New Uber Features Makes it Easier to Navigate Airports
The ride-hailing app has expanded the reservation period for future bookings, added a feature to help customers make their way around airports, and is rolling out a new business-class ride option
Uber / Photo: Tero Vesalainen/Shutterstock
Uber has unveiled four brand-new product updates designed to make it easier for people traveling to and from airports.
The ride-hailing company has announced expanding the reservation period for pre-booked rides, offering walking directions to pick-up points within airports, walking times, and rolling out a Business Comfort option to allow business travelers to travel to and from the airport in style.
The new features are designed to make the entire travel experience for passengers quicker, easier, and more comfortable when demand for air travel rebounds strongly in a post-pandemic world.
According to the Transport Security Administration (TSA), passenger numbers at U.S. airports are likely to reach pre-pandemic levels during Spring Break.
Photo: Courtesy of Uber
The first of the newly-launched features is the expanded availability of Uber Reserve. Currently, people can use Uber Reserve to book a ride up to 30 days in advance, but this reservation period has now been expanded to 90 days. This should help airline passengers across the country organize their trips during their initial booking, as many people book flights more than a month in advance.
The feature will also show customers the upfront price and details about the driver in advance, and it’s also being expanded to cover most parts of the U.S. and Canada.
Uber has also added a feature providing step-by-step directions to pick-up points at certain airports. The feature is currently available at 30 airports across the world, including Los Angeles (LAX), San Francisco (SFO), Chicago (ORD), Atlanta (ATL), Miami (MIA), and all three major New York airports – John F. Kennedy International (JFK), Newark Liberty International (EWR), and LaGuardia (LGA).
Checking in at the airport / Photo: Unsplash+In collaboration with Getty Images
Uber has said it will expand this service to more airports in the coming months.
In addition to walking directions within airports, Uber users will be given walking ETAs, eliminating the stress of not knowing how long it will take to navigate an airport and thus find your ride. Uber will soon make this feature available in over 400 airports worldwide.
Finally, the Uber for Business app will launch a new ride option – Business Comfort. This option will allow people traveling for work to travel to and from their airport in a “unique business-class experience.”
“With travel roaring back, we’ve been innovating on ways to redesign your airport experience from beginning to end so that you’re not just getting to and from the airport, but also getting through it with less stress,” said Jen You, head of product for rides at Uber. “Our new series of products and features will help you plan for your upcoming trips and make your airport travel smoother than ever.”
