Is it a thing for older people to be picked up from the airport?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not only would I go pick up my dad. I would park my car and wait in terminal for him, with my 4yo in tow and a " welcome " sign.

Get out the daughter of the year award. Apparently this anonymous stranger wants us to know she is so selfless so amazing and OP is just the worst.

OP, you have a right to ask him to take a cab.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's like OP forgot that Uber is not free. Your dad just spend hundreds on a flight to visit you, the least you could do is pick him up for the airport. You sound incredibly selfish and rather narcissistic.

Not OP I pay for the flight and the ground transport. But no, I don’t go out to the airport to pick up especially not in rush hour.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My dad will be flying in for an extended visit the day after Thanksgiving. Before he bought a flight, he asked when would be a good time. DH and I said mid-week and mid-day into DCA while DS4 and DS1 are out of the house. He decided on a flight that comes in at 5:30 (I didn't know it was the day after Thanksgiving at the time) and I said that he could uber/lyft to my house because that is daycare pick up and then dinner time/bedtime start. If he ubered, he would get to our house in time to hang out with DS4 for a little while. We found a flight that would arrive at 10 AM but he said he would have to wake up too early. He said he didn't think it would be too much trouble for us to pick him up. I don't understand why he can't just uber? Is it rude of me not to pick up my dad at the airport? I wonder if it is an old person thing - he is familiar with the uber and lyft app.

It's not an old person thing. At Dulles, DCA, BWI, Union Station, the most efficient for all including the traveler is the cab line. At Dulles the most difficult part is getting from the gate to security exit. Easy direct route to taxi line. Dad gets in taxi- calls you when in. You go out and pay the taxi when at your house. No dealing with the hordes and hassle of people hooking up with specific vehicles and the loading. We've seen travelers with so much stuff it looked like they were moving the contents of a studio apartment less furniture.

If people actually need a companion to navigate the huge airport then what? https://skysquad.com/

Go to them and reverse the trip to be the companion? We knew a young person whose parents would fly for college trips and then do the reverse so the darling would not be alone.

When visiting a relative in common 1 out of 3 flyers insisted on a personal drive to the major airport. Other guests flights not at the same time windows. That 1 never does train or plane pickups at home base even for end point of local trains.

[Anonymous]

My MIL recently suggested flying into an airport nearly 2.5 hours from our home so that she could take a direct flight We would just have to drive across a couple of bridges and tunnels in rush hour holiday traffic to pick her up and then back again a few days later to drop her off. She doesn't have internet and so she had her daughter make all the arrangements. The daughter then informed my husband and I that she was making these arrangements because changing planes would be too stressful for MIL.
The thing about the 'old people entitlement' is that some of our quote unquote elderly relatives have been pulling this since they were sixty. We're now at the point where WE are almost sixty, and they are still kicking in their mid-eighties. In other words, when YOU were almost sixty, we picked you up at the airport and now that We are almost sixty, we are driving across our state to pick ou up. When do we get to be the coddled old people? I'm thinking never!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's like OP forgot that Uber is not free. Your dad just spend hundreds on a flight to visit you, the least you could do is pick him up for the airport. You sound incredibly selfish and rather narcissistic.

Ubers are super cheap. If you're flying in you should account for an extra 30 to get home. Also in DC there's the metro

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DC is the only region I have ever lived in where people seem to really push back against picking guests up. So I think it's regional vs an age thing. Or maybe people in DC are just less kind than elsewhere.

It’s the freaking traffic out to Dulles and back. I can leave work early to rush my kids out of school/make them miss their activities and then spend 90 minutes driving with squabbling kids, and serve takeout for dinner - OR you can read a book in a taxi for 30 min and be welcomed into my home for a home cooked meal and relaxed kids happy to see you.

Take out?! The horror. Your kids are 1 and 4. What activities are they missing? It’s a PITA but you go and pick up your dad. He visits with the kids while you are stuck in rush hour traffic. The world won’t end if bath and bed gets pushed a couple of hours. Or as others suggested, see if DH can get out early to pick them up from daycare and you do the ride alone. It’s not an age thing. It’s polite. I visited a friend this summer and insisted on getting an Uber. She insisted back on picking me up then dropping me off at the airport. It was more time for us to talk and hang out.

And yes, I have kids and spent years when they were young sitting in rush hour with them melting down so I get it. You do this for family.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DC is the only region I have ever lived in where people seem to really push back against picking guests up. So I think it's regional vs an age thing. Or maybe people in DC are just less kind than elsewhere.

It’s the freaking traffic out to Dulles and back. I can leave work early to rush my kids out of school/make them miss their activities and then spend 90 minutes driving with squabbling kids, and serve takeout for dinner - OR you can read a book in a taxi for 30 min and be welcomed into my home for a home cooked meal and relaxed kids happy to see you.

Take out?! The horror. Your kids are 1 and 4. What activities are they missing? It’s a PITA but you go and pick up your dad. He visits with the kids while you are stuck in rush hour traffic. The world won’t end if bath and bed gets pushed a couple of hours. Or as others suggested, see if DH can get out early to pick them up from daycare and you do the ride alone. It’s not an age thing. It’s polite. I visited a friend this summer and insisted on getting an Uber. She insisted back on picking me up then dropping me off at the airport. It was more time for us to talk and hang out.

And yes, I have kids and spent years when they were young sitting in rush hour with them melting down so I get it. You do this for family.

NP. No thanks. No one should have to cater to the olds when they could just make it easy for everyone.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My MIL recently suggested flying into an airport nearly 2.5 hours from our home so that she could take a direct flight We would just have to drive across a couple of bridges and tunnels in rush hour holiday traffic to pick her up and then back again a few days later to drop her off. She doesn't have internet and so she had her daughter make all the arrangements. The daughter then informed my husband and I that she was making these arrangements because changing planes would be too stressful for MIL.
The thing about the 'old people entitlement' is that some of our quote unquote elderly relatives have been pulling this since they were sixty. We're now at the point where WE are almost sixty, and they are still kicking in their mid-eighties. In other words, when YOU were almost sixty, we picked you up at the airport and now that We are almost sixty, we are driving across our state to pick ou up. When do we get to be the coddled old people? I'm thinking never!

This is funny. When I met DH, his mother was 50. 50!!! We were young and she was pulling the older person card. We are now that age and she’s so much more difficult in her late 70s.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's the day after thanksgiving -- are you really working a full day? When my kids were that age, they loved coming to the airport to pick up their grandparents. I'd leave the 1 year old home with DH, and you and the 4 year old pick him up. Feed the 4 year old in the car.

This. And they next day is Saturday so if your done stays up a little later it will be OK. My kids love going to pick up relatives at the airport.

[Anonymous]

DC can be intimidating to figure out. Be a nice host and pick your guest. You sound like a lazy, selfish person, OP. Be grateful for the guests you still have.

[Anonymous]

A lot of older people (boomers) are narcissists and expect to be catered to hand and foot. You pick a child or kid from college at the airport, not a grown adult who's navigated back and forth to the airport dozens of times in their life. Tell em to take an uber.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DC can be intimidating to figure out. Be a nice host and pick your guest. You sound like a lazy, selfish person, OP. Be grateful for the guests you still have.

WTF do you have to figure out? It’s no different than any airport. Exit the airport. Find a ride/Uber. If you can’t do that you shouldn’t be flying by yourself.

Team I’ll pick you up if it’s convenient but I’m not sitting in rush hour traffic. For anyone. My husband travels regularly for work. He manages to Uber there and back weekly I’ve picked him up maybe once in the past 5 years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DC is the only region I have ever lived in where people seem to really push back against picking guests up. So I think it's regional vs an age thing. Or maybe people in DC are just less kind than elsewhere.

It’s the freaking traffic out to Dulles and back. I can leave work early to rush my kids out of school/make them miss their activities and then spend 90 minutes driving with squabbling kids, and serve takeout for dinner - OR you can read a book in a taxi for 30 min and be welcomed into my home for a home cooked meal and relaxed kids happy to see you.

Take out?! The horror. Your kids are 1 and 4. What activities are they missing? It’s a PITA but you go and pick up your dad. He visits with the kids while you are stuck in rush hour traffic. The world won’t end if bath and bed gets pushed a couple of hours. Or as others suggested, see if DH can get out early to pick them up from daycare and you do the ride alone. It’s not an age thing. It’s polite. I visited a friend this summer and insisted on getting an Uber. She insisted back on picking me up then dropping me off at the airport. It was more time for us to talk and hang out.

And yes, I have kids and spent years when they were young sitting in rush hour with them melting down so I get it. You do this for family.

OP you don’t need to do this. Nothing wrong with a cab or arranging transportation. No guilt.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DC can be intimidating to figure out. Be a nice host and pick your guest. You sound like a lazy, selfish person, OP. Be grateful for the guests you still have.

WTF do you have to figure out? It’s no different than any airport. Exit the airport. Find a ride/Uber. If you can’t do that you shouldn’t be flying by yourself.

Team I’ll pick you up if it’s convenient but I’m not sitting in rush hour traffic. For anyone. My husband travels regularly for work. He manages to Uber there and back weekly I’ve picked him up maybe once in the past 5 years.

It depends on the age of the parent and their frequency of travel. At 60, my dad was fine traveling alone and getting a cab because he still did it occasi9nally for work, Now at 80, it’s much more overwhelming to him to navigate the airports, let alone a cab, so we pick up—especially since he hasn’t traveled in years due to covid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A lot of older people (boomers) are narcissists and expect to be catered to hand and foot. You pick a child or kid from college at the airport, not a grown adult who's navigated back and forth to the airport dozens of times in their life. Tell em to take an uber.

My college student can take an Uber too.