I’m finally on the road again…and had to get from my office to LAX earlier this morning.
That’s typically a one hour drive in morning rush hour. Small problem: I cut things too close and found myself 40 minutes from boarding and still in the office.
This morning’s guardian angel was an older Armenian man named Armen (name changed to protect him), also known as “speed racer”.
This morning, the journey took me 36 minutes. Despite the traffic. In fact, despite a fairly bad accident on I-110.
Because Armen took some liberties. He was skilled at weaving through traffic. Jedi-skilled.
I loved how he did it too. As I entered the car, he told me the navigation showed it would 58 minutes to reach LAX.
“I can cut that time down, but do you trust me?”
My last Uber ride in LA featured a driver who sped through a red light without even slowing down and “sshed” me when I protested.
But today I was late.
“Go for it,” I said.
“Ok, no problem. Hang on.”
And with that, he gunned it…and we never really slowed down.
As icing on the cake, he introduced me to a killer shortcut at LAX that saved an additional 15 minutes of stop-and-go traffic. Next time I drive to the airport myself I will photograph it and write a separate post.
Yes, I tipped him very well.
Thanks Armen. I would not have made my flight without you!
You are living dangerously cutting it so close out of LAX. Even when you ARE early you can sometimes be late. Caught a shuttle bus from a parking garage to LAX a week back and the shuttle took close to 45 minutes to cover about a mile due to the traffic around the airport loop.
It’s my fault and I was prepared to miss the flight, if necessary. What I loved about this driver is that he volunteered. I didn’t even have to tel him.
Yes, let’s reward people for breaking the law on our behalf.
you must be fun at parties. We’ve all taken “liberties” when driving, anyone who pretends otherwise is lying.
ROFL
This driver is naive. They will get many violations and get kicked off the Uber platform and also have their insurance prices raised. Always smart to follow the rules when doing your job.
Wow! Curious how much of that time was spent once at LAX getting to T7? That’s my biggest fear there. Traffic at LAX is often dreadful.
Did the driver take the 96th St / Vicksburg Ave entrance at LAX? That shortcut has saved me so many times when approaching from the South Bay.
Yes he did! Can’t believe I didn’t know about it!
I salute you for not trying to play the saint all the time. You are brave enough to show how you really are in your blog. Unfortunately this time you have showed us that it’s okay to bend or break the rules if it favors you. And because of that the other person will earn a great tip. Tell me how is this different than a bribe?
George, I’m a sinner saved by grace.
Sometimes “bribing” is a difficult moral dilemma–
http://liveandletsfly.boardingarea.com/2017/02/08/bribing-south-africa/
Today, I weighed missing my flight versus being away from my wife and son for an extra day. I chose to go along with the driver speeding a bit and weaving a bit.
“Today, I weighed missing my flight versus being away from my wife and son for an extra day.”
That is really poor reasoning. What if you had been involved in an accident? You would’ve missed your flight AND caused grief to your family.
Or worse, what if your driver’s reckless driving had harmed someone else? Other road users have loved ones to return home to as well. How would that have weighed on your conscience?
I’m usually a fan of your blog but this is in really poor taste. It is irresponsible to be giving voice to an illegal act on such a public platform.
I appreciate your sentiment, but we are talking about driving a bit fast, not cutting people off, and certainly not running red lights.
Am I really the ONLY person here who weighs driving 80mph vs. 65mph if it means missing my flight? Does that really create a substantial safety risk?
When you’re in the HOV-lane on 1-110 and no one is around you, are you putting others in danger by driving fast?
Now I’m worried for that Armenian driver who sped up to LAX, he may be fired by Uber…
@ Matthew — You imply that running a stop light is a bad thing, and indeed it is extremely dangerous. In fact, it is one of the leading causes of fatal car crashes in the USA. I do not believe that any situation short of a malfunctioning traffic signal is an acceptable reason for running a red light (and then only after stopping first). You should not have had any dilemma here. You should be responsible and drive (or require your uber drive to drive) with the safety of others in mind. It is far important than you missing your flight.
In the interest of clarity, my driver yesterday ran no red lights. He just went a bit fast. It was an earlier Uber driver who failed to obey traffic lights and I called him on it. Please don’t mix the two incidents.
Love this. I’ve had similar happen and it really makes all the difference.
You should have gotten his personal number. Back when Uber was young, I did this with a driver in Philly. I would text him, he’d pick me up, and then on the way, I would request a ride and it would automatically revert to him. Wonder if that still works.
On the other hand, I’ve had drivers do everything they can to take as much time as possible after telling them I’m in a hurry. When you work for tips…
To all the haters above: Leave the guy alone!!!!! Matt just shared something we all probably done before and you all now decide to crucify him. Maybe he shouldn’t have shared but…. Nowadays we all live in a very boring world. Everything we do is somehow criticized by someone just because it may hurt feelings, feel inappropriate, racist, religious, sexist, etc… Let people be themselves and stop creating rules and treating us as we are all robots.
Thanks Santastico.
I’m glad you made your flight, but Armen could have killed someone with his speeding. In this situation, I’d have been delighted to make my flight, but I’m not sure this behavior should be encouraged. (Yes, I’m being “holier than thou” here.)