Scheduling an UBER ride
 

I thought I'd try out using UBER for a ride to the airport tomorrow morning (very early). But I'm having a hard time trying to figure out how to schedule it. On the UBER website, it says to schedule a future ride, tap the car icon with a clock to the right of the "Where to" message in the app. The problem is that there is no such icon. Has anyone had experience with scheduling a ride in advance?

Why schedule it, just order one when you arrive? That's the whole point of Uber and Lyft, it's on demand. The whole concept of reserving ahead is very old school, even my company rarely uses traditional reserved car service for business travel; its just not very flexible.

I wouldn't bother, all it does it request the nearest car a the time you put in. It offers no additional benefit but reduces your own flexibility. Just request when you are ready.

I just wanted to take care of it so it's there for a 3:45 AM pickup. I'm not sure how many cars are going to be out there at that time of the morning.

OP is headed to not from the airport.

OP may need to update his app. The scheduling function is right on the app and is easy to use. It is not the same as just summoning an Uber at the time you need it. The scheduled call will receive priority and that may be significant in DEN at 3:45 AM.

I'm not sure the scheduling function works in all locations, at least not yet.

1) I don't think the scheduling function is available in all markets. If it's not showing up and you're using the latest app, you're probably not in a market where it's available.

2) When you schedule, you're not guaranteed a pickup time. They give you an approximate window, but you're still completely at the whim of car availability (and surge pricing) at that time. It doesn't schedule a car to be near you, it just sends out a request at that time the same as if you sent it out manually, and if there aren't cars in the area, you won't get a car. For rides to the airport like this, I greatly prefer to use a traditional scheduled car service where they actually arrange in advance for a specific driver to be at your location at the scheduled time.

1. It might not be available in every market
2. Airports are funny (they have their own laws) and it might not be possible case in point some airports ban all but the highest class Ubers
3. You might need to update your app

That said if you are really in Denver and not some po'dunk rural suburb there will be a car. If Denver is like every other major city and bars close between 2-4 there will be cars. If the bars never close in Denver there will be cars.


Last bit of advise... Lyft also has ride scheduling. Lyft is different because it puts out your trip start, end, and potential profit and whoever (driver) sees it first and agrees to the terms is your driver. If the driver is out of pocket Lyft assigns it to the closest driver in your area.

So with scheduled Lyft do you actually know your fare far in advance? And you know if you have a driver planning to be there?

You won't know about your driver info because the driver can choose to not do the job at any time.

However, you will know the cost of the ride in advance. The assumption is of course that a driver will be there assuming that you are not in a 2 Lyft driver town.

Also assuming there isn't a surge at the time and your driver decides to cancel on you so he can take a surge ride instead.

Still, I might try it some time if the price is competitive.

Thanks for all the input. I didn't end up using Uber to get to the airport, instead opting to drive and park at an outlying lot. But I did use it for the first time while in Chicago. I noticed that while in Chicago, the "schedule" icon showed up in the app. But upon returning to Denver, the icon was gone. I can only assume it doesn't yet exist for the Denver market.

Just for grins, I checked the app before leaving for the airport, and it did show a couple of available cars, so I could have used it.

By all means... Here's the thing... Most drivers savvy enough to cancel a scheduled ride to take a surge are savvy enough to know to not accept the job in the first place (surge locations and times are pretty predictable).

A driver uh... green enough to accept a base fare ride during peak hours will probably not even notice a surge event was taking place.