LAX Just Changed Their Rideshare Pick-Up System, Is Now More of a Nightmare Than Ever

Ah, LAX. You’ve tried so hard to please us, with your constant construction (when will it end?) and stubborn refusal to tear down the Theme Building (we’re with you on this, it’s a Space Age masterpiece). But some of your decisions—sold as time-saving, efficient, smart—have really gotten us down lately. Like your newest shakeup to the rideshare pickup system. 

Instead of simply heading upstairs from arrivals to departures and finding the closest Rideshare sign, riders will now need to walk or bus to the “LAX-it” lot—apparently a “short walk” from terminals 1, 2, 7 and 8; and a crowded bus ride from terminals 3, 4, 5, 6 and International. Once riders arrive at this LAX-it lot (not sure who named this godforsaken place, but it sounds quite a lot like perhaps the most universally avoided medicine in existence), they queue up—LAX loves a line—and prepare to match with their driver, to whom they must give a unique “Fast Match” code. Spoiler alert: This system is not fast. This system takes much, much longer than the previous system.

Unless, that is, you happen to ride Lux, in which case you can get picked up right at arrivals (no need to even climb the stairs to the departure level!). As if the inequality chasm between first class and coach wasn’t enough for one day.

Our Editor in Chief, Matt Bean, sends dispatches from the scene:

“I’m driven in an overcrowded bus to an area that looks like a water park (thanks to the giant green umbrellas), only instead of water, it is full of human misery and abject confusion.”

“A separate line of cab drivers shout slurs from across the divide. F**k Uber! Run by criminals! F**k you Uber!”

“Riders resign themselves to shuffling into line while being bathed in jet fuel exhaust. The system isn’t all that convoluted after all, but being confronted by yet another line to swallow one’s time instills a sense of existential malaise.”

“My driver arrives with a grin, entering the six digit code I’ve been given into his console. ‘This is calm right now. In the mornings or evenings it will be interesting…’.”

We’re skeptical at best, but ready to be happily surprised by you, LAX. Here’s hoping LAX-it makes our holiday travels go smoothly all season long (see what we did there).