Travel with Grant wrote an entertaining rant entitled, Airport Shuttles are the Bane of my Existence. I hold a different viewpoint.
He lays out a string of recent horror stories involving airport hotel shuttles and vows to never wait for a hotel shuttle again when Uber/Lyft are viable alternatives.
My message to Grant: the grass isn’t always greener on the other side.
Trust me, I hate waiting for hotel shuttles too. In fact, I had a similar horrific experience waiting in Terminal 5 at Chicago O’Hare over an hour for my shuttle to the Marriott at FTU last weekend. Thankfully, I immediately sought refuge from the freezing cold inside the vestibule…but it didn’t make the 70-minute wait any better. At least I had my laptop and stayed productive.
But on the way back, the shuttle left the hotel on schedule and I had it to myself. It took only seven minutes to get to the airport.
Grant talks about the problems he had at San Francisco Airport prior to Chicago. I also recently stayed at an airport hotel in SFO, the Hyatt Regency. The airport shuttle pulled up as I exited the terminal. Less than 12 minutes later, I had my room key was heading upstairs. No problems on the return either.
Meanwhile, Uber is not without serious issues. In some places, Uber will call you and cancel if they don’t like where you are going. More often, Uber just makes you wait almost as long as a shuttle. My average wait-time for an Uber X at LAX is between 12-15 minutes. It is rare that hotel shuttles make you wait much longer than that.
I don’t believe in luck, but under the law of averages you win some and you lose some. I had a horrific experience in Hawaii recently. There’s no Uber at the airport, I refuse to use taxis in the USA, so I used the Roberts Airport shuttle, primarily because the agent promised a shuttle would be leaving within five minutes for my hotel. It actually took 45 minutes to leave, putting our drive into Waikiki at the height of rush hour. It was a miserable experience.
But overall, in hundreds of shuttle rides over the years, I cannot say that it has been so bad that I won’t subject myself to it any longer. It’s just part of the travel experience. Uber is not the savior.
Uber X
I don’t use Uber X anymore, it’s too much of a $hit show.
Especially, in my experience, PHL and BWI, Uber XL and Black are worth the extra $12-$20 because you typically get car service drivers looking for off duty work, not someone with a crappy car.
At my age, and traveling with a child, speed and convenience are worth the cost.
Why you refuse to use taxis in tye US?
Have been ripped off too many times. Refuse to use London cabs also.
I second that!
Come to India. You will get prepaid taxis from BOM & DEL airports.
Maybe I’ve just been unusually lucky. I can’t recall a major problem with a hotel shuttle. The closest I can remember was a hotel in Tukwila, Washington, where I had to wait about 40 minutes for a pick-up from the light rail station because we rolled in right during a shift change. Certainly not a bad enough experience to swear of hotel shuttles.
Understand it’s partly principle – but that’s also a ~10 minute, $15 UberX ride that you can write off as a business expense! Time value of money.
I’ve had my share of long waiting times for shuttles; I use taxis sometimes too but I also use pre-booked limo services in certain cities where I know I get value for money and I trust them, including some cities abroad.
Honolulu last week at the airport 11pm no taxi’s so taxi stand called for one..but 20 people showed up needing a taxi as NO UBER(not well planned)finally got an old smelly beat-up tax1(just like in Chicago)and $34 to the
I suggest you to hire Ford mini bus or RV for Airport transportation for your buddies.
Yeah it depends on who you have been hiring your service with. You can use limousine for better experience and speedy transfer service if you are alone or two.
Hi Matthew,
Thanks for sharing this post as it is helpful for many people who have no experience in hiring a taxi and rely on only one medium of taxi service.