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Uber expands its Reserve at Airports feature globally
Uber is expanding its Reserve at Airports feature globally, giving users more opportunities to plan their airport pickup in advance. As of Thursday, the feature is available at 55 airports throughout the world, including 39 airports in the US.
Uber launched Reserve at Airports in a couple of dozen US cities back in 2020. The feature lets you book a ride from the airport up to 30 days in advance. The feature adjusts your Uber reservation time based on your flight information so that your driver will arrive when you do -- even if the flight is early or delayed. The driver will wait for 60 minutes, giving you time to take care of things like picking up luggage.
In addition to making the feature available at several more US airports, it's also now available in Vancouver (YVR), Bologna (BLQ), Cape Town (CPT), Johannesburg (JNB + HLA), Milan (LIN + MXP), Nice (NCE), Paris (CDG) and Rome (CIA + FCO).
Uber's own data suggests that, after more than two years of cutting back on travel, US tourists are once again visiting Europe. The company said that Uber rides from US guests in Europe are up nearly 500% year-over-year. Spain, France, Greece and Italy have seen the most rides from US travelers.
Meanwhile, Airport Gross Bookings represented 13% of Mobility Gross Bookings in Q1 2022, compared with 15% pre-pandemic. While it hasn't quite reached pre-pandemic levels, Airport Gross Bookings were up 166% year-over-year.
"Travel or the travel category is growing at very, very significant rates," Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said in March during the company's Q1 conference call. "It may be that the kind of consumer that's an Uber consumer is higher-end, travels a lot, travels for business, etc., is coming to the platform pretty quickly."