Davis Airporter

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Phone
(530)756-6715
800-565-5153
Web site
[WWW]http://www.davisairporter.com

The Davis Airporter is a shuttle service that drives people to and from the Sacramento (SMF) and San Francisco (SFO) airports. They operate throughout the Sacramento region. They pick you up and drop you off at your door. Basically, it's a cheaper alternative to a taxi. For one person it's $23 to SMF and $85 to SFO. Reservations must be made in advance: they require 1 day advance for SMF and 3-5 days advance for SFO. (They finalize every day's schedule the afternoon before, so "1 day in advance" is better understood as 36 hours.) See [WWW]their web site for rates and reservation requests. They don't take credit card payments over the phone, but they will if you fax them a signed authorization.

For an honest rundown on the operation, including good advice, scroll down to the long-winded entry from AirporterDriverPete, who has worked there for twelve years.

If you are going between Davis and SMF, a much cheaper alternative is to take Yolobus — undergrads can ride for free, but for everyone else it's $1.50. You are restricted on how much luggage you can take, however. Allow at least an hour, preferably two.

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How was your ride?

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2005-12-30 02:16:27   I've been severely tail-gated by these wankers three times now. The worst time was when I was driving 65mph in a heavy rain storm at night in the slow lane in a 65mph zone on I-5 South between Woodland and SMF. The Davis Airporter van rushed up behind me as if the gas pedal was stuck, and then stayed a foot (at most) from my rear bumper for at least a couple of minutes until the fast lane was clear enough to pass. When the Davis Airporter driver finally passed me, their van came so close to my bumper that I'm surprised they didn't hit me. I don't care how late the passengers were - nothing gives them the right to directly and recklessly threaten my life. —GrahamFreeman

2006-01-08 20:41:07   $70 is rather expensive... if you're a UCD student, utilize the Davis Berkeley Shuttle & BART when traveling on a weekday. —WinnieKuo

2006-11-21 22:55:09   I've used them quite a few times and they have been pretty reliable and accomodating (I've brought a bike box on a couple times). They do seem to make their confirmation calls at odd times, however. I just received a call at 10:50pm changing my pickup time by 5 minutes and requesting that I pay in cash. I would definitely recommend them, though. —ChrisSwinehart

2006-12-22 20:33:51   Not only do they make confirmation calls at odd hours, but they also make cancelation calls at odd hours — just 15 minutes before they were scheduled to pick me up, they called to say that there was no longer room for me in the van. I felt really screwed over and didn't appreciate their oversight at all! —DavisResident

2007-01-11 20:34:19   Supershuttle is only $1 more and in my experience is much more willing to pick you up when you want to be picked up rather than 3 hours beforehand. Also you don't need a reservation to get back home. Just go to the booth at the Sac airport. —JimEvans

2007-01-11 20:53:41   A few years ago, the Davis Airporter left us in SFO overnight: we arrived after 10 pm (flight was scheduled to arrive at 4 pm) and the Airporter folks told us we'd have to wait in the airport until they started running again around 6 am the next morning. Not sure if this is still their current policy. —BrianOmeara

2007-01-11 21:42:47   They're reliable, but as it says above, make your reservations in advance. I tried 8 hours in advance once and they were already too full. —CraigBrozinsky

2007-02-06 10:37:55   The Davis Airporter abandoned us at SFO! We were arriving at very late at night (12:30am). I made a reservation with confirmation code, etc…and clarified that we were getting in very late, they said “no problem”. We went to Jamaica and when we were switching planes in DC, I checked my messages. They left a message (8 days after I made my reservation) to say they will not be at SFO to pick us up. I called and they were very unapologetic, said they don’t have a driver at that hour, and there are no other shuttles. They said that they would pick us up 11:00am the next morning. This is probably the worst customer service I have ever received! Think twice before making a reservation with them! —AnneMeckstroth

2007-04-09 19:39:03   This is probably one of the best shuttle services in the sacramento area, they really "make it happen". This is your ticket to the airport with no hassle and at a low cost....YES!!! and the staff rocks. —JJstokes

2007-07-29 14:55:55   I've always had great service from the Airporter to SMF. They usually pick me up earlier than I would leave if I drove, but it's cheaper than parking at the airport. Occasionally they'll call and tell me they can pick me up at home later than my previously arranged time (which means I get more sleep that morning), but I've never had calls at odd hours or been canceled on at the last minute. They will usually accept credit cards except during holidays when they are very busy (and then they warned me when I made the reservation). —rachelss

2007-09-06 19:15:27   The airport service to/from SFO is very bad. You have to think twice before you take this service between Davis and SFO. Our family members had experienced several times in the last three months that they picked us up already at 8:00AM, but our flight at SFO airport starts only after 15:00PM, or we had to stay at SFO airport for nearly 3 hours to wait for another passenger who arrived at SFO 3 hours later than our flight, even though we booked the service 7 days before. Waiting makes you very tired, especially after more than 12 hours international flight.

If you told them to improve their service, they would tell you different excuses to shift the blame on you. If you book service long in advance enough, they would tell you they could not earn money or there is no driver available for your arriving time, if they just pick you alone up. You have no choice, but to wait for other passengers. You will give them the reason to blame you, if you don’t book them at least 7 days before. If you suggest that they should organize every more efficiently or employee more driver to attract more customers, they don’t care at all and just tell you that you could cancel your booking, since there is no competition for them in Davis at all.

If you can drive, better rent a car at SFO airport and drive back by yourself home. It is the easiest way, and you will have less trouble and anger with them. If you travel with your family members, to rent a car is obviously better. - Jenny

2007-09-20 22:13:45   These guys have the worst customer service. We made our reservation online about a day and a half before we were scheduled to leave. When we hadn't recieved a phone call by late the night before the trip, I called to ask about our reservation. They said that because we did not make it two days ahead, there was nothing they could do (even though according to their website, we were making it in plenty of time). When I told them this, they said it was not their problem. And the worst thing is, they weren't even going to inform us that they would not be honoring our reservation. I would not recommend them at all—go with super shuttle instead—they are much more professional. —Kit

2007-09-20 22:58:36   I have had great service frm this company. I will definitely use them again for rides to the airport. —customer

2007-11-06 14:20:00   The service to Sacramento Airport is very reliable and fairly frequent. Davis Airporter does combine riders together in the van so they will be picking up and dropping off other passengers. Where you are being picked up or dropped off determines the pick up and drop off order.

The service to SFO is less frequent so you may have to go to SFO earlier than you would like or you may have to wait for other arriving passengers at SFO airport before the van departs. You will generally never have to wait more than an hour at SFO before the van leaves. Sometimes you get lucky and the van leaves right away after you get on. If you are arriving at SFO after a long overseas flight, remember that you will be tired and it will take a while to get home. On weekday afternoons you will experience the horrendous Bay Area rush hour traffic, so you need to be patient.

I always try to fly in and out of SMF instead of SFO because of the travel time and traffic between Davis and SFO. —TurboCat

2007-11-08 01:13:52   Wow, where to begin? I have been driving for the Davis Airporter since 1997, twelve years now. First of all, I have seen periods of customer service greatness, and periods where we flat-out stunk. Right now, we are about at an 8 (10 being greatness). And for those who say "just take Super Shuttle", I'll say that they're a fine company, but have just as many detractors as we have, probably more. I am not here to minimize the thoughts of those who have made negative comments here, but it's clear from perusing DavisWiki that those with grievances, valid or not, are the most likely to post their thoughts online, so they should not be taken as a representative sample, or as a true reflection of the company(s) being talked about. Alright, on with the show....

After reading the comments here, I feel obligated and qualified to give my experienced side of the story. I guess I'll start with the most severe and work from there.

1. Pickups to/from Sacramento Airport: We never, ever, call someone to tell them they don't have a ride to the airport. If we have overbooked a van, which is rare, and
if another van can't make the pickup in a reasonable amount of time, we call a cab to make the pickup. The customer pays the cab our regular fare of $23, and we
pay the cab company the difference. Not what the customer had in mind, and it doesn't make us look particularly good, but sometimes it's necessary.

2. AnneMeckstroth above tells of being stranded at SFO, and I don't have a valid excuse for this one. A new reservation agent gave incorrect information, and our policy provides for a refund. That's probably small consolation for Anne when she simply wanted to get home on time, but it's true, we don't pick up after midnight at SFO. Anne should have been given a full refund, and hopefully she was. And Anne, if you haven't, call and ask to talk to the manager.

3. BrianOmeara has a similar story, with the difference that his plane was 6 hours late. We do track the status of everyone's flight, and make the appropriate adjustments. However, this is where passenger anger should be directed at the airline involved. We literally bend over backwards to accommodate delayed passengers, sometimes at the expense of our customers who arrive on time. When I get a complaint about waiting for a delayed passenger, I stress that the next time, "it might be you we're waiting for".

If we have a van at SFO anywhere near your delayed arrival time, we will hold the van for you, unless the passengers already on board have been on board for 45 minutes. If this is the case, and if your delayed plane arrives after 8:00PM, you MIGHT have to wait until the next morning for our service, though our last van usually leaves SFO between 9:00PM and
11:00PM. First van usually arrives by 6:00-6:30AM, though it might be as early as 5:30AM and as late as 10:00AM.

4. Late confirmation calls: On rare occasions, an early-morning driver will call in sick. In this case, the schedule needs to be rearranged at night, and the change-in-pickup-time call will come late. This is an extreme rarity—confirmation calls start around 4:00PM, and can go as late as 8:00PM.

5. For Sacramento Airport—The reservation agents automatically set Davis pickup times one hour before your desired arrival time at the airport. There are a few reasons for this, and a few ways around it. There is the possibility that you will be the first of four or five pickups. This is why we allow an hour from Davis to Sacramento Airport, though it rarely takes
that long. The way around it is to tell the reservation agent to make a note that you would rather be picked up later. Then, the night before your pickup, when the next day's pickups are assigned to drivers, your pickup will be moved later if a) You are the only pickup, or one of two. b) If it doesn't interfere with pickups being made at the airport, and c) If the driver has ample turnaround time for his/her next run. And please feel free to call the evening before your pickup and ask if a later pickup is possible. We sometimes get late cancellations, which often make for possibilities that didn't exist just hours before. If you do call the night before, do it after 11:30 pm. The graveyard agent starts his shift at this time, and he doesn't have as many immediate concerns on his plate as the evening crew, who often don't have the time to properly look at the next day's schedule to see if they can adjust it for you. The overnight guy has been there for years, and will make adjustments for you if it is possible.

For San Francisco Airport—We set Davis pickup times 2 1/2 hours before your desired arrival time at SFO, unless you call on short notice, as in 1-4 days before your flight. In this case, those who reserved first take precedence—your reservation will be built around what is already there, and you may have to be picked up a few hours earlier than you would have liked. Let's say you have a flight at SFO at 3:00PM, and you request to arrive by 12:00PM. Ideally, we would set you up with an 9:30AM reservation. However, if another passenger in Davis has already booked an 8:00AM or 8:30AM pickup, we generally won't book a new van at 9:30. If you are given a pickup time that doesn't suit you, ask what time the next van after the one we offered is leaving for SFO. We will book you on the later one only with the understanding that if you miss your flight, it isn't our responsibility. Bay Area traffic from 11:00AM to 2:00PM is generally light, and you'll PROBABLY be OK, but one stall on the Bay Bridge can ruin that plan. We have learned this the hard way.

6. Online reservations: One of our weak spots. They should to be made AT LEAST two days in advance for smf. While the text is computer-generated, the email itself is
sent by a person. If you make an online reservation the day before, there's a slim chance that it won't be processed in time. This should change soon, but for now, if you need to make a short-notice reservation, call our office, which is manned 24/7.

7. "JimEvans above writes that with Super Shuttle, "you don't need a reservation to get back home. Just go to the booth at the Sac airport." This is true, but it's
also true with us. We take walk-ons whenever there is room, which is 90% of the time. We do need money like any other company, so we're not about to turn
anyone down if there's room, and if it doesn't make the driver late for his next pickup.

8. Advice to customers:

For Sacramento Airport arrivals:

a) If your flight into Sacramento Airport is delayed, we have excellent flexibility. That does not mean that we can secure a new driver to be there when your delayed flight
lands, but we have several options. The first is to see if any of our drivers will be at the airport near your new arrival time. If it's within 15 minutes
of the pickups that driver is already scheduled to make, we will assign that driver to you. However, we will not hold that driver's on-time passengers on the van for any more than
15 minutes for Sacramento Airport. If it appears that you will have to wait more than an hour, we will send one of our office workers to SMF to pick you up, which is
usually do-able (75% of the time). If it's not possible, then you will have to wait for our next scheduled driver. In general, we have a driver there every hour. We won't
take offense if you find another ride, but do let our office know immediately.

b) We allow 30 minutes for your baggage to come out. Southwest Airlines usually takes 20 minutes, United takes 30, and the rest are unpredictable. If you
are travelling with carry-on only baggage, tell our reservation agent to make a note of this, as it may get you on an earlier van. For example, if Driver Pete is scheduled
to pick up two parties with checked luggage arriving at 10:00AM, and you arrive at 10:30AM with no checked luggage, you may very well beat them to our van, and even
if you don't, we'll hold the van if we know that you are "carry-on only".

c) We generally ask for your cellphone number, but if we don't, make sure that we have it.. And make sure to turn your phone on as soon as you get off of the plane. If your flight
is only 10 minutes late, we are probably holding the van for you. If we cannot get ahold of you, we will assume that you have bags to collect (unless you told us otherwise
when you made your reservation),and that you won't be out for another 20-30 minutes. If we do get ahold of you, will hold the van for you if you have no bags to collect.

Cheers,
Pete, Davis Airporter driver since March of 1997 —AirporterDriverPete

2007-11-26 11:04:07   I can't believe the Davis Airporter won't accept credit card payments over the phone. —Red

2007-11-26 11:29:01   Nick-I just tried to reserve a spot on the Airporter for a friend and they told me I had to fax them my credit card number, expiration date, and security code along with written permission to charge the card. I think this is ridiculous but perhaps you feel otherwise. —Red

2007-12-08 10:34:43   To Red and Nick: Yes, if you want us to just charge your card that you give us over the phone, we do need a faxed authorization, and yes, it is because passengers have disputed charges (successfully). It's not a law, just a policy. For Sacramento airport runs, IMO, it's a waste of the passenger's and
office's time, but it's a policy that the manager feels is necessary during the super-busy times of the year (holidays). For SFO runs, however, it prevents more hassles than it causes. When we take your card number over the phone, it's just to hold the reservation. For the time being, it's easier for everyone involved for passengers to either pay cash, or give the driver your card at the end of the ride.

To those who think they've been "double-charged": The night before we pick you up, we run your card for an authorization only, not a sale.
This ensures that your card will go through OK, should you choose to use it to pay for your ride. This authorization gets listed as "pending" on your online account, and falls off after three days if choose not to use the card to pay for the ride. If you do use the card, two transactions may appear on your account at the same time, but one of them is
just your reservation being held. The three-day wait for it to fall off is the CC card companies' policy.
Pete —AirporterDriverPete

2007-12-21 23:27:50   Customer service was horrible. Person answering the phone was rude. They left without me, without calling me, or leaving a message. My plane arrived on time. Grabbed my luggage and went outside. Waited for half an hour then called. Was told that the van had left because they waited for ten minutes after my flight arrived (...ahem... bull&$#!). I could either wait for two hours until the next scheduled van, or find my own transportation. —VihilaAlBhed

2007-12-22 01:13:33   PEOPLE! Unitrans takes you to the airport during winter and spring break holidays. UTILIZE IT! —EmilyTung

2007-12-28 22:46:28   I usually take the Yolobus but since it doesn't run at 5am on Sundays I called the Davis Airporter. They picked us up at the pre-determined time and everything went smoothly. —EmmyMelton

2008-03-19 23:11:56   I had an awful experience with the airporter. No matter how many good experiences I had had previously, that one time ruined it for me. I no longer feel that it is reliable and I will no longer use this service. —TalaDandan

2008-04-18 08:48:21   THE WORST. They called me thirty minutes before I was supposed to be picked up to say that they were running late. Then, five minutes later, they called to say that actually now they were early, and they were ready to leave now, and could I please rush over to the van now (they were waiting in the Best Western parking lot). I told them that I couldn't re-change my plans, that I'd see them in 25 minutes, at the just-altered meeting time (which they'd just called to alter!). They said OK, but as I approached the van 25 mintues later, IT PULLED OUT OF THE PARKING LOT, as I was waving my arms and jumping up and down. I was, maybe, 15 feet from the van as it pulled out of the parking lot. I immediately called them to ask them to call the driver and have him turn around and get me—he couldn't have been one mile away from me at this point—and they refused!! I had to take a cab to the airport to catch my plane. They refused to apologize, were extremely defensive with me on the phone. "We're very reliable," they said, as if this whole mess were my fault, somehow. They've also double-charged me before; I had to reverse the charge on my credit card. Just the worst. Use Supershuttle. —henry

2008-04-18 19:54:31   A couple of experiences to share. One time the driver was leaving the airport and getting on I-5 southbound, presumably to approach Davis from the east side. A passenger yelled (where are you going? Turn here!) The drive recklessly changed direction and got on I-5 northbound, reversing his intended route. Why he was listening to the passenger I'll never know. Another time the driver was cruising down county road 102 about 70 miles per hour when he sped right past a parked highway patrol man. Needless to say, the chipper whipped around, pulled our guy over, wrote him a ticket and we all got home late. At times, these guys are downright unsafe. —DavidFeliz

2008-06-17 21:30:42   I am an international student and have used Davis Airporter many times since Freshman year. However, I know I will never use the service again. Minutes ago, I was actually called a liar by the manager because I understood the term "carry-on" in its usual meaning and not to mean a purse or a laptop. She proceeded to yell at me and threatened to refuse service, as though Davis Airporter was the only airport service in the world. To top it off, she hung up on me as well. So I called the village cab, and the person I talked to was a lot friendlier and gave me a 40% discount. If you are a prospective customer of Davis Airporter, be prepared to be insulted and talked down to. —Kyonghwa

2008-06-20 11:26:10   After booking a shuttle from SFO to my address just outside the Sacramento region for my 60 year old father coming in from England, their dispatcher told the shuttle driver he was over 8 hours on his shift time and told him to drop my father off at the Sacramento airport instead. My father had provided him with the address of my home at the time he boarded the shuttle and through thr 2.5 hours in the shuttle, no problem/issue was expressed. But at the last minute, the dispatcher called and said the shuttle drive had to drop my father off at Sacramento airport. They offered no assistance for alternative transportation, were rude to my father on the phone and then charged him $90 and left him standing on the curb at a strange airport with three large suitcases. (I wish he hadn't given them a penny - I wouldn't have.)

My father had to hail a cab and pay another $80 in cab fares to get to his final destination, arriving 3 hours late due to the detour. The original price quoted by Davis Airporter was $110 (indicating they did know they were not taking him to SMF) but the total cost for my father to get to my house ended up being $170!!!

When we called the Davis airporter to complain they were rude, surly, and unable to offer us anything other than their rules and regulations. They plain just didn't care about the inconvenience or servicing us in any way. They claimed that we booked the shuttle to Sacramento airport (complete hogwash - I provided my home address to them online and had no reason to book something to SMF) and said we didn't check the email attachment they sent to us at booking (an attachment which I can prove we never received - I have the email). They refused to offer us any kind of discount for the service they did not provide (although they claim they did) or for future services, in order to retain our business.

This was the second time we have used them and the last. The first time, the reservation process was a complete hassle. The reservation representative didn't seem to understand English, didn't know their prices, couldn't seem to schedule the shuttle at the right time (confusing A.M. and P.M.) and kept repeating back to me the wrong information - it took me 3 phone calls and 45 minutes to get them to get the reservation right. I thought that was just a poor employee issue but it seems that's not the case - they are all rude and incompetent.

If you have had similar bad experiences with this business, please post them here - www.davisairportersucks.blogspot.com. Airline travel is stressful enough without having to deal with problems with your ride to/from the airport. Hopefully by getting the word out there about this company, they will be forced to change their poor level of customer service, or lose business. —Shelly75

2008-06-23 17:33:48   This is a response to the above postings of Kyonghwa and Shelly75. I was in the office when the manager was talking to Kyonghwa and the others in the party, so this one I can answer firsthand. The manager asked for a luggage count, and, when told that half of those were carry-ons, explained that for the Davis Airporter, a carry-on is a purse/backpack/laptop, or anything of that size—anything that can travel on the passenger's lap or underfoot. The manager also explained why we need to know this (if we arrive at the pickup with the luggage area already half-full, we have to be sure that the rest will fit. If not, people might miss their flights). The person talking to the manager said that each person had 4 bags, and was informed that it would be $10 extra for each person, or $40 total. At this point, a different girl took the phone and said that those extra bags were carry-ons. The manager repeated the Davis Airporter's definition of carry-on for the second person, who could be heard arguing with the others in the background. The manager didn't call anyone a liar, but she did stress that it was important that they were telling the truth, because if we got there and the luggage wouldn't fit(the day in question was VERY busy, and many vans were already slated to be full), then either a) the driver will charge extra, or b) we won't be able to provide the service.

We recently had to send an office worker to pick up a party who had given us an incorrect luggage count, as it wouldn't fit on the van with the other passengers' luggage. And our luggage space is HUGE. It was from Davis to SFO, so it amounted to a loss financially for the Airporter. I don't know what the luggage of the Kyonghwa party consisted of, but it was clear from the conversation why the manager saw the red flag.

As for the "refusing to provide service" that Kyongwa reports, believe me, it is simply not in our financial interest to do that, especially for a large party. The manager was explaining that if we arrive at the pick-up, and the carry-on baggage doesn't meet the criteria that she was explaining, then
we might have to refuse the service.

In all my years here, we have, to my knowledge, threatened to refuse service only once- when someone was inexplicably nasty to a reservation agent, even before she attempted to take the reservation.

Regarding the case of Shelly75: I hope I don't come across as making excuses. Just reporting what happened for the benefit of the poster and others. Both parties (mostly us) were at fault here, and restitution was offered (see below). The online reservation was incorrectly processed by us as a reservation from SFO to smf (sacramento airport), as opposed to Orangevale. The poster is correct that the $110 fare should have indicated that smf was not the proper destination. The poster may be correct that she did not receive the email reply attachment, which confirms the destination, though our email reports it as sent successfully. I should note that all of our emails include a text message instructing
the customer to open the attachment, which includes the details of the reservation. We assume that anyone who makes an online reservation will be checking their email for
a confirmation, and will therefore read the text message. If it instructs the customer to open an important attachment that isn't there, we assume and hope that the
customer, in this case Shelly75, would call us immediately.

At any rate, Shelly is correct that full service was not honored.

The driver, because of school obligations, truly couldn't take him all the way to Orangevale. Again, that was our mistake.

When we were in contact with Shelly, she was understandably upset. We offered her a discount, but she would accept nothing less than a full discount (free ride). That might be applicable in certain situations, but not this one—we had driven him 100 of the 120 miles. Not exactly a "job well done", I know, but not a free ride either.

Shelly, I honestly understand your frustration with this episode, but saying, as you did above, "they are all rude and incompetent" is neither correct nor believable. Every day at the Airporter is an exercise in taking episodes like the one with your dad and, customer-service wise, making the Airporter a better company.
AirporterDriverPete

2008-06-26 11:07:00   Note: This post was written unnecessarily in a case of my mistaking the name of the original poster with someone else,(see WilliamLewis below making it clear to me) but it does clarify a couple of points I left out of one of my responses, so I'm leaving it up with the names corrected:

Shelly, we can appreciate the statement that a full refund makes to the customer, but the reality of this business is that if we offer a full refund for an incident like this, it isn't just a matter of taking the short-term loss to keep a customer. Word gets around (believe me, people talk), and soon we would have customers deliberately booking incorrect destinations to get a free ride. It wouldn't be often, but it would be enough to make the policy counter-productive.

I do agree with your statement that "no one should be left high and dry under any circumstances". It is my understanding that your father was advised to take SuperShuttle, which is $34 from smf to Orangevale. Looking at his situation (being from England), it's possible he had no idea what that meant, and I can envision the driver, in a rush to get back to class, not explaining it fully to him.

At any rate, in this case, we would not offer a full refund. We would pay the difference of the SuperShuttle ride so that your father's total expense didn't exceed the agree-upon total of $110, plus perhaps a reasonable inconvenience compensation (20 dollars or so, it would be up to the manager). Simply put, the SuperShuttle ride from smf to Orangevale must be considered another leg of the same trip. Mistakes like these are extremely rare, and while we can almost always adapt our
schedule to unexpected changes, there are times when we can't. In this case, we book a cab for the passenger, and we cover the difference of the cost.

SuperShuttle operates on a walk-on basis for departures from smf, so in your father's case, we wouldn't be able to call them and book the ride ahead of time, but the reimbursement concept is the same. Again, I apologize if the importance of taking SuperShuttle instead of a cab wasn't adequately stressed to your father.

AirporterDriverPete —AirporterDriverPete

2008-06-26 23:21:00   My apologies Mr. Lewis! I saw your name at the bottom of the post made by Shelly75; I saw your name before I saw hers and mistook you as the poster. Commence editing yesterday's posts...Engage. Sorry again. AirporterDriverPete —AirporterDriverPete

2008-09-14 20:52:18   * important advice *

DO NOT EVER CALL THEM

you have other shuttle services and taxis or rather pay your friends to pick you up.
just google other services,
do not waste your time and money and energy with them.

everytime i used them, i had horrible experiences.
especially when i had flight to other nations, kuz the problem gets bigger when you miss international fights.
i would have not mind bad drivers or rude assistances, but they are all the above plus liars.
i actually MISSed my planes several times, or had to pay 150 dollars for last minute taxi cab.
it's either they don't show up, or they wait for you at the parking lot for 3 min without noticing you,
and when you call them, they would tell you they they waited for you for extra 20 minutes.
and will never say sorry even if you missed ur plane kuz of them, and you're lucky if they don't yell at you.
and if you were really lucky and you found them in front of your door on time,
they will spend next hour or two picking up other ppl, and when you pay them, they will keep the change for tip.
sometimes they will "automatically" cancel you from schedule,
and when you call them and say that you were never noticed about it,
they will say that they e-mailed you, when you never GAVE them your e-mail address.

if you have friends who's flying on the same day,
just call taxi, kuz they charge you the same, where davis airporter charges you per person. —dda1gii

2008-09-21 19:31:27   I've never really had complaints with Davis Airporter, although use them less frequently than I used to. Last night, though, I experienced the sort of frustration that others have been bringing up.

Two weeks ago, before heading to Mexico for two weeks, we made a reservation to be picked up on our return. After the process of submitting a web form, and then separately being requested to send in credit card information via e-mail, I received the confirmation that we'd be picked up from our 10:25 p.m. flight from Mexico.

The flight made it on time, we made it through immigration and customs in 10 minutes, and I called the Davis Airporter. At that time, I was informed that "our driver is running behind...it'll be at least 50-60 minutes." Anyway, not wanting to hang out at the emptying airport for an hour (at least), Super Shuttle brought us back to Davis.

I would really like to support local business, but, in the end, you've got to get on the train that's running. —ScottLay

2008-09-21 20:57:05   I used the online reservation request the last time that I used the Davis Airporter. The process was a little bit frustrating. You fill out an insecure, unencrypted form online (the form appears to ask you if you are doing a round trip or one way trip, but it isn't clear if you need to fill out both sections of the form. Once you have filled out the form, you are sent an e-mail with an attachment and directions that say that your reservation will be canceled if you don't provide a credit card number. No instructions are provided on how to provide the credit card number, but let's look at the two possibilities:

1) You reply by e-mail. You have just sent your credit card number by e-mail as plain text. Anyone who has access to the network that your message passes over, or to any of the mail servers involved, or to your browser cache, now has access to your credit card number (and name and address since they probably also have the e-mail you are replying to.) This is a very bad practice, and ignores the basic security measures taken by nearly every site that performs transactions over the web.

2) You reply by phone. Davis Airporter must now look up your reservation details, and you provide the credit card number. You've just lost the convenience of submitting your reservation online, since you now had to call, and possibly wait on hold. So why bother submitting the request online?

Of course, you also might not see the e-mail for 24 hours, in which case you've just lost your reservation!

The web site and booking process are in need of some redesign... —IDoNotExist

2008-09-21 20:59:30   Was it Sacramento or LA that used to require shuttle drivers to circle the airport three times before leaving unless they had a full van? If it was Sac, what happened to that rule? —IDoNotExist

2008-11-15 15:52:01   I just want to say Davis Airporter is awsome! Hi Davis airporter driver Pete!!! Tell your manager I said Hi! —Wendy23

2008-12-20 14:57:32   It used to be a reliable shuttle service. But I had a bad experience this time. My work place doesn't have a physical address (off campus), they used to ask me the direction and it was fine. Today a rude lady totally rejected me, and when I told her they did this before and I got ride couple of months ago, she put me on hold and picked the phone and said we are fully booked!!!! You need to call at least 48 hours in advanced!!! It might be just her. But I no longer trust them. They put me on my own when I need them. ***It's a sign of a bad business*** —james234

2009-01-02 16:47:36   I agree with all most of these complaints, but what kills me is the pricing. $23 is extremely over priced for a drive from Sacramento to Davis/Davis to Sacramento. I understand the price hike due to gas a few months back, but with gas at around/under $2 a gallon, davis airporter is simply ripping off absolutely everyone that's using their service. Explain to me how it makes sense to charge a passenger 23 bucks for a ride that short of a distance, when it costs the same price to take amtrak to san francisco? Also the drivers are extremely rude and I've had the enjoyment of having one of the drivers smoke a cigarette while driving. I've also had them show up half an hour later than the time they said they'd pick me up, and also still have other people to pick up. Way to go, Davis Airporter. You're real classy. i suggest using yolobus/unitrans or asking a friend to take you to the airport and repaying them with lunch or 5-10 bucks for gas.

avoid this service if you can —film

2009-01-11 23:15:05   I have had good service with this airporter. This past Thanksgiving my flight was delayed and the airporter rescheduled to pick me up the next day without any extra cost. The driver was friendly and he was there waiting for me when I exited the airport. I found the cost to be reasonable, definitely better than the cost of parking my car at the airport for a week. —MaryLieth

2009-01-24 06:45:45   I had the opportunity to take the Davis Airporter recently. The shuttle was there waiting for me. I had the pleasure of meeting AirporterDriverPete who was friendly and polite,(something this middle-aged passenger appreciated.) My only complaint is that the verification form and process for the online reservations didn't seem secure, but I just called the 800 number and it was handled promptly. I would certainly use the Airporter again. I've taken the bus from SMF, but it took quite a while (over 1 1/2 hours from pickup until I got home.) With the Airporter, I was home less than 30 minutes after I got off the plane. —sharyn

2009-03-14 22:49:33   I had a very unpleasant experience with Davis Airporter yesterday afternoon. I was driving down County Road 102, and a Davis Airporter van was driving behind me. Even though I was going at a good clip, the driver tailgated me for several miles and flashed his headlights again and again. When the road split into an additional lane, I got into the right lane, and the Davis Airporter driver stayed in the left lane where he tailgated another driver and flashed his headlights at the other driver a number of times as well. I could see in my rear view mirror that there were several customers in the van. I've used Davis Airporter a few times before, but I'll NEVER use the service again as it appears from my own experience and from what others have said on this page that some of the drivers are dangers to the company's customers and to others on the road. —davis.renter

2009-03-19 08:54:38   To "Davis Renter": I assume this happened on 3/13. If you could tell me the approximate time this happened, it would be most helpful. I hope you realize, however, that EVERY large transportation company will have drivers like this from time to time
that aren't reflective of the driving staff as a whole. —AirporterDriverPete

2009-05-17 10:43:40   AirporterDriverPete is seems to be that you are the ONLY person with good customer service at the Davis airporter. I am from the Aggie Inn hotel and spoke to you the other day at the same time a guest of mine was getting yelled at over the phone. The lady speaking to my guest spoke with me prior to speaking to her and it was horrific. She was extremely rude and I honestly felt like I was a dog getting yelled at by my owner for peeing on the carpet. That sounds ridiculous but that is how incredibly ridiculous the situation was. After yelling at my guest she called me back and started yelling at me and talking trash about my guest on how you guys screwed up and had to change her reservation a half an hour early (where at the time she will be in a meeting)when she specifically told the operator upon making the initial reservation. The rude person continued to yell at me saying that she tried to leave a message who worked the other day you have to prove that I am not wrong. Honestly, even if you left a voice mail for this guest, that does not guarantee that she got the message or can even make it to that earlier time that she did not request for. You cannot assume that she got the message you should have made sure you spoke to her and not the machine.

Also, being rude does not help the situation. I do not appreciate being yelled at for me for not being able to give out my guest's phone number. You should already know that we are not allowed to give out that kind of information.

I understand that it is a busy weekend. . and my guest was heading to SFO so it is more difficult to find a driver. The situation could have been dealt with a lot more peacefully. The lady could have started with apologizing for the last minute change because she attempted to contact my guest a day before. Instead, my guest and I both had an ear full of loud, rude, and obnoxious yelling. The lady even had the chance to hang up on my guest as well.

This really reflects badly on the hotel because we referred your business. It was incredibly embarrassing! —miss12

2009-05-18 10:31:17   Two good friends of mine have unfourtunately worked for the Davis Airporter. For the ENTIRE duration of their employ, they complained about the owner/manager (I will admit I'm not sure which). She actually began calling one of them in 15 minuets early each day (time he was not reimbursed for) just to yell at him. This is most likely to whom you spoke, miss12. They take advantage of the fact that UCD students roll over every couple years, giving them an entirely new stock of employees to abuse. —MasonMurray

2009-05-20 10:02:56   Hey there, Miss12. No, I'm not the only one with good customer
service at the Airporter :-) But I can totally picture the conversation that you
described with the manager, yourself and your guest.

Update: I just talked with the manager. The guy you talked to first was Whitney, not me, and yes, he is polite.
The manager was neither yelling at, nor hung up on, your guest. The initial connection was bad, and
the manager was trying to tell her to hold on and she'll call from a different line. That's where it cut off.
You are correct about not giving out people's cell numbers, but the manager was also asking what
department the guest had gone to, so that we can call the department. You claimed not to know,
but the university claims otherwise. Our manager received a call from the university not only verifying
that, but that the guest was at lunch, and could have been picked up there if we had
been given the info that you had—namely, the university department that the guest was with.

She also asked, since you couldn't give us the phone number, if you could call the passenger yourself,
which you declined, citing your belief that she wouldn't pick up her phone, so our manager asked if you
would at least leave a message. I don't know if you did or not.

I admit that sometimes the manager can come off as gruff when stressed, but now that I have heard
her side, I understand her frustration.

AirporterDriverPete —AirporterDriverPete

2009-05-21 14:33:44   Just a few clarifications: -I can only take the word of my guest when she said "Wow I can't believe she hung up on me!" If your manager indeed said she will call my guest back, why did your manager call me after hanging up with my guest about how it was my guest's fault for not receiving the message? This is not the point my point is that she was rude in general.

-It really does not matter if she was yelling or not. Her tone was rude and seemed like yelling because when I spoke to her I had to pull the phone away from my ear. Again she was just generally rude.

-I was unable to give your manager the university department because I did not have that information in my system. Which I have apologized and told your manager that I did not have that information. But she preceded to be generally rude.

-I did indeed leave a message on my guest's voice mail. I also told both Whitney and your manager that I have left a message and that is about all that I can do. It is not my responsibility to do your job of informing your customer about the changes made without her approval. If the message was left with the front desk agent to give to the guest then we can be held accountable but that was not the case.

Although my guest was at lunch, who can assume that it was just lunch? It could have been a lunch meeting. I have to trust my guest when she said she was at a meeting and there was no way of her being able to get out of it early. The fact of the matter is she made a reservation and was guaranteed a specific time at her convenience. She is the customer and should not have to bend backwards for a service that she is in fact paying for. If you were staying at a hotel and was guaranteed of a check out time at 11 and were left a message, that you did not receive for whatever reason, about how you must vacate at 10:30 or you will be charged an extra day (the only situation I can think of, but not equivalent, to leaving you stranded in Davis when you needed to be in San Francisco)and to have a rude person loudly speaking to you on the phone about how they left you a message and you should have gotten it. YOU WOULD BE UPSET TOO.

I've used your services many times and I have always enjoyed working with you folks. Would it be so hard for your manager to just apologize instead of getting on the defensive side. A simple, "I'm sorry there was an overbooking I wish I could have spoken to you earlier but we could not reach you," would have been fine.

You can understand her frustration but not mine? I am a third party who was punished from both my guest and your manager. I am done with this conversation please do not even bother to reply. —miss12

2009-05-21 21:02:53   Miss12, if you're still there, the manager called you because after several tries of your guest's phone, no one answered.

And of course, our schedule is not your responsibility.

However, the manager's tone was a product of the stress and severity of the situation, ie, we need to get in touch with this person asap.
As for the checkout time being guaranteed, let's say that I have three pickups going to SFO. One at 11:00, one at 11:15, and one at 11:30. Of course, peoples' plans change, airlines change departure times, etc. We have to allow for this, so when the 11:15 passenger calls us to change their pickup
time, that creates a 30-minute hole between 11:00 and 11:30 that didn't exist before. We therefore have to get ahold of the 11:30 passenger to tell them that they now need to go at 11:15. Or we can call the 11:00 passenger and tell them that we'll now be getting them at 11:15. This is the nature of
the shuttle business. Not trying to lecture you here, just throwing it out there for the benefit of others who might be reading this.

And no, we surely don't expect customers to bend over backwards for us, but when all avenues of communication have been
exhausted, we would make the assumption that a hotel would want to give us a guest's phone number, even if it violates protocol,
if only because it's obvious that it's for a very good reason. I certainly respect your dedication to protocol however, and I do
understand your frustration as well. We did screw up by not doing what we usually do—having a driver come by
personally the night before to make contact with a passenger who hasn't returned our confirmation calls. It's not my place to
apologize for the manager's tone of voice, but I can say that if something similar happens in the future, we'll be better able to
deal with it because of the lesson learned here.
AirporterDriverPete —AirporterDriverPete

Read this if you have little ones who need car seats.

I recently took the Davis Airporter to SFO. The drivers were pleasant and timely and polite and patient. I rented car seats for my little ones. But the car seats, which I rented from Davis Airporter, are not good.

1) When going to SFO, one of the car seats was not firmly secured to the van seat belt and was very loose.

2) On the way back from SFO, one of the car seat had missing belts! I just could not believe it. I had to use the van seat belt to secure my little one and then place the palm of my hand on her chest all the way back home! Worse, the driver (a different one from the one who drove us to the airport) did not know how the car seats are installed in the van. I had to install both the seats myself.

I am terribly disappointed that the drivers were neither competent in installing the car seats (a maximum of 5 minutes procedure to install it and a maximum of 30 seconds to remove the car seat from the van) nor did they check the car seats to make sure that they were usable.

I spent about 350$ for the round trip and I know that I will never take Davis Airporter again if I am traveling with my kids while they need car seats.

2009-06-19 20:59:09   Response to car seat complaint person: I know exactly what you're talking about. It took me a long time before I figured out the different securing procedures for each different type of carseat. And some training might be in order. However, since carseat requests are rare, I imagine that drivers might forget a few things over time. Frankly, we often rely on the parents to secure the carseat. If the driver doesn't install it to your satisfaction, please tell him/her, or simply inform the driver that you'll do it yourself. There's no reason for you to feel that your child isn't properly secured. And, I should add that we don't "rent the carseats out", we offer them as a free convenience. So when you request one, feel free to put it in yourself, or leave it up to the driver and simply make sure he's doing it right. I understand your concern, but if you do book a reservation with us again when your kids are with you, just tell the reservation agent to make a note that the last driver didn't put the carseats in properly. We will make adjustments accordingly, and we hope that you will closely oversee the driver's installment of the seats! Thanks, AirporterDriverPete —AirporterDriverPete

2009-06-20 11:30:11 Car seat complaint - follow up:

— ridesafe

2009-06-20 16:23:43  

Sorry, I had missed that part about the missing harness. We have 7 carseats in the office. The ones without harnesses are for ages 4 and up, and they are supposed to have the tight lap belt go over the child's waist, as I understand it anyway. Not sure how old your kids are, but if they are under 4, I have a feeling your driver just grabbed the wrong seat, in which case I apologize and will mention this to the manager. But for the largest carseats, there is no harness—it's just a booster that is held in quite securely with the lap belt. It's also possible that your driver put that carseat on one of the end seats, which has a different type of belt, and which shouldn't be done. Again, I'll mention this when I go in tomorrow.

Good point! Our thinking was that parents appreciate the free aspect of it, but if we did charge people extra for carseats, we would surely pay more attention to making sure we were doing it right. But if you do make a reservation with a carseat request, please tell the reservation agent to make a note about the missing harness on the last trip, and the problem will be dealt with.

Update 9/25/09: I should have mentioned another option that we encourage—If you bring your own carseats for the ride to the airport, we will hold them in our office until your return. Your return driver will have it/them in the van.
AirporterDriverPete —AirporterDriverPete

2009-09-14 09:32:51   Dear Pete, I read your response to my post, and while I understand that the manager felt confused because of talking to two passengers who have different ideas about what the term 'carry-on' means, it is still absolutely and unmistakably true that she told me that I 'lied' (the memory was so frustrating that I still remember it clearly). It is your manager's word against mine, so I won't blame you for wanting to believe someone that you work with. I also say that she yelled. I don't know if your manager simply has a naturally loud and aggressive tone of voice, but sans your explanation about her 'stressful day', if I came across someone on the street who talked like her, I would have to say that she yelled. And I am sure that's what many of other customers on this page meant as well when they said that she yelled. Furthermore, in spite of what you say about Davis Airporter's policy of not refusing service, it is also true that your manager hung up on me.
I must say that instead of telling your customers that they are misunderstanding the manager or picking their post apart trying to find what they have done wrong that might serve to excuse the manager's behavior, I think a simple apology would work best to bring back these customers. I understand that you have worked long with Davis Airporter and it is good to be proud of your work and loyal to your co-workers, but there is no need to take the complaints on this page personally. If there are good posts, then there are bad posts. Let the prospective customers read and decide for themselves. When an employee gets personal and decides to attack every negative post, it gives the impression that Davis Airporter is only interested in defending its behavior and not in improving its service.
After all, I remember having a good experience with Davis Airporter as well as bad ones, and I might even try its service again one of these days, but not a second before a sincere apology is offered, one that does not try to to put all the blame on the customer's side. —Kyonghwa

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