Our Experience with Shuttle Express

[lovecruzin]

I could not have imagined such totally different experiences with the same company. I booked and pre-paid town car transportation from SEA to our hotel and from Pier 91 to SEA.

Upon arrival at SEA I wondered how we would find our car/driver. Much to my surprise, he was waiting at baggage claim holding a sign with our name. He took our luggage off of the carousel and we followed him to the car parked in the garage, we were at the hotel downtown less than an hour after we arrived. :)

I couldn’t have imagined our return trip would be so different. We had a car reserved at 9:20am for a noon flight. We disembarked and had no idea where to find our driver; I assumed he would be in the town car line. I’ll take responsibility for not researching further how to find them! We found the tent 1 aisle over and checked in at 9:15am, we are told it would be a 10-15 minute wait. No problem, we did luggage valet so I’m not concerned. Long story short, a car finally picked us up at 10:15. We arrived at SEA at 11am. Upon arrival our driver avoided an additional 20 minute traffic delay by dropping us at Arrivals vs Departures.

There were people who checked in for their reserved town car after us and ended up canceling and taking a taxi. How could this company be so totally understaffed or not have cars available for prepaid reservations?

Thanks for letting me vent and I hope anyone else who uses them has better luck ;)

[VibeGuy]

Sorry you had a bad experience; it literally could have been delays getting cars to and from the pier because of Seattle's maddening random traffic. Or it could be incompetence or overbooking on their part.

 

I'm glad you made your flight, and I'm glad he was smart enough to use the Arrivals level.

 

I hope your next trip to Seattle is smoother; my strong advice to those who come after you remains; visitors should rely on the TNCs like UberX and Lyft because they each have vastly larger fleets than the shuttle and cab companies combined and are more nimble when things hit the fan. Nobody's reservation is guaranteeing you'll get to your destination on time.

[lauren0309]

We figured picking up a cab in the taxi pick up line would work best for us and we disembark. No waiting or having to look for our reserved shuttle. Hope we are correct in our decision.

[lovecruzin]

We figured picking up a cab in the taxi pick up line would work best for us and we disembark. No waiting or having to look for our reserved shuttle. Hope we are correct in our decision.

 

The taxi line was long, but in hindsight would have been faster.

Others on our roll all report no problems with getting their reserved car, but they were off the ship closer to 8am.

[mapleleaves]

I hope you contacted Shuttle Express and gave them feedback about the service and the driver.

I've never used the private car service of Shuttle Express, but have used their shared van service many times in the past 25-30 yrs. Never had a problem. (I switched to eastsideforhire about 2 yrs ago because it is more convenient than waiting for the shared ride.)

[jenseib]

I called them today to book shuttle from SEA to Crowne Plaza and then to have them pick us up at the pier. This girl sounded like she had no clue what was going on. She told me they don't take reservations and where to go when we arrive. This makes me nervous, but I guess if all fails we'll take a taxi. She said I could book the return trip then.

[mapleleaves]

I called them today to book shuttle from SEA to Crowne Plaza and then to have them pick us up at the pier. This girl sounded like she had no clue what was going on. She told me they don't take reservations and where to go when we arrive. This makes me nervous, but I guess if all fails we'll take a taxi. She said I could book the return trip then.

 

You don't need a reservation from SeaTac to downtown because the shared van service leaves at a specific time (on the hour I believe). Their kiosk is in the parking garage, you'll probably pass the STILA towncar kiosk which would be $45 to your hotel. So save yourself a walk and call STILA from the courtesy phone at baggage claim and they'll meet you at the curb. The taxi line is also in the garage... $40 to downtown altho it's metered so can go higher if you're stuck in traffic.

 

http://www.portseattle.org/Sea-Tac/Parking-and-Transportation/Ground-Transportation/Pages/Taxis-and-Limos.aspx

 

For pier to SeaTac, use Seattle Express $12pp.

[jenseib]

You don't need a reservation from SeaTac to downtown because the shared van service leaves at a specific time (on the hour I believe). Their kiosk is in the parking garage, you'll probably pass the STILA towncar kiosk which would be $45 to your hotel. So save yourself a walk and call STILA from the courtesy phone at baggage claim and they'll meet you at the curb. The taxi line is also in the garage... $40 to downtown altho it's metered so can go higher if you're stuck in traffic.

 

http://www.portseattle.org/Sea-Tac/Parking-and-Transportation/Ground-Transportation/Pages/Taxis-and-Limos.aspx

 

For pier to SeaTac, use Seattle Express $12pp.

 

are they waiting at the pier or should I schedule that?

[mapleleaves]

are they waiting at the pier or should I schedule that?

 

" they" ?? Don't know who you are referring to.

There is a taxi line at both piers.

Seattle Express will have numerous vans leaving the pier.

 

If for some reason you don't want to make a reservation, at least find out when the last bus leaves .......

[jenseib]

" they" ?? Don't know who you are referring to.

There is a taxi line at both piers.

Seattle Express will have numerous vans leaving the pier.

 

If for some reason you don't want to make a reservation, at least find out when the last bus leaves .......

 

Seattle Express...the one you suggested.

I'll take a look and see what their website has.

[lovecruzin]

I hope you contacted Shuttle Express and gave them feedback about the service and the driver.

I've never used the private car service of Shuttle Express, but have used their shared van service many times in the past 25-30 yrs. Never had a problem. (I switched to eastsideforhire about 2 yrs ago because it is more convenient than waiting for the shared ride.)

 

I've called twice and left a voice mail for the guest experience person asking for a return call. :mad:

[dhill]

" they" ?? Don't know who you are referring to.

There is a taxi line at both piers.

Seattle Express will have numerous vans leaving the pier.

 

If for some reason you don't want to make a reservation, at least find out when the last bus leaves .......

 

Ya come on what the heck do a liitle research:eek:

[jenseib]

Ya come on what the heck do a liitle research:eek:

 

Are you talking to me? If so I have been,... but this board is for research purposes too. Which is why I asked. Get over it.

[Dan G]

shuttle express has multiple divisions and while the posting is about Shuttle Express its about their towncar service not the shared ride. Shuttle Express took over the airporter service yrs ago. Hotels such as the Fairmont, Crown Plaza, Westin, Sheraton and Rennaissance are on a scheduled delivery and are very inexipensive. The vans load up at pier 91 and will take you to Seatac for a flat rate. Downtown to the piers is normally cheaper by cab as most shuttles charge a per person rate. Look at

shuttleexpress.com

and you can see the various services they offer. There is a new competitor in town that just started and that is

speedishuttle.com

 

I see they advertise a low rate from either pier to seatac as well.

[jenseib]

shuttle express has multiple divisions and while the posting is about Shuttle Express its about their towncar service not the shared ride. Shuttle Express took over the airporter service yrs ago. Hotels such as the Fairmont, Crown Plaza, Westin, Sheraton and Rennaissance are on a scheduled delivery and are very inexipensive. The vans load up at pier 91 and will take you to Seatac for a flat rate. Downtown to the piers is normally cheaper by cab as most shuttles charge a per person rate. Look at

shuttleexpress.com

and you can see the various services they offer. There is a new competitor in town that just started and that is

speedishuttle.com

 

I see they advertise a low rate from either pier to seatac as well.

 

Great info! Thanks so much. Now if I book online and choose Crowne Plaza airporter that means the CP downtown right? I was just confused with it being called that and didn't want to end up at a CP near the airport. ;)

[Dan G]

there is no need to 'reserve' online as it runs multiple times an hr. You just show up and get on the next shuttle. CP is downtown. They do have a location at Seatac which used to be the Holliday Inn but the dowtown airporter is what shuttle express operates.