Imagine. It’s late in the evening, and you’ve just arrived back on the mainland from Hawaii. You have an overnight at LAX at an airport hotel. It’s convenient, the points rate was solid enough, and you just want to get some sleep before you final flight back home in the morning.
Given the convenient location just beyond the airport loop, I figured I’d pay a few bucks for the ride. I was planning to wait for the shuttle. But I decided to open the Uber app. My jaw dropped.
Uber is out of its mind
Uber wanted over $20. Without tip. For one of the shortest rides I’ve ever considered. I thoroughly regret not taking a screen capture. It was insane.
This isn’t the first time I’ve been appalled by Uber’s prices in the past couple years. Nearly every time I’ve opened the app to see what a ride will cost, it’s 2-3x the price I expect. Everything from $55+ from HNL to Waikiki, to $25+ to an airport hotel near SFO, to other intra-city rides that I expect to cost $8-12. Nothing seems reasonable anymore.
Given the distance from Terminal 5, I’d wait for the shuttle. I considered walking. If it was daylight and I wasn’t as tired as I was, it would have been the easy choice. I just wanted to get to bed, though.
But wait, it gets better
It’s been ages since I’ve left LAX, so I was unaware of the new LAX-it system. Yes, it’s been since 2019 that I’ve needed a ride from LAX. Connecting through is how I roll, and I’ll be sticking to that as much as possible. It’s in the solidly worse half of my home state, and I have no desire to visit.
Curious about LAX-it, I pulled up the lot location on my phone. And was in even more disbelief.
Not only was the crazy Uber price way too much from LAX Terminal 5, I had to hop on a bus and then catch the Uber — an Uber ride was going to depart within eyesight of my destination. The Hyatt Regency LAX is literally on the next block.
If I can hop on the LAX-it bus, my walk becomes a stroll of only a couple minutes.
So, the LAX-it bus it was. Those were regular. I could see the hotel as we were pulling up. Less than five minutes later, I was stepping into the lobby.
Maybe I was the insane one, requesting a ride to a location so ridiculously close. Maybe the insane price was warranted, given what I was asking was silly, after factoring in the LAX-it piece.
Final thoughts on crazy Uber prices
Or maybe the pricing algorithm really is out of it’s mind. I’ve used Uber once in the U.S. in the past year. It was an inexpensive option in Santiago, Chile, where I took five rides. And there was one more in South Korea. But other than those international uses, I’ve shied away from it every time I pulled it up to price out a ride.
Lyft has been cheaper almost every other time. Not amazingly cheaper, but often 25% or more. In another instance, I hailed a cab. Usually, I look up mass transit options instead anyway, which is my preferred choice. But in some places, it’s far too inconvenient.
I don’t know what’s gotten into Uber, but I know that they aren’t nearly the go-to option they were only a handful of years ago. Things have changed for the worse, and I don’t see them getting better.
What do you think about the crazy Uber prices? Has you had a similar experience in the past couple years?
The LAX-it sucks .. It took 20 minutes on a bus to go to the horrid Uber lot.. What a messy system…
I can definitely see that it has reduced congestion. I waited all of a minute for the bus. But I bet at times it’s highly frustrating.
Come the beginning of 2026 when the “airtrain” like thingy starts running, you’ll just take that to the “transportation center”
I have had very similar experiences with both Uber and Lyft. Price of rides on both has soared compared to half a year ago. I have found that Uber is more expensive than Lyft. Overall, they have both become super expensive. Take a look at all those extra fees that they charge on each ride. A complete rip off.
I used to really like the service. Abroad, in some cases, it’s still a great option. Just not in the U.S. anymore it seems.
This is a flawed post, mainly because of your lack of education on the LAX uber situation which makes it more click-baity even though sincere on your part. Yes, you have to go to the “Uber Lot”. All the ubers that drive into that lot have to wait in a queue before it is their turn to get a ride. Imagine waiting 20-30min in the queue to only get a $5 trip (or rather the trip would never be accepted by a driver). Also, you need to know that there is like a $5 or so fee for a LAX drop off or pickup and maybe some other mandatory taxes/fees, thus end up with $20 for a 1 block ride (which I agree is hilarious). If you were to take a shuttle out of the “airport zone” to say Alamo/National car rental, I bet you’d get a price of $10 or so, but of course now you just went a couple miles when the hotel was a couple blocks away! Basically there is an Airport markup…
I didn’t consider the airport markup. That likely influenced the price greatly, as you said.
They really just need to go back to taxi. It might be more organized now, but with the added fees, queue, etc. Uber doesn’t make much sense.
Finally, yes, I did go for a click-baity healdline. Not my typical MO.