A travel enthusiast named Chantel (@breathlessescapetravels) shared her Uber hack for not paying exorbitant prices for a ride from the airport.
The philosophy behind the hack is simple: Find a way to get out of the airport and away from the crowds of passengers, who are also eagerly trying to get home, as quickly as possible.
Chantel dished out how she gets this done in her video. It’s amassed over 169,000 views.
“If you take Ubers from the airport to your house, here’s a hack to help you save some money. When I open the Uber app and saw that it was $70 just for me to get home, I said nuh-uh,” the TikToker says.
In her video, she includes a screenshot of the Uber prices. The most inexpensive option, presumably due to the surge in passengers who are looking for rides, was $70.91.
The hack
“What you’re gonna do is grab your bags go outside, and take one of those free hotel shuttles. So, of course, the shuttles are gonna take you to the hotel. But as you can see, the price went from $70 to $27,” she says of the Uber cost from the hotel.
“Mind you, I was taking an Uber from DCA back to Maryland,” she adds as a disclaimer at the end of her video.
The beauty of her hack is that it doesn’t really matter which airport shuttle one gets on. And, even if you want to give a cash tip to the driver for their service, it’ll still come out to way less than the fares from the airport.
@breathlessescapetravels Ubers at the airport are so expensive! You can save money by taking a hotel shittle and catching the uber from there‼️ you’re welcome! #traveltips #travel #airporthack #flighthacks ♬ Summer Madness – Kool & The Gang
What if my airport doesn’t offer a shuttle service?
Of course, one needs to make sure that, before trying this hack, they’re at an airport that provides hotel shuttle bus services before relying on this to save money.
There are, of course, other ways to follow the same principle. Depending on the size of the airport, perhaps taking a tram to a less-trafficked terminal/section of the airport could help. And if there are any public transportation options, like NJ Transit at Newark airport, for instance, hopping on a train to one stop outside of the airport could also potentially save you some cash.
Numerous people who responded to Chantel’s message thanked her for the advice, like this one TikToker who penned, “Thank you b/c I be paying the $70 like a fool.”
Another remarked, “Ooh this is sooo smart.”
However, there was one person who expressed fear that, like any good online hack, once enough people engaged in it, that businesses would eventually catch on. “I’m afraid if folks keep telling others these tips (this one I do as well), hotels will start requiring proof of reservations,” they wrote.
And it seems that some shuttles are already taking counteractive measures to prevent folks from getting a free ride. “I use to do this in Detroit until they started askin to see hotel reservations before getting on the bus,” one shared.
The Daily Dot has reached out to Uber and Chantel via email for further information.
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