Reliability of Lyft/Uber pickup in NW Chicago Suburbs/Lake County at 4am?
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: gggrrrovvveee (ORD)
Programs: UA Pt, Marriott Ti, Hertz PC
Posts: 6,091
Reliability of Lyft/Uber pickup in NW Chicago Suburbs/Lake County at 4am?
This is a Chicago area question
Anyone have experience with Lyft or Uber pickups from home to the airport for very early morning flights?
I have a 6am ORD-xxx this Monday and wondering if I should try out Lyft or Uber for a 4:15-ish pickup from southern Lake County (around Buffalo Grove, Vernon Hills, Lincolnshire, etc.) to ORD, or stick with the tried-and-true American Taxi (suburban taxi service).
I have started using Lyft, moreso than Uber, for rides to/from the airport, although I've not done very early morning or late night yet. Don't want to schedule a 4:10-4:20am Lyft/Uber and be stuck waiting around b/c there is nobody in the area.
Anyone have experience with Lyft or Uber pickups from home to the airport for very early morning flights?
I have a 6am ORD-xxx this Monday and wondering if I should try out Lyft or Uber for a 4:15-ish pickup from southern Lake County (around Buffalo Grove, Vernon Hills, Lincolnshire, etc.) to ORD, or stick with the tried-and-true American Taxi (suburban taxi service).
I have started using Lyft, moreso than Uber, for rides to/from the airport, although I've not done very early morning or late night yet. Don't want to schedule a 4:10-4:20am Lyft/Uber and be stuck waiting around b/c there is nobody in the area.
#4
Original Poster
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: gggrrrovvveee (ORD)
Programs: UA Pt, Marriott Ti, Hertz PC
Posts: 6,091
So I'm in an American taxi right now. I just decided to play it safe this time since American taxi now preassigns specific drivers the night before and it's really only a buck or three more expensive.
I checked both uber and lyft and there were 3 and 1 cars available within 15 minutes of me at about 4:10am so looks like it would've worked fine, had I gone that route. Maybe I'll roll the dice with them next time. Didn't want to take a chance this time with the snow.
I checked both uber and lyft and there were 3 and 1 cars available within 15 minutes of me at about 4:10am so looks like it would've worked fine, had I gone that route. Maybe I'll roll the dice with them next time. Didn't want to take a chance this time with the snow.
#6
Join Date: Jun 2015
Posts: 229
I'm fairly certain you can now pre-schedule rides with Uber.
I believe this just means that a request is automatically put in at/just before the time you schedule it, and does not guarantee a ride in 100% of cases.
Uber's FAQ on this topic states "Scheduling a ride in advance does not guarantee you’ll be connected with a driver. In the rare case a driver cannot be found, you’ll be notified at the end of your selected time window."
I believe this just means that a request is automatically put in at/just before the time you schedule it, and does not guarantee a ride in 100% of cases.
Uber's FAQ on this topic states "Scheduling a ride in advance does not guarantee you’ll be connected with a driver. In the rare case a driver cannot be found, you’ll be notified at the end of your selected time window."
#7
Join Date: Jan 2017
Location: MDW/ORD
Programs: WN A list, UA Gold, AA Gold, Marriott LT Gold, IHG Platinum, National EE, Hilton Diamond
Posts: 525
One thing to note is that this service is not available in all areas. Probably because Uber doesn't think that it can arrange a ride areas where there aren't a lot of Uber drivers. For example, when I'm in Northwest Indiana, I don't have the option to prearange the ride from the Uber app.
#8
Original Poster
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: gggrrrovvveee (ORD)
Programs: UA Pt, Marriott Ti, Hertz PC
Posts: 6,091
I'm fairly certain you can now pre-schedule rides with Uber.
I believe this just means that a request is automatically put in at/just before the time you schedule it, and does not guarantee a ride in 100% of cases.
Uber's FAQ on this topic states "Scheduling a ride in advance does not guarantee you’ll be connected with a driver. In the rare case a driver cannot be found, you’ll be notified at the end of your selected time window."
I believe this just means that a request is automatically put in at/just before the time you schedule it, and does not guarantee a ride in 100% of cases.
Uber's FAQ on this topic states "Scheduling a ride in advance does not guarantee you’ll be connected with a driver. In the rare case a driver cannot be found, you’ll be notified at the end of your selected time window."
Going forward, I plan to use AT for the very early morning flights and use Uber/Lyft otherwise.
#9
Moderator: Information Desk, Women Travelers, FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jul 2003
Location: Chicago, IL, USA
Programs: AA Gold
Posts: 15,637
I'm fairly certain you can now pre-schedule rides with Uber.
I believe this just means that a request is automatically put in at/just before the time you schedule it, and does not guarantee a ride in 100% of cases.
Uber's FAQ on this topic states "Scheduling a ride in advance does not guarantee you’ll be connected with a driver. In the rare case a driver cannot be found, you’ll be notified at the end of your selected time window."
I believe this just means that a request is automatically put in at/just before the time you schedule it, and does not guarantee a ride in 100% of cases.
Uber's FAQ on this topic states "Scheduling a ride in advance does not guarantee you’ll be connected with a driver. In the rare case a driver cannot be found, you’ll be notified at the end of your selected time window."
#10
Join Date: Apr 2010
Location: ORD
Programs: AA, UA, GE
Posts: 5,122
And this is precisely why I stuck with American Taxi for this ride, which assigns a specific driver (and provides their phone number) the night before. I didn't want to roll the dice with a request being sent at the start of my window and one not being available.
Going forward, I plan to use AT for the very early morning flights and use Uber/Lyft otherwise.
Going forward, I plan to use AT for the very early morning flights and use Uber/Lyft otherwise.
#11
Join Date: Oct 2013
Location: ORD
Programs: UA Silver, Marriott Platinum/LT Platinum, Hilton Gold
Posts: 5,594
And this is precisely why I stuck with American Taxi for this ride, which assigns a specific driver (and provides their phone number) the night before. I didn't want to roll the dice with a request being sent at the start of my window and one not being available.
Going forward, I plan to use AT for the very early morning flights and use Uber/Lyft otherwise.
Going forward, I plan to use AT for the very early morning flights and use Uber/Lyft otherwise.