Here's Where Your Uber Ride From the Airport Will Cost the Most

by Mia Taylor
Last updated: 8:40 AM ET, Thu February 1, 2024

The good news for globetrotters is you can get an Uber to and from the airport in nearly any city in the world.

The bad news is that you’ll pay a steep “airport premium” for that Uber ride. And depending on the city in question, the airport premium is far more than you might expect.

A new study from the travel experts at HawaiianIslands.com reveals just how much airport premiums for Uber rides vary worldwide.

To find out where you’ll pay the most significant upcharge, the HawaiianIslands team analyzed fares from airports to their respective city centers in locations around the world.

All of that research revealed that travelers pay a whopping 203 percent airport premium for Uber transportation from Chile’s Arturo Merino Benitez International Airport to Santiago’s city center.

In other words, the ride will cost you 203 percent more per kilometer than it would cost someone whose trip did not originate at the airport but was taking a similar length trip from a town near Arturo Merino Benitez International Airport to Santiago’s city center.

The Arturo Merino Benitez International Airport premium is higher than any other airport in the world, according to the study.

Domestically, the study found that it’s more expensive to take an Uber home from John Wayne Airport in Orange County, California, than any other U.S. airport (you’ll pay a 116.4 percent price premium per kilometer).

It also turns out that more airports in the U.S. landed among the top 15 most expensive for airport premiums than any other country worldwide.

Businesswoman using mobile ride share app

And while no airport in Europe made the top 15 most expensive airport premiums, that doesn’t mean you get off scott-free when traveling across the pond.

The key information for Europe-bound travelers to know is that the most expensive airports from which to take an Uber home are all in the UK. And the most expensive of them all is Gatwick Airport in London – where you’ll pay a 70.3 percent per kilometer price premium.

Here are the most expensive Uber airport premiums around the world (behind Chile’s Arturo Merino Benitez International Airport) and the Uber airport premium you’ll pay.

Hobart International Airport, Australia: 188.6 percent
Newcastle Airport, Australia: 132 percent
Cairns International Airport, Australia: 121.5 percent
John Wayne Airport, Orange County, California: 116.4 percent
Presidente Castro Pinto International Airport, Joao Pessoa, Brazil: 112.6 percen
Logan International Airport, Boston, Massachusetts: 110.2 percent
Norman Y. Mineta San Jose International Airport, San Jose, California: 105.5 percent
Cleveland Hopkins International Airport, Cleveland, Ohio: 104.7 percent
Mexico City International Airport, Mexico City, Mexico: 101.2 percent
Wellington International Airport, Wellington, New Zealand: 90.7 percent
Port Elizabeth International Airport, Port Elizabeth, South Africa: 80.4 percent
Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Nigeria: Abuja, Abuja: 79.8 percent
El Dorado International Airport, Bogota, Colombia: 78.5 percent
Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, Washington D.C.: 78 percent