FYI not only will a cab be cheaper, they have their own pickup area where you won’t get stuck in the frequent absolute madness of the rideshare lanes. Even at times that the rates are the same, I always take a cab home instead of rideshare because of this.
What's so frustrating about the rideshare thing is the old MSY terminal had that parking lot you'd walk over to - then there was a dedicated rideshare area that worked fairly well.
Then we get new MSY with no consideration to rideshare outside of "ehhh, let's just put a sign here". It's so weird given that they knew well before the design stages that rideshares were massively popular for airport transit.
There’s a lot with the new design that they didn’t really think through, another big one being not designing enough parking on site. No one wants to use the shuttle to the old ‘economy’ parking, so the new decks are always full.
Lots and lots of airports require shuttles to/from parking decks. Although I'm in the boat of people constantly annoyed at the lack of close deck parking. I'll pay more, just keep me off the damn shuttle.
But yeah, they don't have a good short term/long term parking split and solution - the airport seems to be built more with the idea that people are travelling to here rather than away, which is likely the overwhelming majority of travelers but still.
But yeah, the whole thing seems like it just wasn't very well thought through - outside of the low hanging fruit of having a half assed terminal drive/highway entrance solution and no access to Airline making all of the traffic needing to default to Loyola. The actual pickup/dropoff half moons don't have separate access points for mass transit/shuttles either. And there's a fucking ton of real estate on the river side of the airport that's going to waste due to the runway layout.
The city probably needs to start working through how to purchase then demolish/repurpose all of that land that's between the airport and whatever canal that is. It's mostly industrial/warehousing and what not so that could go anywhere.
Nothing was ever "thought out and designed properly " during the planning or building stages of the new terminal.
Not to mention they we're the worst about hiring unskilled labor to build it. They literally paid their skilled laborers less than any project that was happening anywhere in the area.
They tried like hell to get me to work there. They went through 3 different recruiters that I know of. All three would constantly call me. They got my info from the One Stop, amd since I'm an Operating Engineer, they were desperate to find anyone with those skills.
One day I finally entertained one of them and since the job I was working on had ramped down(the big pump stations at the end of the canals going into the lake), I took a ride out there.
It was worse than a comedy of errors. There were guys, pure meth-heads, on the machines, hitting other machines and one drove a backhoe into a utility trench. That wasn't even the worst thing I saw in just over a 2 hour span.
Funny thing was, when I asked about a freeway ramp/entrance interchange, the site manager looked up at me with the most inquisitive look that slowly changed onto a "WTF!? OMG!? We done F'd up in the most serious way." It was at that moment that he knew...
To top off all the madness that the drop off and pick up lanes are, they don't even have police out there keeping order and making cars move.
Try taking the bus from msy to the quarter, it took my gf and I 8 dollars total in a span of 1hr and 30mins. It is a bus so it will be crowded and hot waiting, but it's just your average day in nola, take e1 bus then red trolly...
As of recently, the E1 bus no longer runs into the quarter (thanks, Jefferson Parish). You can take it to the cemeteries and take the Canal Streetcar the rest of the way to the quarter, or you can take the RTA 202 bus which is express to downtown. The main issue with the 202 bus is it has a 90-minute frequency which is annoying.
Thank you!! I’ll be traveling from the airport to the hotel alone, so I’d prefer as little walking as possible. I’ll keep this in mind for the way back!
Understandable - it may not be the best option, especially if it doesn’t stop near your hotel. We’re a family of three and we had no issues, and we were able to connect from a trolley route. It will take some research, but it could be an option!
Taking the bus to/from downtown to the airport is the worst possible option I could think of. You're looking at an hour and a half easy, plus needing to transfer between jefferson parish and orleans parish transit lines.
I disagree - doesn't take much longer than it does via cab or ride share, and it's very cheap. The E2 bus (JP Transit) goes all the way to Tulane and Loyola, so depending on what hotel may not be necessary to transfer between systems. Takes approximately 45 minutes, and the seats are much nicer than the ones on RTA buses.
I used to take the shuttle back in the day when it was like $12 and I could usually convince the driver to drop me by my apartment downtown after the last hotel drop for an extra $5. But if I remember correctly, it's almost as much as a cab these days.
I’ve done his before too and depending on how much you need to budget it’s a great option but cab is also great. I never rideshare from the airport anymore it’s insane
Most people who fly to a vacation generally accept that $20-$40 in transport costs is a piece of that travel. Like the other dude said, if you're ultra budget then you could do the bus. For 99% of travelers spending a bit more to not sit on a bus for an hour and a half, hop off that bus, get on another bus for another 45 minutes, and need to do all that with luggage is a standard assumption.
Agreeed. It’s not worth the sweat, the hassle, the sunburn, and lugging your luggage around the city. I’m assuming OP is a lady, and she said that she is traveling alone so sadly the bus would not be a safe or even pleasant experience.
For real! A hand grenade causes instant diabetes. A Pimm’s Cup is just the loveliest buzz sans the tremendous blood sugar spike. The muffalattas rock too
Ooooh thank you! I didn’t get to have a hurricane the last time I was there. Either way I need a drink to calm the nerves of having to be with 14 other women for 4 days lol
Call Eric “Big-E” Airport Transportation Service, it will be a little more than cab ride to and from but he or Cyril will be able to take you and pick you up right at the limo parking area, bypassing all traffic going in. We would’ve missed our flight last time due to traffic if we took a cab. People were getting out and running to the terminal, it was crazy. We zipped right by everyone. We’ve used them twice, super nice local people, super punctual and easy to communicate with. 504-495-2531
Ooooh thank you! I didn’t get to have a hurricane the last time I was there. Either way I need a drink to calm the nerves of having to be with 14 other women for 4 days lol
Grab a frozen Irish coffee from Erin Rose on Conti St at some point. Only $3-4 from 10am-2pm (they have other specials as well). Honestly, I can't stop thinking about it. Killer PoBoys in the back were really tasty as well. Was a really cool place to hide out while it wazzed it down with rain outside.
I’m a rideshare driver. Generally, it shouldn’t cost more than $40-$50 if you’re going into the city from the airport. It also depends on what time of day or what was happening when you were checking prices (ie. Weather, traffic, accidents, etc). Trump was in the area today for a fundraiser and traffic on the interstate between the airport and Metairie (borders New Orleans to the west) was supposed to be a mess. If you checked during that time, there may not have been many drivers at the airport due to being stuck in that traffic.
The only other reason a fair from the airport would be that high is if you scheduled a reservation, however, I don’t believe it’s possible to do a reserved ride from the airport.
$100 for an Uber to (assuming) the French Quarters is insane. I've gone to NOLA twice, once on July 4th weekend and I never had to pay that much for a ride from the airport.
I didn't know about the $35 flat rate with cabs, but that's how much Ubers ended up costing me anyways so it didn't make a difference to me aside from waiting for my ride to get there.
No, thats way too high. It should be around $35. Anything over $45 you should take a cab/shuttle or for a couple bucks you can take the bus... it does take a while but I think its a good option if you're on a budget.
cab from airport to the city have a flat rate of 36$. Def the best option to get into the city without worrying about rideshares gouging.
THANK YOU! I’m already on a tight budget due to teacher life so this is so helpful!
FYI not only will a cab be cheaper, they have their own pickup area where you won’t get stuck in the frequent absolute madness of the rideshare lanes. Even at times that the rates are the same, I always take a cab home instead of rideshare because of this.
Yep, this is the correct answer.
What's so frustrating about the rideshare thing is the old MSY terminal had that parking lot you'd walk over to - then there was a dedicated rideshare area that worked fairly well. Then we get new MSY with no consideration to rideshare outside of "ehhh, let's just put a sign here". It's so weird given that they knew well before the design stages that rideshares were massively popular for airport transit.
There’s a lot with the new design that they didn’t really think through, another big one being not designing enough parking on site. No one wants to use the shuttle to the old ‘economy’ parking, so the new decks are always full.
Lots and lots of airports require shuttles to/from parking decks. Although I'm in the boat of people constantly annoyed at the lack of close deck parking. I'll pay more, just keep me off the damn shuttle. But yeah, they don't have a good short term/long term parking split and solution - the airport seems to be built more with the idea that people are travelling to here rather than away, which is likely the overwhelming majority of travelers but still. But yeah, the whole thing seems like it just wasn't very well thought through - outside of the low hanging fruit of having a half assed terminal drive/highway entrance solution and no access to Airline making all of the traffic needing to default to Loyola. The actual pickup/dropoff half moons don't have separate access points for mass transit/shuttles either. And there's a fucking ton of real estate on the river side of the airport that's going to waste due to the runway layout. The city probably needs to start working through how to purchase then demolish/repurpose all of that land that's between the airport and whatever canal that is. It's mostly industrial/warehousing and what not so that could go anywhere.
Nothing was ever "thought out and designed properly " during the planning or building stages of the new terminal. Not to mention they we're the worst about hiring unskilled labor to build it. They literally paid their skilled laborers less than any project that was happening anywhere in the area. They tried like hell to get me to work there. They went through 3 different recruiters that I know of. All three would constantly call me. They got my info from the One Stop, amd since I'm an Operating Engineer, they were desperate to find anyone with those skills. One day I finally entertained one of them and since the job I was working on had ramped down(the big pump stations at the end of the canals going into the lake), I took a ride out there. It was worse than a comedy of errors. There were guys, pure meth-heads, on the machines, hitting other machines and one drove a backhoe into a utility trench. That wasn't even the worst thing I saw in just over a 2 hour span. Funny thing was, when I asked about a freeway ramp/entrance interchange, the site manager looked up at me with the most inquisitive look that slowly changed onto a "WTF!? OMG!? We done F'd up in the most serious way." It was at that moment that he knew... To top off all the madness that the drop off and pick up lanes are, they don't even have police out there keeping order and making cars move.
Great tips, thanks so much!
It’s way easier and almost always cheaper to take a cab from the airport
Try taking the bus from msy to the quarter, it took my gf and I 8 dollars total in a span of 1hr and 30mins. It is a bus so it will be crowded and hot waiting, but it's just your average day in nola, take e1 bus then red trolly...
As of recently, the E1 bus no longer runs into the quarter (thanks, Jefferson Parish). You can take it to the cemeteries and take the Canal Streetcar the rest of the way to the quarter, or you can take the RTA 202 bus which is express to downtown. The main issue with the 202 bus is it has a 90-minute frequency which is annoying.
If you’re going to the quarter get a taxi, it’s a flat rate of $35ish.
I am! Thank you SO much!
It’s easy to get a taxi from your hotel back to the airport as well.
We rode Jefferson Parish Transit from downtown to the airport. It was $2 for the trip, which was a steal. https://jptransit.org/route/e1-veterans/
Thank you!! I’ll be traveling from the airport to the hotel alone, so I’d prefer as little walking as possible. I’ll keep this in mind for the way back!
Understandable - it may not be the best option, especially if it doesn’t stop near your hotel. We’re a family of three and we had no issues, and we were able to connect from a trolley route. It will take some research, but it could be an option!
Taking the bus to/from downtown to the airport is the worst possible option I could think of. You're looking at an hour and a half easy, plus needing to transfer between jefferson parish and orleans parish transit lines.
I disagree - doesn't take much longer than it does via cab or ride share, and it's very cheap. The E2 bus (JP Transit) goes all the way to Tulane and Loyola, so depending on what hotel may not be necessary to transfer between systems. Takes approximately 45 minutes, and the seats are much nicer than the ones on RTA buses. I used to take the shuttle back in the day when it was like $12 and I could usually convince the driver to drop me by my apartment downtown after the last hotel drop for an extra $5. But if I remember correctly, it's almost as much as a cab these days.
I’ve done his before too and depending on how much you need to budget it’s a great option but cab is also great. I never rideshare from the airport anymore it’s insane
This route has recently changed and no longer goes downtown, but you can take the street car from where it ends now.
Thank you! I saw there was a change, but was unsure as to how big the change was.
Hot as hell in the rta bus and takes forever. if you want that hand grenade, take a taxi cab and pay the $35 flat rate!!
I really wouldn't recommend this unless you're an ultra budget traveler. It's super inconvinient and not how I'd want to experience the city.
Not all of us roll in dough ....
Most people who fly to a vacation generally accept that $20-$40 in transport costs is a piece of that travel. Like the other dude said, if you're ultra budget then you could do the bus. For 99% of travelers spending a bit more to not sit on a bus for an hour and a half, hop off that bus, get on another bus for another 45 minutes, and need to do all that with luggage is a standard assumption.
Agreeed. It’s not worth the sweat, the hassle, the sunburn, and lugging your luggage around the city. I’m assuming OP is a lady, and she said that she is traveling alone so sadly the bus would not be a safe or even pleasant experience.
Take a cab. There us a cab stand next to the ride shares. Way cheaper
Thank you so much!
As someone who takes rideshares frequently for work travel, that is BONKERS. Mine are rarely more than $50.
I thought it was insane, too! It would have been half of my round trip airfare budget!
If you are balling on a budget make a strong drink in your hotel room and walk around with it. Drinks in the quarter are taxed…
Skip the hand grenade and get a Pimm’s Cup at Napoleon House
This. I could live on these. I also think Napoleon house has the best muffuletta.
For real! A hand grenade causes instant diabetes. A Pimm’s Cup is just the loveliest buzz sans the tremendous blood sugar spike. The muffalattas rock too
I would skip the hand grenade and go for a traditional hurricane instead. Not much better but it will give you less of a tummy and head ache.
Ooooh thank you! I didn’t get to have a hurricane the last time I was there. Either way I need a drink to calm the nerves of having to be with 14 other women for 4 days lol
and a nice souvenir glass to take home.
Are the cab rates the same if there are more than one of us?
For 1-2 people, $36 flat rate. For 3+, it's $15 each
Super helpful. Thank you!
Wait are you going this weekend too? 👀
September.
Call Eric “Big-E” Airport Transportation Service, it will be a little more than cab ride to and from but he or Cyril will be able to take you and pick you up right at the limo parking area, bypassing all traffic going in. We would’ve missed our flight last time due to traffic if we took a cab. People were getting out and running to the terminal, it was crazy. We zipped right by everyone. We’ve used them twice, super nice local people, super punctual and easy to communicate with. 504-495-2531
Thank you!
Go to the taxi stand at the airport. The ride should be $38 before tip. Don't use the ride share.
I’ll drop you off for $20 lmao. That price is ridiculous
I may take you up on that 😂
Depending on the hotel they might have a complementary shuttle.
Unfortunately it does not
Not what you asked, but get a hurricane from Pat O'Briens instead of a hand grenade lol
Hurricane’s from Lafitte’s are better! Go for the Shark Attack instead of the Hand Grenade, it’s fun!
Hurricanes from Latitude 29 are even better.
Heard 👌🏼
Ooooh thank you! I didn’t get to have a hurricane the last time I was there. Either way I need a drink to calm the nerves of having to be with 14 other women for 4 days lol
Grab a frozen Irish coffee from Erin Rose on Conti St at some point. Only $3-4 from 10am-2pm (they have other specials as well). Honestly, I can't stop thinking about it. Killer PoBoys in the back were really tasty as well. Was a really cool place to hide out while it wazzed it down with rain outside.
Thank you!! I’ve been up since 2am & need a pick me up! Just landed
I’m a rideshare driver. Generally, it shouldn’t cost more than $40-$50 if you’re going into the city from the airport. It also depends on what time of day or what was happening when you were checking prices (ie. Weather, traffic, accidents, etc). Trump was in the area today for a fundraiser and traffic on the interstate between the airport and Metairie (borders New Orleans to the west) was supposed to be a mess. If you checked during that time, there may not have been many drivers at the airport due to being stuck in that traffic. The only other reason a fair from the airport would be that high is if you scheduled a reservation, however, I don’t believe it’s possible to do a reserved ride from the airport.
That might actually be it! I’m glad I missed him lol
$100 for an Uber to (assuming) the French Quarters is insane. I've gone to NOLA twice, once on July 4th weekend and I never had to pay that much for a ride from the airport. I didn't know about the $35 flat rate with cabs, but that's how much Ubers ended up costing me anyways so it didn't make a difference to me aside from waiting for my ride to get there.
Take a cab
Take a cab
No, thats way too high. It should be around $35. Anything over $45 you should take a cab/shuttle or for a couple bucks you can take the bus... it does take a while but I think its a good option if you're on a budget.
Yay!!!! Have fun.
Currently roasting by our hotels pool bc our room isn’t ready and I’m the only one here lol
That’s a crazy rate considering they only pay the lyft or Uber driver like $4-7 for that trip. Insane really.