We were tired after a long day of travel and were approached by a young man asking if needed a taxi--we said yes and he led us to a waiting car and loaded our luggage into the trunk. We got in not noticing no picture/ badge on the dashboard. We had agreed to a price of 38 which seemed high but we wanted to get to the hotel. Upon arrival we were told the fare was 40. We paid and registered for our room. The front desk clerk said the fare should be about 20 and then didn't seem to care. Always check for the taxi license!!
Posted by
Hudson Valley
2267 posts
Sorry that happened to you.
Checking for a license becomes a nonfactor when one simply ignores the (almost always illegal) grifters in the arrivals hall and proceeds straight to the airport's official taxi rank. A universal truth—applicable to all airports of the world.
Posted by
Connecticut
680 posts
Thanks very much for sharing your experience. Making others aware of the types of situations that can befall them helps tremendously. Very sorry that this happened to you.
Posted by
Eastern Iowa, USA
7899 posts
The front desk clerk said the fare should be about 20 and then didn't seem to care.
Umm, why should they care? What did you expect them to do? For your part, you asked the driver how much, they told you, you arrived, you basically paid the agreed upon price, within a couple euro, deal done.
But thanks about warning others, and reiterating the point, always go to the official queue, ask your hotel ahead of time what a taxi should cost, ask the driver getting in, as well as if credit card is taken, then enjoy the ride.
Posted by
Solana Beach
100 posts
Thank you for the reminder. We arrive in Malaga next week after a long journey from California. Based on your experience I just checked the official website for the airport to make sure I knew where to go to find the licensed taxis.
Posted by
Portsmouth
5477 posts
Don't worry, you can't miss the official taxi rank. There are clear overhead signs in the airport indicating where the taxi rank is and once outside they're easy to spot as there will be a line of identical official taxis all waiting for their fares. These drivers will not approach you asking if you need a taxi, anyone who does that is not an official driver.