Another case of not doing my homework properly…I arrived at Seattle Airport earlier this week and pulled up Uber, only to discover that UberX is not available at the airport.

I HAD done my homework on how much transportation to the city cost, checking prices on Taxi Fare Finder’s Ride Guru comparison site and noted that all other options were at least $60, compared to $35 on UberX. UberBlack would run $100+ which wasn’t an option and I didn’t want to spend the time on taking light rail into the city and then Uber from there.

Then I had an idea! I saw that UberX was available at the Hilton near the Light Rail stations, so walked to the station which is attached to, but a small trek from, the airport, and took the elevator down to the street level which deposited me right by the Hilton. UberX cars were immediately available, and in fact my driver was parked in the parking lot right behind the elevator.

While I was walking I had also found Travel More’s tip for getting UberX pickups at non-participating airports, which is to set your location outside the airport (like I’d done to find the closest UberX boundary) and then contact your driver to let them know you’re actually at the airport. I was nervous about whether this was something they did in Seattle and if it somehow put my rating at risk.

But I did confirm with my driver that next time I could just move my location pin off the grounds and they’d still pick me up at the airport.

So there’s two tips on how to score a more affordable ride home when arriving in Seattle! And if you’re new to Uber, sign up using my link and you’ll get a free ride up to $20.

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