writerguyfl

Putting all the pieces together, I think it will be impossible to rent a car and still make the last shuttle to your hotel. Your flight arrives at 10:40pm and the last Hyatt Shuttle is midnight. That gives you 1 hour 20 minutes to:

• Deplane
• Take the Sixt shuttle to their location
• Complete the rental transaction
• Drive roughly 30 miles (35 minutes without traffic)
• Find and return the car
• Catch the Hyatt House shuttle

Of course, you could always return the car the following morning. Still, I think all the stars would have to align to make it happen just to save $20-30 bucks.

Anyway, it looks like you have all the information to make your decision. Thanks for visiting Florida...even just for one night. Tourists are one reason why I don't have to pay state income tax!

dajoip

Ok, so I'm planning on using Go Shuttle on Thursday night to get from FLL-MIA. What would your guys' recommendation be for our return trip on Monday afternoon from MIA-FLL? We arrive in MIA at 11:25AM and our flight departing FLL is at 5:35PM. As I said before, I currently have a car rented through Alamo for $41, but would it be better/cheaper to use the Tri-Rail, or even a cab/shuttle here as well? Looking for your recommendations again...TIA!

wrp96

Tri-Rail would absolutely be cheaper - $5 per person - and you have plenty of time to use it. The trains leave Hialeah station on the 23s, and if no delays arrive on the hour. Don't know whether it would be easier than a rental car - would depend on number of people and amount of luggage. I was able to use it fine with a backpack and a large checked bag.

dajoip

OK, so I hate to do this but could someone kind of "walk me through" the process we'll need to go through to use the Tri-Rail from MIA-FLL next Mon afternoon? I know there are shuttles on both ends of the trip, but I'm just a little fuzzy on where we'll need to go, which stops to take, etc... TIA!

MiamiAirport Formerly NY George

Ok, go to the arrivals level downstairs and walk out of Concourse E. Across the street you will see a little bus looking station. If unsure, ask anyone. Buy your Tri Rail ticket at the kiosk there. The bus, Route 133, is free and will take you right to the train. You will board without showing any ticket but might be asked to produce it onboard.

At FLL get off and walk to the West Side of the tracks. There you will see vans for FLL. They are also free. The vans leave about every 15 minutes.

Its fairly simple.

dajoip

Thank you!

dajoip

OK, so we're doing the exact same trip again (arrive in FLL at 10:25 PM on Thursday night), with a hotel room booked near the Miami Airport for a departure the following morning. I've got a car rental reservation with Dollar this time (I'm not going to touch Go Shuttle! again, after last month), and I've got the car booked through the following morning for only $34. I think this should all work out well this time.

I'd just like to confirm that Dollar Rent-A-Car is located on-airport at both FLL and MIA. TIA for any more help you're able to provide!

dajoip

Bump - any input?

writerguyfl

No clue about MIA, but Dollar is part of the consolidated rental car center at FLL. Here are the instructions from the Dollar site:

"Customers flying into Terminal 1 will access the facility via a pedestrian bridge which goes to level 2 of the CCRF (Consolidated Car Rental Facility). Customers arriving at Terminals 2, 3 & 4 will take a multi-colored bus which will drop them off on level 3 of the CCRF. The consolidated buses are multi-colored. There is no customer parking in this garage. Customers needing to park personal vehicles can park in the adjoining parking garage to the CCRF. Vehicle return is on level four (4) and the Dollar counter and vehicles are on level two (2)."

For reference, Terminal 1 at FLL serves: AirTran, Alaska, Allegiant, Frontier, Southwest, United, and Virgin America.

dajoip

Thank you! That's interesting that your source says the Dollar counter/vehicles are on Level 2. The site I just found says they're located on Level 4...? I'm sure either way, we'll figure it out once we get there.
https://www.broward.org/Airport/Tran...entalCars.aspx

writerguyfl

The consolidated rental car facility has different companies on different floors surrounding an atrium. Just look for the signs and you'll be good. There's a photo of the atrium and building here (if you care):

http://www.aecom.com/What+We+Do/Desi...l+Car+Facility

Note: There is a lot of construction at the airport. The south runway is under construction and the connecting ramps in/out of the airport are being reconfigured. Last time I drove by, the connector from the airport to I-595 was closed. There were "detour" signs set up, but they were a little hard to see.

If you're not familiar with FLL, I'd recommend printing out a map from Bing or MapQuest. Or, ask the rental car folks about what roads are closed.

zipo

see how much more it is to return the car in fll, it'll save alot of headaches and time
If not the train is your other option, A big pain

dajoip

The entire intent of this car rental is to get us from FLL to MIA on Thurs night - no need to return it to FLL. The return on Tues will be via Tri-Rail which we used last month and was quite simple, convenient, and cheap.

Non-NonRev

Also, Tri-Rail is not an option in the late evening; it is a commuter service that focuses on traditional commuter hours on Monday-Friday.

For dajoip, what happened on that first Thursday night with GoShuttle? If you had an adverse experience, the details could help out a future traveler.

dajoip

Yeah, on the return we'll be arriving into MIA at 11 AM and departing FLL at 4:55 PM, so we'll have plenty of time to make the trip. That's why we're only using it for the return, though, and not on the outbound late on Thurs evening. EDIT: I just realized your first comment was directed more toward zipo than it was to me...


Last month, we used Go Shuttle for the exact same trip - we arrived in FLL at ~11PM, and needed to get to our Miami airport hotel for the night. I settled on the shuttle over a rental car due to timing issues, and hoping to eliminate overall hassle. We got to the counter very quickly after deplaning (we only had carry-ons) and checked right in, and were immediately told to step aside and that it'd be awhile. As we waited, it started to get really hectic and LOTS of people started showing up, checking in, hanging out, smoking, etc etc. Some got right into vans and were taken away, while some didn't and stood around waiting with us. After about 30-40 min (you're supposed to be guaranteed pickup within 30 min), everybody that had been there was gone and it was just us. A few people came and went, but it was mainly just us sitting there waiting. I did my best to be polite, but I started to go ask the guy how the schedule was looking every 10-15 min. He was very short, acting annoyed, only giving me the least information possible.

Finally, after over an hour and nobody else even waiting with us anymore, I'd pretty much had it - I approached him and said pretty firmly that we'd paid to be picked up at a max of 30 min, that they had our reservation and should've known we'd be there with the route that we needed so that shouldn't have been a surprise, that everyone else was long gone and we'd been there well over an hour, and I either wanted my $$ back, or a ride very soon. He sort of grunted on his radio and said it'd be just a few minutes. Within 3 minutes, a private towncar pulled up and we figured we'd finally "caught a break". They loaded our bags into the trunk and we got in the back seat - it was very comfortable, and we were finally ready to get on our way. Except...the driver pulled forward about 200 feet, stopped, and got back out. We sat there another 5 min and finally some other passenger shows up and they load up his stuff in the back and he gets into the passenger seat. THEN, another girl walks up and they cram her into the back seat with us too! So we're now sharing a "private towncar" with 2 other random people (5 total, the car was completely full) and it's already past 12:15 without having left FLL!

The icing on the cake was that (by this point, we were assuming this is how it'd play out), they dropped both of the other people off before us. So two more stops that were at least 10 min away from our hotel near MIA airport. We didn't arrive until sometime between 1:15-1:30 AM.