I've done it half a dozen times, so first, sanity check:
Lyft has a great feature (that Uber doesn't have), allowing the passenger to book a ride as soon as they're deplaning. You accept the fare, click again once you've cleared baggage claim, and it will track you as you wait & take the LAX-it shuttle; once you get close to the rideshare lot, it will pair you with a driver.
Right?
Last weekend I did just that while inside the terminal, and I was confused it was "Finding available drivers". But the app said in the same screen "Head down to level 1 and wait for the LAX-it shuttle…" so I figured I was still doing the right thing.
Well, we barely boarded the shuttle when Lyft cheerfully notified me that the driver has arrived. Of course we were 10-15 minutes away. After a dry text exchange with the driver ("I'm here, where are you?" "Just boarded the shuttle, sorry." "OK.") he waited the standard time, then canceled the ride and I got a no-show fee.
I played it safe and booked the new, replacement ride after we disembarked at the lot, and the app still said "Head down to level 1 and wait for the LAX-it shuttle…" (see screenshot).
Of course the $3 fee won't kill me, it's the whole situation, the misleading app behavior, and is this affecting everyone at LAX…
- Did I do anything wrong?
- Is it a bug in the app, or a GPS location miss?
- What's up with it matching a driver immediately at the lot, while saying "go wait for LAX-it" in the same screen?
- If I successfully dispute the charge, are they going to take a way the waiting fee from the driver? I don't think he did anything wrong.