subject: After Arriving At The Airport, When Should I Call To Get Picked Up? [print this page] When you're traveling to a new city there are a lot of things that you have to plan for in order to make sure that your journey goes as smoothly as possible. The most important of these things is making sure that your transportation is arranged when you arrive at your destination. Trying to arrange travel on the fly can be frustrating and can lead to getting lost, being late, and more unfortunate and annoying circumstances. Thankfully, most major cities have excellent taxi services which can be used to greatly assist in this problem.
The question that many people have is when they should call for a taxi after they get to the airport in order to get picked up in a timely fashion. The answer to this is going to depend a lot on both the specific airport that you're flying into, and what kind of a flight you've just taken, as well as what kind of luggage you had on board.
This is where a guide book or travel web site can be invaluable. At many metropolitan airports there isn't going to be a need for you to call ahead of time to book a cab. Many have large fleets of standing taxis outside at all times making it easy for you to grab a car as soon as you're ready. If this isn't the case at the airport that you're flying into though, you'll need to make other plans.
Basically, you need to allow enough time for you to clear customs, if necessary, and to get any checked luggage you have, if you had any. So, if you've just flown on a domestic flight and you're only carrying a carryon bag, you're probably safe to call the cab as soon as you hit the ground. If you're traveling internationally and have to wait for checked baggage, a good time to call is usually when you see others from your flight getting their bags, because this typically means that yours aren't going to be that far behind.
Taking a taxi when you get to a new town is very often going to be your best transportation option. It is going to allow you to get where you need to go quickly without having to figure out local public transportation routes. It is also usually much easier to accommodate baggage in a cab then trying to juggle it on a bus or subway.
