A viral TikTok has sparked debate after a traveler shared a workaround that avoids airport Uber surge pricing by taking a free hotel shuttle first—raising questions about fairness, ethics, and savings.
There are some travel hacks that are 100% on the up-and-up, where everybody wins. And then there are some travel hacks that are, as I like to call them, “morally gray.” The person doing the hack will win, but it might be at the expense of someone or something else.
Examples of morally gray hacks
Skiplagging is a good example of a morally gray hack. The person who does it gets to go to the city they want for a whole lot less money, but the airline loses financially (and the person doing the skiplagging could get in trouble too. These people and this kid found that out the hard way).
Some other examples of morally gray hacks are:
- How to bring more liquids through the TSA security checkpoint
- How to fix a hotel shower with low water pressure (the video towards the bottom)
How to get a cheaper Uber from the airport
Airport rides often cost more due to surge pricing, airport access fees, and congestion, which can significantly increase fares compared to nearby locations. To address this, a TikToker named Chantel shared a hack so that she doesn’t have to pay exorbitant prices when she wants to catch an Uber from the airport.
“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,” she said.
She then shows a screenshot of the Uber prices she was quoted. The cheapest option was a whopping $70.91 (there undoubtedly must’ve been some surge pricing going on).
Chantel continued: “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.” That $27 was how much the Uber would be from the hotel, as opposed to $70 from the airport.
“Mind you, I was taking an Uber from DCA back to Maryland,” she added.
And frankly, it doesn’t matter which hotel you go to – you won’t have the surge pricing that’s frequently found at the airport, so the price you’re quoted is significantly lower.
Here’s the video:
@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
The responses
The replies varied from how smart this was, to concerns that the hotel shuttle might ask for proof of a reservation (one person mentioned that you might be planning to get the reservation when you arrive at the hotel. Someone else’s response to that is THEY take a shuttle to a car rental company. As long as it’s off airport property, the price will be significantly less). A few people reminded everyone to tip the shuttle driver a couple of dollars, which I thought was nice.
What do you think?
Personally, I could get behind this one. Surge pricing means the driver gets paid more, but since they don’t have to deal with airport traffic, it might even out in the end. What do you think?
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8 comments
I don’t much object to Uber getting the short end of the stick since they’ve gone so far out of their way to screw over passengers and drivers but I try not to hurt drivers themselves. The problem is that I don’t know how to short the company but not the driver.
Another (possibly less “morally gray”) option is to take public transportation to somewhere just off airport property. Friends have done this in Orlando, where the airport puts a $7 surcharge (as of 2024, couldn’t find a newer number in a quick search) on ride-share pickups — on top of any surge pricing. (Granted, if the surcharge is the only difference in fare, $2+/pp can eat up that $7 savings pretty quickly, so what price difference is worth the inconvenience? And I’d imagine you might have to get a decent distance from the airport to be out of a surge zone.)
Your two posts regarding how to save money are fine if your time is unlimited which after years of extreme business travel 4300 room nights @Marriott ( which frankly I wish now I had spread the nights around) I have found sticking to your airline/hotel/car rental ultimately saves time and aggravation. If a trip turned sideways a carrier seeing my volume of travel go out of their way to accommodate me. Your example on Uber is interesting however there’s a lot of time involved in that true its money again time.
I e been doing that for years now …..if I’m in a hurry or really tired I just do uber at airport but if I have time I’ll grab a airport hotel shuttle
You’re smart 🙂
Uber, the company that snuck a default choice into its app, allowing them to set international exchange rates rather than your own bank, thereby stuffing their pockets. And Uber, where a sexual assault by a driver happens every week. And you are writing a mea culpa calling it Morally Gray to reduce a fare when it actually costs more time? Is Uber a sponsor of your blog, or what?
Nope. Not one bit. In fact, in the 9 years we’ve been writing YMMV, we’ve never had any sponsors; thanks for asking. That being said, there are plenty of effed up companies out there that people still do business with every single day. There are also good, morally just companies out there that people do business with every day. And there are people who work the system to their advantage to save them money off of both types of companies. So there ya go. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
It’s possible to walk from DCA to hotels in Crystal City. Or to take the Metro from DCA to wherever and then Uber it.
I take airport hotel shuttles quite often to hotels where I am not staying that day/night.