Taxi or car service in Seattle from airport to downtown

Im thinking that it’s probably cheaper and quicker to take a taxi from the airport to downtown. If I hire a car service, I’ll have to call and wait for them to pick us up. If We take a taxi, I think we just walk out the doors and hop in.

Are there long lines for taxis at the airport? Does my logic make sense? We arrive on a Friday at around 3pm.

Car service could be cheaper. Your arriving right in the middle of rush hour in Seattle.

Car services can be scheduled ahead. They will be waiting for you.

If you look around the board, you will see many mentions of a car service based at the airport, STILA. You collect your bags and go to their desk. They will have a car ready.

Im thinking that it’s probably cheaper and quicker to take a taxi from the airport to downtown. If I hire a car service, I’ll have to call and wait for them to pick us up. If We take a taxi, I think we just walk out the doors and hop in.

 

Are there long lines for taxis at the airport? Does my logic make sense? We arrive on a Friday at around 3pm.

There's also cheap light rail from the airport to downtown (Westlake Center I believe). We had bags and did Lyft which was about $35 to the Seattle Center.

Coming back from the cruise the Uber/Lyft pick-up is a PITA, you have to walk about 1/4 mile to get to it.

The taxi line is on the third floor of the parking garage, which you reach by a skybridge from the main terminal - one level up from bag claim, across the bridge, one floor down (escalators and elevators available.) There are also limo/towncars available next to the cabs, and the Uber/Lyft pick-up point is there too (look for the signs.)

Pre-booked car services are able to pick up passengers right outside bag claim, saving steps. The limos/towncars (all run by a concessionaire) are also able to do curbside if you use the touch screens at the foot of the escalators in the bag claim area.

Generally the limos/towncars cost the same as metered cabs to downtown (they have flat rates) and are much more comfortable, as most of the taxis (not all) are now Prius-sized compacts, with poor legroom and bag capacity. Uber is usually around $10 less but it will depend on where you're going downtown.

The problems with the light rail are (a) it's slow - it will take twice the time to get downtown from the airport in the best case, and (b) the "last mile" - the distance from the nearest light rail station to your actual destination. Having to take a taxi from the train station to the hotel can be a big hassle and will reduce the cost benefit achieved by taking the train in the first place. Obviously it will add to the total travel time too.

We used a town car service and loved it. I like having something set and arranged, so when we land, we can just go. And we know the cost ahead of time as well. We used Already There to get from the airport to our hotel. Then we liked them so much, we ended up booking them for our return from the port to the hotel. On that trip, the driver was there within like 2 minutes of us getting off the ship. Both drivers were courteous and friendly.

We also used "Already There" town car service for our trip from the airport to our hotel near the Space Needle, and for the return trip as well. They were great and I would recommend them. We called them after we had retrieved our luggage on arrival, and they picked us up within minutes. The driver was friendly, professional and polite. Car was clean and comfortable. We paid $50 each trip.

We used FLAT Rate taxi service and paid $50 total for two family stops at two hotels. There were 6 people total and lots of luggage. We had a mini van.

I also use flatrateforhire.com. The cost from SeaTac to downtown is $39 which is less than a metered taxi. It has been a few years, but if flatfrate still has the airport contract, just ask at the taxi line for a non-metered taxi. If they no longer have the contract, call them and they will come very quickly.