TRIED PRE-BOOKING YOUR AIRPORT RIDE? I PUT THESE RIDE-HAILING APPS TO THE TEST
No other ride requires as much pre-planning as heading to the airport. Because of notorious traffic snarls both outside and inside its terminals, often it’s a delicate balancing act of timing your booking just right.
But some places, like where I live, are just plain tough to find a ride from. With the tight timelines of air travel, getting a ride too late–or not getting one at all–could have trip-ending consequences.
These days, though, commuters don’t have to wait until they’re ready to step out of the house before they book a ride. Pre-booking a ride to the airport is a relatively easier, more reliable way of making sure we get to the airport on time and with minimal hassle.
While several transport companies and ride-hailing apps offer this service, each come with their own pros and cons. So we tried a few of them to road-test aspects such as safety features, ease of use, and overall reliability.
Here’s what we found.
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Test 1: Grab Advance Booking from Home to Airport
Grab Advance Booking is available from two hours to seven days in advance. I went for the reasonable lead time of booking on Friday morning for a Saturday 6:00 a.m. pickup.
The experience is very familiar for anyone who uses Grab. The main difference is the additional step of setting a time and date, plus the many reassuring reminders that the app will not leave you out to dry should the driver cancel on you–overtly guaranteeing the punctual arrival and reliability of their ride.
Within three minutes of confirming my booking, I had my Grab driver’s details sitting in my inbox. I felt at ease knowing that I already had a ride for the next day.
To make it easier for me and my driver to check in on each other, my assigned driver was contactable via Grab’s in-app chat and call feature 45 minutes before my ride. With confidence that I wouldn’t be canceled on (and with no means to guilt trip my driver into not doing so anyway), I decided to wake up a mere 30 minutes before my pickup time.
To my surprise, I woke up to a different driver on the way to my house and the car was due to arrive at 5:30 a.m., a full 30 minutes earlier than the agreed-upon time! That meant my previous driver canceled sometime between 11 p.m. and when I got up. I checked but there was no notification or message that I could backread to find out how last minute it happened. Personally, I think the swift reallocation of a driver asserts the "guaranteed on-time rides" promise of Grab Advance Booking.
Depending on your temperament, a scheduled ride arriving half an hour in advance may either be comforting or anxiety-inducing, but at least Grab did come through and find me the new pickup without any user input.
The usual "I'm on the way" stock message was in the chat when I got up and my driver was willing to wait as I prepared to leave by 5:45 instead. The ride proceeded with no fuss. Total charge: P696. I arrived at the airport at 6:09 a.m. which was six minutes earlier than the 6:15 ETA since there was no traffic.
Test 2: Grab Advance Booking from Office to Airport
For this attempt, I booked Grab Advance the night before at 10:30 p.m. for a 12:30 p.m. pickup and this time my driver’s details came much later at 5:56 a.m. the day of my trip.
While the driver was also due to arrive half an hour earlier than scheduled, he, too, was willing to wait and paced himself to arrive at 12:28 p.m. instead as I was not ready to leave. Perhaps it’s important to emphasize here that the 15-minute grace period (or the time you’re allowed to make your driver wait before the ride is canceled) only begins after the scheduled pickup time and not when the driver pulls up.
We arrived three minutes ahead of schedule thanks to the NAIAX, which cost me P45 in toll fees that were added to my trip via the app so I didn’t need to shell out cash. The ETA was 12:58 p.m., but we arrived at 12:55. Total cost was P741.
Test 3: Avis Philippines from Home to Airport
Aside from an added input for your flight number (since this company does specialize in airport transfers), the best way to describe booking via the Avis app is "spartan."
It doesn’t explicitly mention how far ahead you can reserve a ride but the date selection cuts off at one month away. In this case, I booked at 9:45 in the morning two days early, again for a 6:00 a.m. pickup, and was notified I had a confirmed driver after a decent 30-minute wait.
The driver’s name, rating, car details, and a button to call him (leading to his cell number being dialed on your keypad) was made available but unaccompanied by any messaging or in-app chat option.
There were no disclaimers about what would happen should the driver cancel or what the grace period for boarding is. I decided it would be awkward to call two days early and just wait and see when Avis would remind me about my booking–or if they sent any message about it at all–instead.
I woke up at 5:30 a.m. the morning of my trip and the app remained unnervingly silent until the driver messaged me at 5:38 a.m. (enabling a previously unavailable chat screen) to tell me he was on the way.
I finally found some solace from Avis since it let me track the driver’s progress via a live map and, in the chat message, he informed me that the fare is subject to change due to traffic, time, or mileage but still didn’t say how long I could dawdle before he leaves me behind.
I got a tidy Toyota Innova despite picking the sedan option, a uniformed driver, and an overall cheaper fare that actually went down because there was no traffic. For the security conscious, I noted what looked like an inward facing CCTV and a dash cam mounted by the rearview mirror.
I boarded the Avis car at 5:57 a.m. and arrived at 6:20 a.m., two minutes ahead of our 6:22 ETA. Total cost: P521.
Test 4: JoyRide Super Taxi from Office to Airport
At 10:30 p.m., two days before my trip, I clicked the Hatid Airport banner in the JoyRide app and it led me to a Google Form to input my booking details (12:00 noon on May 31) with a notice that a Super Taxi agent would contact me within 24 hours.
Before that, I had to scroll past a wall of terms and legalese before I could hit submit. It's nice that JoyRide put all the fees, info and conditions I might be concerned about right in front of me, however they presented it in a way that would make most people’s eyes glaze over.
After only 10 minutes, a live agent called (!) to confirm my details. We then moved to a Viber convo with "Super Taxi Booking Team" to pay a non-refundable pre-booking fee of P399 via GCash. That was the only payment option available.
Around 20 minutes after I paid, the agent sent back the details I put down in the Google Form plus my confirmed driver’s details with his full name, contact number, make and model of car, and plate number. I was also told that the fare would be computed via an old-school taxi meter on top of the booking fee.
The day of my trip, the Super Taxi Booking Team messaged me on Viber at 11:05 a.m. that my Super Taxi would be arriving early from 11:30 to 11:45 a.m. At 11:46 a.m., I was informed that my driver had arrived. There was no map tracking since this is all off-app so people with busy chat notifications need to pay close attention.
At 11:50 a.m., the driver reached out for the first time, texting to confirm he was at the pickup point. The grace period would only be five minutes until the meter starts running so I muscled my way into the office elevator.
By the way, I don’t know what would happen if I didn’t have Viber. Maybe the whole thing would happen over SMS? Email? And by the looks of it, communication would not happen in-app.
The JoyRide car was clearly marked, the driver had a uniform on, it was clean inside, and had a dashcam as well. The metered trip cost me an extra P277 on top of the P399 downpayment, and we arrived at 12:33 pm.–six minutes later than what the Waze app estimated when we set off. Total cost: P676.
Test 5: Normal Grab from Home to Airport
To simulate an impromptu…flight, I booked a normal Grab at around 11:25 a.m. to see how long it takes to book during peak times or a high-demand hour. Luckily, I got a confirmed ride in three minutes, but the driver did have to make an additional stop first, taking around 14 minutes to reach me.
Grace period is the usual five minutes after the driver arrived at 11:39 a.m. which was right on the estimate. ETA to the airport was 12:19 p.m. and I arrived at 12:25 p.m. because of traffic in the area. Total cost: P359.
So which is the best option?
Let’s start with the original question: yes, pre-booking is the answer to airport transport jitters. All options arrived as promised (and even earlier than the agreed-upon pickup hour) and got me to the airport on time.
However, they each have strong and weak points when it comes to the booking process and it would be interesting to see if they can keep up their level of performance especially during peak seasons or the holidays.
Grab Advance Booking
Good: Has a reassuring level of polish in the app and lots of clear reminders and disclaimers about what would happen should your driver cancel. Additionally, the prompt replacement provided for the canceled driver delivered on the service’s promise of a "guaranteed ride". The in-app chat feature, which allows passengers to avoid sharing personal mobile numbers with drivers, is another aspect I appreciate as it ensures the safety and privacy of my data.
Not Good: It’s the only one of the three services that actually had a driver replacement during the test.
Avis Philippines
Good: Cheaper than Grab Advance Booking. The drivers are Avis employees and you can communicate with them at any point during the whole booking process.
Not Good: Almost zero hand-holding, no disclaimers and reminders about how things would go if there are any complications.
JoyRide Super Taxi
Good: The booking process involves a live human on the other end, giving the sense that you can run to someone for help and are not at the mercy of some algorithm.
Not Good: The booking process is chaotic and barely automated and the non-refundable deposit also seems oppressive.
So, what’s the verdict? Grab Advance Booking gets plus points for its seamless, familiar app experience, as well as the helpful auto-rebook and guaranteed reallocation if driver cancellations do happen. For the regular Grab, you’ve still got the unpredictable Manila traffic to contend with. Meanwhile, Avis throws in a competitive price tag, not to mention the open communication lines with drivers whenever you need it. JoyRide, for its part, takes the full human touch route despite its hot mess of a booking process.
While pre-booking is clearly the way to go to combat pre-flight travel anxiety, the decision to opt for a specific ride-hailing service largely depends on your specific needs and priorities. Grab had a clear edge over other pre-booking platforms in terms of seamlessness and reliability.
Avis’ more affordable rates and overall experience also deserves consideration if you’re in need of a more affordable option. As for JoyRide, maybe when they figure out how to run everything in-app they’d be a strong contender but for now, we’ll stick to Grab Advance Booking and Avis.
2024-08-02T08:16:58Z dg43tfdfdgfd