A man paid more than $1,300 for an Uber from Paris to London to get home in time for his shift as the global travel crisis hits a new low.
Steven, a 32-year-old health worker from the UK who lived in Australia for several years, was traveling through France during Europe’s first interrupted summer in three years before travel came to an abrupt halt.
His 9:00 p.m. flight on Sunday night was repeatedly delayed until midnight, with airport staff informing weary passengers that he had been cancelled.
Desperate to get back to London in time for work on Monday morning, Steven and his partner found two strangers willing to share a $1,340 Uber across the English Channel.
“They told us none were going to Gatwick until Wednesday, we checked Heathrow prices and the next day they were going at $1,000,” he told Daily Mail Australia.
‘The idea of a $1,000 plane ticket, the cost of the hotel, and another day’s worth of food, drink, etc. He quickly made us decide that we would go home that night if possible’.
A health worker paid more than $1,340 for an Uber from Paris to London after his Sunday night flight was delayed by three hours and then cancelled.
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Steven (pictured), 32, was forced to go through desperate circumstances to return to his shift on Monday morning.
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Steven said that after a three-hour delay, the only thing the airline offered them was an $8 coupon for Pret a Manger, a popular British food chain.
With his shift approaching, he and his friend inquired about renting a car and driving through the Calais tunnel, before two American girls overheard their conversation.
They were studying a six-week exchange course in economics in London at the prestigious Yale University and needed to return to the capital for their first day on Monday morning. They agreed that they would travel together.
Car rental companies told the group that they could not leave the car in England and that passengers could not get into the tunnel until 9am, which meant they had only one option left.
“Through desperation I flipped through my phone apps and we came across Uber,” Steven said.
“I thought ‘what the heck’ and wrote it down. I was quoted approximately €700 ($1,040).”
Steven said it was complete chaos at Charles de Gaulle after the flight to London was cancelled, with people struggling to get home before Monday.
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The prices the next day were too expensive when one night’s accommodation in Paris was also taken into account.
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The health worker, his partner, and their two new American friends left Charles de Gaulle airport and set out to find a driver who could meet their request.
‘The first drivers hit their heads and canceled. A driver was initially interested and luckily for us one of the girls spoke reasonable French and began to negotiate. She accepted the distance of the trip, but when we asked her if she had her passport available, since she needed it to be in England, there was a lot of confusion,” said Steven.
‘At the end he said he’d check it out and after five to 10 minutes he told us it wasn’t possible. At the time we thought it would be a common theme but the next guy also accepted the fee and when we explained the passport situation to him there was a lot of confusion again but he said he would discuss it at the airport when he saw us.
“When he showed up, we asked if he could go home and get his passport, but it turned out he had it with him as ID in a little fanny pack anyway and was happy to give us a ride.”
Steven said his French driver “didn’t seem worried about the length of the trip at any point and smiled and played music for us the whole way.”
The trip itself took around six and a half hours traveling in the middle of the night.
They negotiated payment of about €600 (about $900), plus the round-trip fare through the Channel Tunnel, which was €238 (about $350).
They negotiated to pay about €600 (about $900), plus the round-trip ticket through the Channel Tunnel, which was €238 (about $350).
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The trip took about six and a half hours, and Steven said the driver was smiling and happy to play music at all times.
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“The total ended up being around $370 each and we were going to London in a nice new Mercedes SUV with plush carpeting and huge black leather seats,” Steven said.
“Since we left around 1am French time, there was virtually no traffic and, more importantly, no queues in the Channel Tunnel, so everything was pretty slippery.”
“The driver was very helpful in talking to the French and explaining to them at the crossing what our situation was and the purpose of our trip, particularly on behalf of the Americans, since the border control asked many questions about their stay.”
After dropping off the group at Gatwick, the driver said he was going to take a “quick nap” before heading back to Paris.
“He was an absolute soldier,” Steven said.
She admitted that she missed the start of her shift, but made up for it with overtime while the American girls made it in time for her opening lecture.
Despite the ordeal, the 32-year-old said he would definitely take a long-distance Uber again and even said he preferred it to air travel.
‘It was totally worth it. I probably wouldn’t recommend it if it wasn’t in the middle of the night as that made things easy for us with no queues or rush hour traffic,” she said.
“But given the alternative options, the flights would have cost £500 each to arrive later than us and to the wrong destination, and that’s without the extra costs for hotels, food, drinks and transport to get from Heathrow to Gatwick (where our the car was parked).
“I would go so far as to say that if I went back to Paris, I would look at an overnight Uber before checking for flights!”
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