Note: this is all as of October 3, 2023 in Vancouver, Canada
1. Avoid Early Morning Airport Trips (3-8 am): Steer clear of scheduling trips to the airport during the early morning hours, typically between 3 am and 8 am. If you arrive at the airport during this time, finding a ride out of the airport will take too long.
Being stranded at the airport without a rider to take you out will result in a ~10-minute delay.
Solution: To avoiding these early morning airport trips is to utilize the ‘Area Preference’ feature on the Uber app, provided you’ve attained this feature. Activate the feature and select every city except Vancouver, as the airport area is considered part of the Vancouver zone.
You can also check if the ride will head in the airport’s direction beforehand (This is the feature that Uber Pro Platinum provides if you have a below 20% rejection rate). However, this may not be the most effective strategy since Uber can still assign you airport-bound trips which will then increase your rejection rate and result in fewer trip options (assuming that you aren’t getting constant trip offers).
2. Timing Your “Area Preference” Filter Usage: Be strategic in using the area preference filter. Save it for when you’re nearing the end of your trip (around 5minutes before you drop off your current rider) to maximize its duration.
Why?
Because once the area preference filter is in effect, you can’t deselect the area preference filter during your current ride nor when you’re heading to the pickup location of your next rider. Therefore, don’t use it unless you can actually get a rider under the filter.
