Hilary

We will be in Las Vegas for a few days and would like to book to see Cirque's Love. However my daughter would need to get to the airport whilst we were at the show to fly home ahead of us to UK and I am feeling a bit mean at the idea of not driving her there. I have read that the airport is chaotic at weekends does that extend to taxis - what is the protocol for getting one from the strip and is it difficult on a Sunday evening? And what would be a reasonable amount of time to allow to get to the airport? Thanks

vegasnative

It is not difficult getting a taxi from the Strip to the airport. After your show just walk out the main doors of the hotel and there will be a line of them, if they is a line waiting for taxis it usually goes pretty fast. Taxis will not pick you up on the street like they do in NYC, you must be in the taxi line at a hotel. Sunday evenings are usually not too bad, Sunday mornings are hectic because everyone is checking out and heading home, but the hectic part of that is usually with the people from California and they drive here. It takes about 10-20 to get to the airport from the Strip (depending on where on the Strip you are) and that is with no traffic and like I said Sunday evening is usually ok. Now, the airport may be another story, allow yourself plenty of time to get through security, I have in the past jammed right thru, and other times have had to wait and wait and wait.

vegasnative

that should say 10-20 "minutes"

Lori

Your daughter should go to the front entrance of the hotel and get in the "taxi line". They move pretty quickly most of the time. I'm not sure what hotel she would be getting the taxi at but we stay at the Mirage or Treasure Island often and it costs between $15-$20 (plus tip) to the airport most of the time. I would figure about about 15-20 min. travel time, but that really depends on traffic, time of the day, weather, etc. She needs to allow a minimum of 2 hours (I'd figure 2.5 to be on the safe side) since she is flying international. McCarren Airport is always a mess, lines for Security can take quite awhile. With the airport my thoughts are better to be early (better safe then sorry as the saying goes).

As the other poster said you cannot just hail a cab in the street, but I am assuming your daughter will leave from a hotel so that is no problem.

jlm_mi

When we stayed at Bellagio, we checked our luggage with the bell hop the last day since we were flying out at night. When we went in the evening (Saturday) to pick up our bags and get a taxi, the bell man got us the next taxi rather than making us wait in the taxi line, since we were staying there and obviously had to get to the airport on time.

If she will be checking her bag at your hotel for the day, they may do the same for her when she goes to pick it up. I don't know if this is common practice, or if we were just lucky. Maybe others can say whether they've had the same thing happen.

TravelTess

Make sure she emphatically instructs the taxicab drive to NOT take the tunnel (the freeway). It's a well-known trick of the cabbies to collect a larger fare from unsuspecting tourists.

vegaslocal

99% of the cab drivers here are honest hard-working people who just want to get a person to their destination as quickly as possible, so they can pick up another person. It is not a fair statement that one should blanketly inform the cab driver not to take the tunnel.

For example, if one is leaving from a hotel that is north of Caesars Palace, it is entirely possible, the the fastest route to the airport would be to take the freeway and the tunnel connector to the airport property.

It depends entirely upon where you are leaving from, the day of the week, and the time of day, since traffic on the strip can be bottlenecked at certain times.

Unless you know for sure that the fastest route from your location is on surface street, you should not inform the cab driver not to go through the tunnel.

TravelTess

I would ask the hotel what the fastest route to the airport would be. 99% of the cabbies in LV are NOT honest - don't know where you got that statistic but it is wrong. I've experienced the rip-off a couple of times and am close friends with the Bell family. This is a constant headache for them.

TravelTess

Wish we could edit our comments. I'm not saying that 99% of the cabbies are dishonest. I was saying that your statistic stating that 99% of them are honest is incorrect.

vegasnative

jlm~yes, that is common practice for hotels and bellmen, and glad you mentioned it. If a guest leaves the hotel with a bellman and there is a line for cabs, the bellman gets the next cab over guests taht have already been waiting...the reason is so the bellman can get back inside and help other guests with check-in/check-out. I used to be a bellman and no one ever gets mad except for when it is convention time and the cab lines are a lenghty long wait.

vegaslocal

My 'statistic' of 99% was not meant to be an actual statistic. It is a figure of speech. That should have been obvious. Your comment about where I got my statistic was silly.
I hereby rescind my statement that 99% of cab drivers are honest. I don't have the actual number.

My point was that it is not correct to inform people that they should tell the cab driver to not to take the tunnel. It depends upon the hotel, the day of the week, and the time of day. Telling the cab driver not to take the tunnel could end up costing extra money depending upon those factors.

TravelTess

What is obvious is that the following is untrue and bad advice:

Author: vegaslocal
Date: 08/05/2006, 09:10 pm

99% of the cab drivers here are honest hard-working people who just want to get a person to their destination as quickly as possible,