Although you may already have your holiday air tickets and hotel accommodations, you still have the problem of getting from your destination airport to your hotel. The basic alternatives at most big airports are taking a taxi, an airport bus, or a shuttle; at a few, you can also opt for a rail transit link to the city center. In many ways, an airport shuttle is the ideal compromise between convenience and cost: Almost as convenient as a taxi, but almost as cheap as an airport bus. Seniors, especially, enjoy the ease of a one-vehicle ride at a reasonable cost. Fortunately, you can find shuttles at most major airports around the world and at some small ones as well.
Here’s a brief recap of the way shuttles operate:
- At your arrival airport, claim your baggage and head for the designated shuttle pick-up area, where a seven- to 12-passenger van either waits or stops frequently. Hop in along with several other travelers, and the van heads directly to each rider’s destination—hotel, private residence, business, or whatever. Most shuttles recommend you make an advance reservation; some require a reservation, but you can just get on others if there’s room. You can reserve by phone or online, and with some companies, you can buy a ticket online in advance.
- For your return flight, call the shuttle for a pickup wherever you are, and the van delivers you to the departure area of your airline’s terminal.
- If you need transportation to/from your home airport, shuttles work the same way there.
Fares are generally in the range of $15 to $30 each way for one traveler, depending on airport and distance; additional travelers in the same party generally pay less. In most cases, the fare is less than half of what you’d pay for a taxi. It’s often more than an airport bus, but airport bus routes don’t drop off and pick up right at your hotel, office, or residence.
The greatest convenience of an airport shuttle is, of course, that, as with a taxi, you need only get on and off a vehicle once. But, as I noted, the van is almost, not fully, as convenient as a taxi:
- At both ends of the trip, you have to allow extra time required to accommodate other travelers.
- At your destination airport, you may have to wait for the shuttle to load other travelers before it heads for your destination. I’ve sometimes been frustrated to sit in a shuttle for 10 to 20 minutes waiting for additional passengers. Even worse, the shuttle may leave, only to re-enter the airport for another pick-up round before finally heading for town.
- In your destination city, your shuttle may make several stops before it gets to your destination or the airport. In the worst cases, it may even take you far out of your way. However, in most really large metro areas, larger operators schedule shuttles to/from individual zones. So if you’re heading to Palo Alto from San Francisco Airport, for example, your shuttle won’t have to drop a traveler in Marin County on the way. To minimize problems, use one of the bigger shuttle companies—and ask in advance whether it schedules separate vans into individual zones.
I recommend reserving in advance, either online or by phone:
- SuperShuttle is the largest single-company shuttle operator in the United States and probably the largest operator at any airport it serves.
- Go Airport Shuttle is a cooperative portal of individual shuttle companies serving more than 100 airports in North America, plus Edinburgh, London, and Paris.
- Airport Shuttles is a portal with links to hundreds of shuttle operators worldwide.
- If you can’t find a shuttle through any of these sites, check by phone or online with your destination airport—you can find shuttles at some pretty small airports.
For a party of two, and especially three or four, a cab may well be no more expensive than a shuttle, and it’s almost always more convenient. But single travelers—and often couples—will find that a shuttle is a no-brainer.