Very often, when you book a trip on the fly, you have less time to prepare. Such was my latest trip to Colombia. I booked this award trip just five days before take off. I’ll be covering more details about the trip in upcoming reviews. However, this incident at Bogota airport surely started off my trip in the most unexpected way possible. It all happened when I booked an Uber ride.
The Flight
As usual, I used my Platinum Card in order to check into the Airspace Lounge at San Diego Airport. I flew American Airlines from San Diego to Bogota. I was glad the the flight went smoothly as planned. The connection at DFW was smooth and I was able to access the Centurion lounge at DFW, thanks again to my Platinum Card.
Uber Ride
After a timely arrival into Bogota airport, immigration and customs took forever, as there was a long serpentine line. Flight 1123 landed into Bogota on time at 11:10 PM. However, I wasn’t out of the airport until well past 12:30 AM. As soon as I exited the airport, I was accosted by yellow cab drivers, looking to drop me to my hotel. I quickly opened the Uber app on the phone and looked for a ride.
The app showed a few cars around the airport. The first driver accepted the ride. It took him more than the anticipated time. After over 15-20 minutes of wait, he bailed out and canceled. At this point, I was wondering what was happening. I tried my luck again. This time a driver accepted it and then called me.
Uber Pick-Up
At this point, he asked me to come to Parking Lot C and meet him near a pedestrian walk way. I assumed that this probably might be a designated area like they have at most airports for Uber pickups. I walked across to the parking lot and waited by the pedestrian walk way.
After a few minutes, the car entered the parking lot and picked me up. As I was loading my luggage into the trunk, the driver politely asked me if I could sit in the front. I obliged. As we drove off and exited the airport to head towards the hotel, he casually said that Uber was not legal in Colombia.
At this point, I was stunned. Here I am in the middle of the night at around 12:30 AM and the driver’s telling me that Uber is illegal while taking an Uber ride. Out of concern, I asked the driver the reason about what was going on. He just smiled and didn’t say much. Thankfully, the driver was extremely friendly and dropped me safely to my destination.
The Pundit’s Mantra
After checking into the hotel, I ran a few searches about the whole situation. It seems that Uber isn’t technically legal in Colombia. However, it seems like everyone seems to have no problem with it. This thread on reddit delves deeper into the inner working of what’s happening with Uber.
What do you think about the whole situation? Would you be comfortable booking an Uber in a foreign country if you knew in advance that it was not technically legal? Let us know in the comments section.
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This has been the case in Colombia for many years due to the strong taxi unions. Your first driver most likely bailed as he was scared of the taxi drivers at the airport and don’t feel comfortable dealing with a foreigner.
Sitting in the front is normal there as it just looks like you are travelling with a friend. Sometimes police stop the drivers to check. You just say the driver is a friend of a friend who is picking you up.
It’s all about being prepared in advance.
Taxi Unions are always locked in a tussle with Uber drivers. I saw the same issue when Uber first launched in India. However, I didn’t come across this situation before where Uber was operating in a city or a country where it was officially banned. Also, in this case, there was a communication gap as the driver only spoke Spanish. So it was even tougher for me to understand clearly what was going on.
In the early days of Uber, I seem to remember some US airports banned Uber, so the drivers would also have you sit in the front seat.
That’s an interesting observation. Seems like a pretty sketchy way to do business for them.
I’m not sure I’d have found myself in that position. I’m not someone who plans out every minute and day of a trip, but I do try to educate myself fairly deeply on the place I’m going so that I have a basic working knowledge of what to expect so that, when faced with choices, opportunities, and challenges, I can nimbly adjust my plans.
So, I’d have probably landed with a plan for getting to the hotel that didn’t rely on a rideshare service, knowing they’re only sometimes and in some places the best option.
I usually have things lined up pretty well. However, this time I suddenly found award availability over labor day weekend, I flew out with less time to prepare. I had the option of taking a taxi, but took Uber because it was cheaper, and didn’t want to shell out cash for taxi. Also, the hotel’s shuttle service ended at 11 PM. So I couldn’t use that either.