Ride to Sydney domestic airport for 6am flight

kpc

kpc

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In 2 weeks' time I need to be at Qantas domestic terminal for a 6am flight. I'm connecting to an international flight in Bne and have a bag that I need to check in at a staffed counter. I think I should aim to arrive by 4am latest. That brings me to the important Q.

I normally just gat an Uber / Didi from my home (lower North Shore) but was wondering is that the best and most reliable option at that time? I note I can prebook an Uber. Or should I prebook a taxi or just call for one when needed?

Any personal experiences for very early flights in Sydney?
 
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I would have thought an Uber or DiDi would be ok.

What day of the week?

You could check general availability on a similar day prior if you happened to be awake at 4am…
 
kpc said:
In 2 weeks' time I need to be at Qantas domestic terminal for a 6am flight. I'm connecting to an international flight in Bne and have a bag that I need to check in at a staffed counter. I think I should aim to arrive by 4am latest. That brings me to the important Q.

I normally just gat an Uber / Didi from my home (lower North Shore) but was wondering is that the best and most reliable option at that time? I note I can prebook an Uber. Or should I prebook a taxi or just call for one when needed?

Any personal experiences for very early flights in Sydney?
Click to expand...
I would get an Uber but I have found no value in pre-booking.
Unless of course you are in an area where there are frequently problems finding Ubers.
But even then I am not sure it really offers more certainty.
In my admittedly limited experience, it just seems to lock in a higher price.
 
Last year I was in Neutral Bay and ordered an Uber at about 6am on a Friday morning for a trip to SYD (having a 7:30am domestic flight) and was a bit surprised when it took a couple of minutes to find a driver, then eventually a driver in Chatswood accepted, who took about 15 minutes to get to me.

So for a much earlier departure, I would definitely allow a substantial buffer for any delays in finding a ride, or if a pre-booked ride does not show up.

I would personally be looking into using a reputable chauffeured car company for a trip like that, which is likely to be not that much more expensive than a taxi.
 
kpc said:
In 2 weeks' time I need to be at Qantas domestic terminal for a 6am flight. I'm connecting to an international flight in Bne and have a bag that I need to check in at a staffed counter. I think I should aim to arrive by 4am latest. That brings me to the important Q.

I normally just gat an Uber / Didi from my home (lower North Shore) but was wondering is that the best and most reliable option at that time? I note I can prebook an Uber. Or should I prebook a taxi or just call for one when needed?

Any personal experiences for very early flights in Sydney?
Click to expand...
Book an uber in the morning. Didi is sparce. You'll probably get a pair within 5-10mins at worst and its a very fast drive to domestic.

I've done 5am-5:15 or so for 6:30 departures from Cremorne.
 
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elanshin said:
Book an uber in the morning. Didi is sparce. You'll probably get a pair within 5-10mins at worst and its a very fast drive to domestic.

I've done 5am-5:15 or so for 6:30 departures from Cremorne.
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Sat early AM will still have drivers mopping up the Friday night crowd, so you’d expect rides to be around.

I wouldn’t discount 13Cabs either. It’ll cost more but worth a look. When I was often doing “sparrows” departures to CBR and MEL, a cab would be at the front door in minutes! Although, I’ve not tested that post Covid nor do I want to! I loathe 6am flights…
 
Even as a very experienced traveller I get "airport anxiety" - since you are connecting to an international flight - I would go with pre-booked car/driver (chauffeur - there are many reputable companies) or stay at an airport hotel overnight (I personally have an issue with airport hotels at SYD when flying domestic - they are not walking distance (with luggage) and you need to rely on the hotel shuttle which runs to a fixed schedule not on demand).

The car service we use from the CBD to SYD is about $80 so clearly more than a taxi/Uber. We tried Uber once and the driver got lost going to the airport (go figure !!).
 
We pre-booked UberXL for our trip to T1 in August, and got all the positive messages about the ride being allocated etc. But on the morning the arrival time drifted out to 45mins, at which time we called the St George cabs number and got a taxi. At the time I cancelled the Uber they were still 20 minutes away. So not sure pre-booking always works.
 
SYD said:
You could check general availability on a similar day prior if you happened to be awake at 4am…
Click to expand...
I checked at 0330 this am...Uber allegedly had 6 min wait and Didi was 7 mins.

I will probably allow 30min buffer (wont be much sleep anyway and use 13 cabs) as backup.

Prebooking a Chauffeur car is no guarantee either. When I took the 0600 EK flight a few years ago, the free chauffeur service was running late and got lost to the airport as Harbour Tunnel was closed. I had to use Google maps to guide him :(
 

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