It was great and terrible. Completely based on the driver.
I am located in Carlsbad, Ca. and had a conference at the Concourse at LAX a hotel. The location of the hotel plays into the story. It is at the entrance of LAX and is the closest to the airport. right in-front of the LAX sign. As of May 2015, Uber is allowed to drop off but not pick up at the airport.
I arrived at Union (train) Station in Los Angeles at 7:30 in the morning, Hit my Uber app on my phone and with in 10 minutes my ride was there.
Because it was in the middle of the morning commute, I got a notice that said the fees would be 1.7 times higher for the next 5 minutes. I waited the 5 minutes to request the ride.
The app allowed me to follow my ride until it arrived, a picture of the driver and the license plate number was listed. When you leave Union Station go out the front entrance and walk to the right. The Uber driver will meet you in the passenger loading zone.
My driver was friendly, was able to maneuver around a lot of the traffic and I arrived at my conference a half hour later. (## Yes, LAX is no where close to the train station) The FlyAway is only $8 each way and works well, I have taken it several times. But since I wasn't going directly to LAX I took Uber.
The total cost was $22.00 which was waived for my first ride. I was confident and ready to use Uber again that afternoon.
Now the bad. As Uber cannot pick up at the airport, you must move the location pin on your phone which is where Uber will find you, down the street, so Uber will pick you up. I did not know you could do this until the next day when I was sharing my HORRIBLE experience with other conference goers. The afternoon concierge at the hotel told me to walk down the street until Uber recognizes you. So in the middle of a not great part of town, off I went walking. (TIP: you can move the location pin then once you get your ride, call or text the driver of your real location. found this out the next day so did not try it).
The driver arrived at the corner about 20 minutes later. Once in his car, he took the long way back to the train station, I at first thought he was going around traffic. Wrong, he at the height of the traffic got ON the freeway while I saw the above mentioned FlyAway get off and go the way my morning driver did. Uber estimates the time of the drive (accounting for traffic) and it was 45 mins. NOPE 1.5 hours later, we arrive.
He charged me for the extra time and the fee was over 30 dollars. Ridiculous. Second, he was an older gentleman
The good part is you can review your driver afterwards. I DID with both the good and bad drivers.
Second, you are given pictures of the driver, car and license plate. So there is no chance of getting in the wrong car.
I would and will use Uber again, but now I have learned and will check out a few drivers before getting in for a long ride.
Next time I may try Lyft to see the difference.
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