoying one of the most robust economic expansions in history.

By 1966 — the year that might have been the fifth of his presidency had he lived — Kennedy would have been presiding over an economy growing at a rate of 6.6 percent and an unemployment rate falling to just 3.8 percent.

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It's only been hours since Kmart announced its Black Friday plan — to remain open for 41 hours in a row beginning early on Thanksgiving Day. But online critics are throwing a red light on the plan, with some calling the company a Grinch for its aggressive approach to the start of the Christmas shopping season.

"Everybody thinks your executives are horrible people," a man named Christopher Sweet wrote on Kmart's Facebook page. Another critic, Ted Talevski, appealed to the workers: "This is a message to all Kmart employees! Do not go to work on Thanksgiving Day!"

Responding to the negative feedback, Kmart says that it will try to staff its stores with seasonal workers to accommodate employees who want to be with friends and relatives.

Amber Camp, who says she works at Kmart, said via Facebook that her bosses "are planning on all the employees to have some time so we can actually spend time with our families on Thanksgiving."

The criticisms began flowing soon after Sears, Kmart's parent company, announced that the stores that long promoted "blue light specials" will be open from 6 a.m. on Thanksgiving morning to 11 p.m. Friday night.

Sears stores will work a less aggressive schedule, opening from 8 p.m. on Thanksgiving night to 10 p.m. Friday.

"Kmart has opened at 6 a.m. on Thanksgiving for the past three years," reports CNN Money, where we spotted the story about the backlash. "Last year, however, stores closed for a few hours at 4 p.m. to let shoppers and employees get to their Thanksgiving dinners."

The company's social media team repeatedly issued responses to the criticisms on Facebook, saying, "We understand many associates want to spend time with their families during the holiday. With this in mind Kmart stores do their very best to staff with seasonal associates and those who are needed to work holidays."

One person offered their own response to a similar statement on Twitter, saying, "yes, that's what the companies I worked for told us too, however we had no choice in the matter and I doubt your associates do either."

But some defended the move, saying that many retail employees would be happy to earn overtime. And others say they aren't bothered by the plan.

"Nobody is physically forcing employees to work at Kmart if they don't like the scheduling," one Facebook comment read.

As the young U.S. senator takes the oath to become president, he sets out to fix an economy struggling with rising unemployment, slumping profits and depressed stock prices.

He knows the deep recession could prevent him from advancing his broader domestic and diplomatic agenda. Yes — all true for President Obama.

But that's what John F. Kennedy faced as well. On his frosty Inauguration Day in January 1961, Kennedy had to start fulfilling his campaign pledge to "get America moving again." Like Obama, he would need to win over a deeply skeptical business community.

The similarities mostly end right there.

Since taking office, Obama has struggled with the aftermath of a global financial crisis and a home foreclosure meltdown. Even after nearly five years in office, he presides over an economy stuck with a 7.3 percent unemployment rate and a disappointing growth rate well below 3 percent.

In contrast, Kennedy enjoyed a nearly miraculous economic turnaround. At the time of his death in November 1963, an employment boom was beginning. Stocks were soaring, swept up in the emerging "go-go" era on Wall Street — a time when investors were falling in love with mutual funds and conglomerates.

So, what exactly did Kennedy do? And as the nation marks the half-century anniversary of his assassination, do the experts credit him with having a lasting economic legacy?

Most historians say Kennedy's long-term economic impact was profound, but complicated. Virtually all agree that in the short run, his policies did contribute to that golden era of the mid-1960s when the United States was enjoying one of the most robust economic expansions in history.

By 1966 — the year that might have been the fifth of his presidency had he lived — Kennedy would have been presiding over an economy growing at a rate of 6.6 percent and an unemployment rate falling to just 3.8 percent.

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Politics

'It Takes A Crisis': How '73 Embargo Fueled Change In U.S.