Airport pick-ups
 

With respect to most cities on my normal travel circuit, Uber is a great way to get "to" the airport, but airport pick-ups remain an entirely different beast.

I went to SZX last week, and was initially pleased when I discovered that Uber has attempted to streamline its pick-up drill there (e.g. they now offer a drop down menu allowing people to select their desired door number on the departures level). Unfortunately, the alpha version of this process simply sucks in practice; SZX departures has 3 lanes separated by islands, and 100 other people were also waiting for cars outside of door #5. In spite of constant contact, my driver needed to do the loop three times before I finally found him. As much as I dislike the taxi queue at SZX, I have a newfound appreciation for its orderly nature.

What are your experiences with airport pick-ups? How would you improve the process if you were charged with this task? (My feeling is that "departures" generally works okay on a small scale, but becomes a bad idea pretty quickly as soon as "scale" is introduced into the equation.)

In the states, I've found the airport dropdown menus improve my experience. I no longer need to communicate with the driver outside the app, although if the pickup area is crowded, I will send a text with a description of what I look like.

Well Sydney Airport is doing pickups from July.

$4 pickup charge though, I bet that's gonna be passed on to passengers.

http://www.ausbt.com.au/sydney-airpo...one-on-july-19

BOS Is impossible to find an Uber at anymore. The first time I requested one, I had a pretty good experience - I walked to the limo lot (as per regulations) and waited about 8 minutes for the driver to show up. Now, most of the time I open the app it says "Uberx not available, use uber black". I haven't seen an uberx at Logan once in the past few weeks :(

Lyft is banned at Logan, and Fasten doesn't seem to have a lot of drivers yet.

DCA and IAD's $4 charges are passed on to passengers.

Technically, there is no UberX at Logan at all. Regular UberX drivers (i.e. Bob with his Accord) can't pick up there, only licensed livery drivers (i.e. Uber Black).

You can only get an UberX there if there are a lot of Uber Black drivers waiting around, and one agrees to take the fare at UberX rates. If there aren't a lot of Uber Black cars available, Uber doesn't even make the option available.

I did know about the licensed livery drivers rule, I didn't realize they were UberBlacks that decided to take UberX.

I'm super bummed about the lack of rideshare services at Logan :(

UberX will be allowed to pick up curbside at PHX starting next month.

Not sure I'll do this as the curbs at T4 and T3 are already a cluster on both levels.

In the past I've taken the Skytrain to Washington St (which is off airport property) and picked up Uber from there. Never anyone waiting there. I might still do this if it saves me the airport surcharge and the hassle of picking through several dozen other riders.

RDU is great for Uber pick ups, FLL was fine though I had to wait a little while. JFK can be a zoo but that's mainly do to some of the awful crowding that shows up at their pick up areas.

CLT last week was bad, it was really crowded and there were no Uber Xs available so I got stuck with an Uber SUV which cost me $36 for a 6 mile ride :mad:

Every time you have a problem because UberX is somehow limited in how it is allowed to pick up vis-a-vis limos and taxis, make a point of sending a complaint to the airport authority. Same thing if it is not permitted.

No one complaint gets action. But, over time, if enough people do it, you may get somewhere. Remember, you aren't the only person kvetching.

I travel for work all the time and some cities (notably LAX when I worked there in 2014) banned Uber. Other cities (like PHL) only had Black Car and above available.

I got around both of those issues by finding a driver I could just text my arrival time to. He would come pick me up, I'd start the Uber in the car a few miles from the airport, and he'd charge me a few extra miles on the backend. Never had an issue once I found the right guys.

Sydney, Australia
 

2 weeks ago I was in Sydney, Australia and could not find the pick-up area where Uber drivers drive into at the Domestic Terminal. I was able to contact the driver who, himself had a hard time giving me the directions so he canceled the pick up

Does anyone know where exactly the pick up area is in Sydney Airport Domestic Terminal from today until July 19?

As of July 19, these will be the pick-up locations...
http://www.ausbt.com.au/sydney-airpo...one-on-july-19

Cheers

At New Orleans MSY, there's a passenger waiting zone on the ground floor of the garage opposite the terminal. You wait there until your driver is nearby. There's also a nearby section with a couple of dozen parking spaces reserved for Uber/Lyft, the driver pulls into one of those spaces to wait for you to walk over. These aren't for drivers awaiting hails, only for those already matched with a rider, so there's plenty of space, no stress about rushing to find your car that may be blocking traffic, all fairly relaxed. One slight improvement would be to number the spaces like the rental car companies do, so your driver could text you "I'm in space #11". But it's the best system I've seen.

Of course, it requires airports to give up that number of parking spaces in the hourly or short term parking area, but when you're charging $2-$4 per airport pickup, that seems reasonable for them to do.

Nice ride share pickup in BNA (Nashville) with signs. Its in the garage area, so drivers don't have to fight arrivals traffic. Leave the terminal on lower level (follow signs for rental cars) and cross the street to the garage and go right.