Originally Posted by
Giggleswick
Worse yet, the OP says that the driver picked up other passengers late as result of the delay. So it wasn't even as if they were already on the van and said that the delay was okay with them. The OP says that they all made their flights, but how would the driver have known that they would, if they weren't even on board yet? I doubt that the driver phoned them all to ask. I know that if I were on the sidewalk at the appointed time, waiting for an extra half hour and not knowing when or even whether the van would appear I would be 1) a nervous wreck, and 2) pretty damned angry. By the same token, if I were that late for the van, I'd make sure the driver knew to leave rather than wait for me.
When I book with SuperShuttle, I have to provide airline flight information, including actual flight number. This is whether I schedule online or over the phone. Then I'm told what the available pickup windows are. They are very very generous in their time estimates and frankly, sometimes it's irritating that I get stuck waiting 2+ hours at the gate because they allow so much time. You don't get to tell them when you want the pickup.
I think they build in such an enormous time cushion precisely because they don't want to be held accountable if someone misses a flight because of unexpected traffic delays or pax pickup delays. The driver will know pax flight times, and he must have counted on not hitting traffic or encountering any other pax pickup delays.