We've all been there: Making our way through the airport after landing, wondering whether to hit “request” for a rideshare right away or wait until the pickup area – wherever that is. Lyft is rolling out a new feature that could help eliminate the guesswork.
The rideshare company recently announced it is rolling out a new feature that lets travelers preorder a ride as soon as their flight lands. Available at just a few major U.S. airports to start, the app will track your location after requesting a ride, eventually matching you with a driver as you get close to the pickup area. That means you don't need to rush to the pickup zone nor worry about how long it might take to grab your luggage from the baggage claim.
You won't find the option to order your Lyft ride everywhere just yet. At launch, this new preorder feature is only available at three airports:
- Los Angeles (LAX)
- Chicago-O'Hare (ORD)
- Chicago-Midway (MDW)
Lyft says it will be rolled out in Austin (AUS), New York City (JFK), and Seattle (SEA) airports soon. It's unclear when – or if – the preorder feature will become more widely available at more airports nationwide.
The rideshare company says this latest should take some of the guesswork out of when you should book a ride. And it should reduce the amount of time you'll spend waiting for your ride, as the app's location tracking will match you with a driver who should arrive at the pickup area shortly after you do.
The preorder feature also locks in the price of your Lyft ride, so you don't have to worry about the price fluctuating as you make your way through the airport, waiting for the right time to request a ride.
Rideshare apps are constantly adding new features in an effort to make travel a little smoother. Uber recently unveiled a new feature in its app that gives travelers step-by-step walking directions from their gate to the rideshare pickup area, making it easier to find your driver if you don't know your way around the airport.
This latest new feature in the Lyft app means you'll have one less thing to worry about when you get off the plane, especially during the busy summer travel season.
Read our tips on how to travel like a pro this summer!
Bottom Line
Lyft has launched a new feature in its app that lets travelers preorder their rideshare as soon as they land at the airport, matching them with a driver once they get close to the pickup area and locking in the price of the ride, too.
It's only available at a few airports right now. If and when this rolls out to more airports nationwide, it could solve a big pain point for travelers.
Terrible. Any serious business traveler knows how to time the pickups so you don’t wait 10min in the smoky pickup areas. Lyft making this sound great but it’s actually much worse.
The driver doesn’t get all the 60$
Dollars , so don’t think you’re entitled to have them waiting for you like there your servants , and if
You want a taxi like service just get a taxi,
Will be interesting how this works. I landed in SAN yesterday and booked a Lyft waiting for my bags. If you’ve been there you know its:
A) Usually fast bags and
B) right next to the rideshare
Instead of the usual 10 or 15 minute wait, the driver wait was like 5 mins. And of course, the bags took forever…and you know that’s the case when the entire plane has showed up, and is milling about. I don’t know when my driver arrived but I asked him to wait as I had a $60 fare to the North side of town. He canceled immediately and I got hit with a $5 fee (that got waived when I complained…..but wtf…..these drivers cancel on me all the time how come I get hit with a fee? I should be getting that $5 when they cancel as well.).
Immediately booked the next driver, and that all worked (15 min wait) out but my point is, Lyft can’t seem to even be able to get you a 5-minute pickup at most airports, who thinks they can make this work in a non-infuriating way?
What they really need is a way to lineup drivers (ahem, like Taxis do) so we don’t have this on-demand BS. Just walk up to any Lyft/Uber and go. I suppose they can’t act like normal taxis due to regulation or whatever, but its a giant waste of time and fuel for everyone else.