I just can't get a break with Super Shuttle

[leota's necklace]

I had been using SS with some trepidation after the last time I took them outbound from LAX, when the driver held us hostage and circled the airport waiting for more fares until the passengers he had on board threatened to mutiny. But until now I haven't had a problem with pickups inbound to the airport.

On Sunday, I had booked a pickup with Super Shuttle from the Grand. My window began at 5:15. At five after the hour, I went outside to wait for them on the bench by the valet window, where I could see everyone entering and leaving the porte-cochere.

At 5:20 or so I started getting a little concerned when I received an automated call from SS, saying my driver was outside waiting for me. I looked around. No van.

I asked the gentleman managing traffic under the porte-cochere, and he said the shuttle pickup point was on the outside of the driveway, and that I should call SS to verify, as they were fond of breezing through without actually stopping. So I crossed the driveway and called. The rep from SS said he showed that my driver was waiting for me there at the pickup point. I assured him to double-check, as I don't have vision problems that severe, and there was no van where I was, which I had verified was the actual official pickup point. Meanwhile, as I was speaking with the rep, the driver called and left me a message saying since he had waited for me, he was going to leave (!). The rep came back on the line, and I asked him to encourage the driver to "come back" to pick me up (since, well, he hadn't actually been there in the first place, to the best of my knowledge). As I was making that suggestion, lo and behold, the van pulled up.

Zero explanation, much less an apology.

So, once again, I am encouraged to reconsider ever using Super Shuttle.

[bennette]

We never use them in our Irvine neighborhood. Sometimes they're on it but when they aren't, well, you might miss your flight!

Too stressful.

[LuvPluto]

What are the options from LAX? My husband will be flying in Thursday evening to join us.

[leota's necklace]

Not sure if there is a flat rate for taxis from LAX; that's how I got to the Park from SNA and it was perfect. Zero hassle, zero wait, made it to the hotel in less than fifteen minutes.

[AnotherJenny]

What are the options from LAX? My husband will be flying in Thursday evening to join us.

http://disneyland.disney.go.com/plan...ransportation/

I've never done it personally, but most people I think recommend the DL Resort Express, it's a charter bus.

Just FYI, the public transportation option that DL shows will take 2 - 2 1/2 hours.

[Clark Griswold]

I've used SuperShuttle numerous times in the past. The main pros for me are the price, the speed at which I've usually been able to get a van from an airport, and it's a well-known brand so I know I'm not going to be ripped off/driven down a dark alley. Unfortunately, I had an incident a couple of years ago where the Supershuttle that was supposed to pick me up had forgotten about me and the hotel called for another one which picked me up an hour late. I just scraped onto my flight. It's one thing to miss an internal flight, it's another to miss a 15-hour international flight when you're supposed to be heading back to work the next day after using up your entire annual leave. My other main gripe with them is that they ask you what time your flight leaves and then THEY tell YOU when they'll pick you up. It's amateurish and almost always ends in tears. I won't use them again - it's not worth the stress.

[leota's necklace]

I have used the DL express to/from LAX and liked it.

[DwarfPlanet]

Is DL Express and SS the only real options other than a taxi to get from LAX to DLR? Going back in May so looking at all the options.

[bennette]

I can give you the name of a very nice car service but it's not budget travel. We only do LAX anymore for international travel and it's worth the cost to us for that kind of trip.

[kagee]

Demanding on how many people you are with a private limo is a good way to go, with eight people it was the same price as the shuttles

[AVP]

Due to several Super Shuttle near-misses, and after a friend missed not only her flight but her entire CRUISE because of their "service," we don't use the shared ride van service anymore. Instead, we use a private car service. Definitely more expensive, but worth every penny to not be in constant fear that we will miss our flight or worse!

AVP

[bennette]

Instead, we use a private car service. Definitely more expensive, but worth every penny to not be in constant fear that we will miss our flight or worse!

AVP

So true. Not to mention the time you gain not having to plan for an extra hour (or two) for the pick ups. My travel day is long enough.

[lovechows]

I'm so sorry you've had problems with Super Shuttle but almost relieved that we're not the only one who has had problems with them. To be fair, we have had some drivers who have picked us up at our home on time (or even early) and were extremely courteous and helpful. Sadly, the last few times we've used them, we've had horrible experiences--with our pickup reservations being lost and almost missing flights out of SNA, drivers holding us hostage while looking for extra fares (at both SNA and LAX), and the last time we rode them, being taken all over the place on our way home when we were scheduled to be in our local area. It was this last experience that makes me very hesitant to use them again. We flew home on a late flight and live near the DLR area. Instead of taking us home after the DLR guests were dropped off, the driver took us all the way over to a city in the opposite direction (adding an extra hour to our drive home). We ended up driving way too fast on a narrow hillside road as the driver tried to find a shortcut to make up time (he didn't know the area and this was suggested by the previous guests he'd just dropped off).

We also discovered that if you pre-pay reservations, SS doesn't give any priority to you. We were the first ones picked up at the airport, spent over 30 minutes waiting for them to find other guests (without reservations), and then we were the last ones to be dropped off---driven an hour out of our way when the second drop off was only 5 miles from our home because the last guests to be picked up insisted on being dropped off first. None of the other guests in our van had reservations. We definitely will not pre-pay the return part of our trip with SS in the event we ever use them again.

Thanks, Adrienne, for the suggestion to use a car service. We'll look into it for our next trip. We're also considering parking at SNA, especially for 3 or 4 day trips. (And, so sorry to hear about your friend missing her cruise. How horrible for her. We usually take the first flight out and SS has been better at early AM pickups--except for the one where they cancelled our pickup. I called them and their dispatcher had someone to us within 15 minutes--otherwise we would have missed our flight--but not a cruise. Your poor friend!!!)

Even though we have had some SS drivers who are professional and competent drivers, this last driver should not be allowed to have a chauffeur's license.

[LOZZYPOP]

I too had a less than stellar experience with SS. I only used them on one trip. The airport to hotel leg was fine, but when we had to return to the airport the driver turned up an hour early than my confirmed time. I was told they would not guarantee that anyone would come back at the time I had actually booked. It was a good thing we were actually ready (since it was 5am in the morning) but we spent waaayyy longer in the airport than I wanted to.

However, I have used Supershuttle's Execucar service which is like a private car (and was only slightly more expensive than the SS shared van option for two people) and was very pleased and would use them again.

[jananafish]

Super Shuttle...not so super. Going to LAX I only need to take a taxi since I live about 10 min from the airport, but for my destination...add me to the list of people who also prefer private car service! I use Yelp or word of mouth and have booked private car/van service for about the same or slightly more than booking with SS. I'm sorry that happened to you

[AVP]

However, I have used Supershuttle's Execucar service which is like a private car (and was only slightly more expensive than the SS shared van option for two people) and was very pleased and would use them again.

This is what we use, and we haven't had any problems. It's just their shared ride service that seems to be so hit-or-miss.

AVP

[Drince88]

SuperShuttle in New Orleans doesn't even make an attempt to service individual houses - they ONLY go to hotels.

[DwarfPlanet]

I can give you the name of a very nice car service but it's not budget travel. We only do LAX anymore for international travel and it's worth the cost to us for that kind of trip.

Who is it that you use please?

[HTanner]

My brother worked for supershuttle as a dispatcher about 15-20 years ago. Back then, it was a private company and fairly well organized. Then, supershuttle decided to allow "owner-operators," i.e., people who would buy the vehicle for a premium and give a small percentage of their fares back to Supershuttle for the privilege of using their name and dispatch service. The regular employees hated them because they did not follow the supershuttle rules - they arrived when they felt like it, stole fares, ditched lower-paying fares assigned to them for higher-paying fines; etc. They also never tipped the dispatchers. (It was common practice - - and the dispatchers and curb coordinators worked hard to make sure everyone was making money with well-organized runs, and constantly full vans). My brother decided to leave when Supershuttle went to nearly 90% owner-operator. More profit for Supershuttle, less overhead.

He worked in SF, but my understanding is LA is mostly owner-operated, too.

[bennette]

Who is it that you use please?

I pm'd you. It's Classique Limos. They are on the pricier side.

For anyone who is interested, I found them using Limos.com, as recommended on MouseSavers. This is a service that will pull several quotes for you and you can review the company by service level. Classique is in the top service level but my feeling at the time was that there were plenty of companies at the next lower service level (or even two levels) that probably would do a good job for less. As many people know, I have a very reluctant traveler to deal with. He is happy to spend some extra money to get "elite" level service but I don't know that it's absolutely required.

You'll get the company names before making any decision and should be able to get some reviews on them independent of Limos.com.

[lovechows]

HTanner, thanks so much for your insight into what happened to Super Shuttle. That explains so much about what happened to them. For many years, my experiences with them were very good (except for the occasional extra trip around an airport to pick up extra fares--but you could understand why they were doing it). It's really sad to see how a company that was once dependable and had many professional, courteous drivers has degenerated into one which is now unreliable and has some drivers who can be even be belligerent with guests. I had one instance at LAX where I made the driver take me back to the stand and got out of his car because he was so condescending and misogynistic towards me. But, we've also had some really great drivers who went out of their way to help us so we've tried to be understanding and just thought it was because the company was experiencing growing pains, etc. Now we that we know what's behind it, we'll use alternate transportation services. Thanks everyone for your help!

[leota's necklace]

I went ahead and logged a complaint last night; we'll see what kind of response I get. It doesn't matter much, as this has done enough to convince me that I need to use other options, but it will be interesting to note what kind of effort gets made.

[DwarfPlanet]

Thanks for the PM Bennette! A coworker was telling me about another shuttle service called Primetime, has anybody had any dealings with them?

[SuzanneSLO]

[snip]However, I have used Supershuttle's Execucar service which is like a private car (and was only slightly more expensive than the SS shared van option for two people) and was very pleased and would use them again.

It looks like the current OW price from SNA to the Grand Californian is $50 for Business Express Svc by ExecuCarExpress. Does anyone know how that compares to the current flat rate cab fare from SNA? -- Suzanne

[missm]

Wow how appropriate to find this thread after having two not so great experiences with SS this week. Last Saturday we got into our SS van and then sat and waited for 25 minutes while they waited for two more people to fill the van. I wouldn't have cared so much but our van loaded first and then left after three other vans that loaded after us. It pretty much just sucked, why load us if we are just going to sit there? It was hot and crammed already and then to add more people on top of that seemed ridiculous.

Then we had booked 5:30 pm on Thursday to come back to SNA. Totally our fault that we cut it so close to our pick-up time, we were just walking back to the hotel about 5:20. The driver seemed impatient to have us be "late." It took us 1 hour 10 minutes (I am not even joking) to get to SNA from the Desert Inn. It took us 15 minutes to get from SNA to the hotel when we arrived (we were the first stop). The girls that were picked up before us only had 40 minutes until their flight departed. I have always used SS but it seems their service has been lacking in recent years so I will be finding some other mode of transportation in the future.