We will be on RS Portugal tour in September. We have a 5 a.m. flight out of Porto to return home. Suggestions for transport? Bolt, Taxi, Uber, other car service or does it matter; and, will they be available at 3:00 a.m. to get us to airport for a 5:00 a.m. flight? (not a frequent user of Uber in USA). Thanks,
Posted by
5109 posts
Where are you staying? If a hotel, have them book it. If renting an apartment, this covers ride share:
https://www.portugalist.com/portugal-uber-guide/
Posted by
Uppsala, Sweden
7067 posts
Where are you staying? You could ask your hotel to book a taxi for you, that would probably be my choice for such an early flight.
Posted by
OP
Louisiana
111 posts
staying in RS tour hotel. good idea. thanks.
Posted by
Eastern Iowa, USA
8137 posts
I would opt for a cab arranged by the hotel. I say this even though I use Bolt and Uber in Portugal mostly. The reason is, you are at the mercy of people who may or may not decide to drive that early in the morning. You could try to reserve on Uber/Bolt, maybe get lucky, maybe have a driver cancel. If you wait to that morning, there may not be a ride available. At least a Taxi service has some obligation to have someone there at the appointed time, and the fact that the hotel is somewhat the customer, gives incentive to be prompt.
Posted by
USA
137 posts
Strongly second suggestion of leaning on hotel (preferably senior employee) sufficiently in advance to ensure reasonably reliable service. Expect to pay accordingly.
"Reserve with Uber" seems to be a marketing gimmick. Drivers are independent contractors with limited obligations to uber and zero obligations by Uber to you. Usually all it means is that uber will start shopping your ride about 45 minutes before requested time with hope that at least one driver will accept the bid.
Posted by
Brooklyn, NY
4303 posts
Go through the hotel. When we were in Rotterdam last month and we needed a 5:45 am pickup. We booked through booking.com for a local driver. When they didn’t show up the dispatcher kept saying he was on his way. No guy. Called again. No one. Hotel reception had someone outside in 10 minutes. Cost us a lot more but we were finally on our way. Thank goodness we always add extra time to get to the airport.
Booking.com refunded our money a few days later. I was very happy Booking.com didn’t stiff us cause we lost money with Welcome Pickups when they cancelled our ride April 2023 in Paris.