Reply To: LA without car?

[merlin90]

MattB wrote:

We’ve just booked 5 nights in LA as part of a longer trip and have had the exact same dilemna. I’ve used most of our Hilton points to book the Beverly Hills Waldorf Astoria and decided to rely on uber/lyft as parking and valet everytine we wanted to go somewhere seemed ridiculous. Probably will spend a day at santa Monica, another at Universal and I’d rather have a drink and enjoy myself than have the hassle of driving.

The hotel apparently has a Rolls that will pick you up within 3 miles so may take advantage of that when possible!

One point to note, if you are arriving into LAX the cost of uber direct from the airport can be 3x times the cost of getting dropped off there due to only allowing ‘uber black’ pickups whatever they are.

This is a good point. Uber Black and Uber Lux are just nicer cars, possibly with a higher class of driver (however that’s measured). At LAX you can only be picked up at the terminal by Uber Black/Lux, Lyft’s equivalents, private-hire vehicles, or someone you know in their own car. Otherwise you have to take the shuttle to the LAXit parking lot a few minutes away, from where you can pick up a regular Uber/Lyft/taxi. There are no such restrictions when it comes to being dropped off; regular Ubers are fine.

Up until I think late 2019 any vehicle could pick up curbside at LAX and it was a complete mess. The traffic in the horseshoe that is the road that links the terminals still isn’t great but I think having regular Ubers/Lyfts/cabs sit elsewhere has helped, even if it’s more annoying for passengers in some respects.

Also, don’t forget that once you’ve signed up to Lyft you can earn Hilton or Delta points on your trips.