A friend had given me a tip that if you wait to request an Uber until you’re actually in the garage where you meet your ride, you’ll often pay $20 less for the same trip. That seemed odd, but I decided to give it a try.
While I was in the terminal, an UberX from LaGuardia to midtown was running $80. Prices do fluctuate, and I saw it dip into the $70s.
But I didn’t request one. I waited until I was in the garage where you actual meet Ubers and requested a ride again. The price had fallen dramatically.
A $10 upcharge for Uber Black isn’t unreasonable, but the wait for one of those showed 7 minutes versus 3 minutes for UberX. I went with the cheaper ride and shorter projected wait time.
It’s possible that the $20 savings I’d been told to expect was a total coincidence. It’s also possible Uber sees that as their last chance for the ride and will offer a lower price to close the sale.
A taxi would have been cheaper! And less comfortable than the Accord that picked me up, and less convenient for expense reporting as well.
Just paid $60 to get from LaGuardia to Manhattan. Vowed to not do that again so grabbed the subway for the ride back. Actually liked it. Especially that it only cost about $3. But may keep this in mind in case it’s later at night.
This is complete and utter nonsense, and you know it. “A friend had given me a tip”…find more intelligent friends and stop passing off garbage conjecture.
I know this might be difficult for you to comprehend, but is it possible that during the time of your initial request, there was a surge, and when you got to the garage, the surge had passed. This literally happens all the time at airports over the course of 5, 10, 15+ minutes.
Uber and Lyft charge you for canceling a ride request, but they won’t pay you for failing to get a ride at anything close to the originally promised time. You literally can’t file a complaint because no ride occurred.
@ Gary — We generally have the same experience at LGA. We would almost always wait at $100, so it could be that the price dropped due to demand, but I think you are on to something. We would likely take a taxi before paying $100, as a taxi to midtown Manhattan should run about $75 with tip.
Only at LaGuardia ?
Should’ve went for the Uber Black
Also @AOC
The Air Train and Subways are much cheaper than the Uber rides to/from LGA
Yet she probably doesn’t even use them for the airports
I’m not important enough to ever need to pay $100 for an Uber from LGA.
A taxi is half that rate. Why do Uber?
We stubbornly continue to use the yellow taxi to support their drivers!
This is the same at LAX – calling a ride to the hotel directly next door to the rideshare pickup lot (the Hyatt, if I remember right) is consistently half the price or less.
Does this ‘wait till you get to the LGA garage to request an Uber’ work with LYFT too? I use LYFT cause I have a CS Reserve card which gives you a year of Lyft Pink membership – 15% off every ride and ‘airport priority’. Wait times at NY airports, esp LGA since it is closest to the city, can take awhile so the priority if you are going to or from an airport is very useful if you are short on time. I don’t know that I would pay $9.99 mo for this Lyft ‘Pink’ premium service cause I don’t fly but 1-2x a quarter but as a bene of CSR I’m in!
Yellow cabs are fine at the airport. The wait on the line is a pain but it usually is not too bad. I would take a yellow cab from the airport if the choice is available. The problem with yellow cabs outside of airports is they are very hard to flag down. Uber is easy. I take an Uber or car service to the airport.
I have walked with flight attendants from the terminals they land at to airport hotels on property, where they claim the Uber/Lyft rate is much lower.
Examples that I have been to: Hyatt LAX, Marriott IAH, Hilton BOS. Any airport that has a hotel attached by a walkway or train would be worth a try.
An AirTrain to LGA, like the one that exists for JFK, would have been wonderful. The current public transportation open (a bus), is unacceptable (for the most highly densely populated city in the USA).
So long as public transportation options are next to non-existent, passengers are at the mercies and capricious whims of Uber/Lyft/NYC Taxi.