One More Thing to Avoid

 Since our flight to Dallas didn't leave until the following morning, we booked into one of the "local" Heathrow hotels for the night. Mark was still on crutches when we arrived at Heathrow, which made using one of the shuttle buses a bit more challenging than it should be. (Shuttle bus drivers in the UK, with the exception of Hertz, do not provide any assistance with bags.) You're extremely lucky if you get a cab driver who'll help with the bags.

At any rate, we thought taking a cab to the hotel would be easier. It should have been easier. Mark thought that a short trip was the ideal fare that all cabbies were looking for. It made sense - it's a short run, they get their 12 to 15 pounds and they can rejoin the taxi rank quickly. 

But that isn't how it really works. The taxi rank is "managed" by Heathrow employees. You tell them where you want to go and if you require a cab that takes credit cards and they "direct", "escort", "lead" you to a cab. We had been pointed to a cab, the driver took credit cards, and had agreed to take us to a local hotel, when one of the Heathrow employees (a young woman with an Eastern European accent) came rushing up with another customer and pushed us out of the way and shoved an over-sized barbarian into our cab, telling us that we would have to wait for the next one.

Amidst protests from us, the over-sized barbarian shoved his over-sized bags into our cab and the driver sped away. The young woman was explaining to us that we will have the very next cab. Of course, the very next five cabs do not take credit cards. The next cab that does take credit cards does not want to take a job to a "local" hotel. Apparently drivers may choose which fares they want to take and no one is required to take a fare to a local hotel if they don't want to.

Mark was still having to stand around on crutches and his fuse was getting short. (The line of available cabs was also getting short.) He started complaining to the young woman about taking our cab when one of her co-workers, also with an Eastern European accent (don't any British people work in Britain anymore?) came over and threatened to make us walk to the hotel if Mark didn't just wait patiently and quietly. Fairly low on customer-facing skills in my opinion. It's hard to be patient when you're in pain. Just saying...

We finally found a driver who would take us to the hotel, but only if we paid cash. We knew we didn't have enough cash but thought that we could get the hotel to give us a cash advance on American Express once we got there. Apparently, this is something that is only done in the US. If it is done in the UK, it is not done at the Arora International Hotel.

While Mark was finding out that he could not get any cash, I was finding out about the taxi rank. Apparently they are charged 6 pounds just to get in the line. The reason they don't want to take the local runs is that the fares average only 12 pounds - so half of it is gone immediately. If they take a credit card, that eats up another 10%. They all want the trips into the city of London. It's more like 60 pounds so they at least have an opportunity to make a bit of money.

In the end, the driver opted to take the credit card over driving Mark around to find an ATM. But in the future, we'll only stay at a Heathrow hotel if we're returning a rental car. Never again will I book a connecting flight that requires an over night stay at Heathrow. One more thing to avoid.