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

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Did OP ever answer why her DH can't pick up the dad while she stays with the kids? Or why she can't pick up her own father when DH stays with the kids? Seems simple enough.

Before my dad bought the flight, we had the discussion about timing and pick up. We did not know it would be the day after thanksgiving and therefore normal traffic and work would not be an issue. (He just said it would be Friday at 5:30pm.) While speaking to him, I found a flight for Tuesday arriving at 10am (that was cheaper). If he chose the 10 am arriving flight, he said he would have to get up at 4am and he didn’t want to do that. I really just couldn’t understand why he couldn’t take that flight and I would be able to pick him up easily.
The call ended at a standstill and 2 days later my sister let me know that his flight was booked and that my brother (who lives an hour away) would be picking him up. So it ended with my brother driving two hours instead of my dad taking a 10-15 minute cab or Uber (that we offered to pay for).

Also, we would have been able to figure out the pick up if we knew it was the Friday after thanksgiving. But now I’m annoyed that he was choosing to inconvenience me or my brother over himself.

How did you not realize it was the Friday after Thanksgiving when he gave you his proposed flight info. The only person who made this into a drama and major inconvenience for your brother was YOU. He did not inconvenience you because he selected his flight for one of the lightest traffic days of the year. You can keep insisting he inconvenienced you but that doesn't make it true!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If my husband refused to take care of our children for one night so that I could welcome my father, the man who gave me life, by picking him up at the airport, he would no longer be my husband. You’ve got much bigger problems than an Uber ride OP. Unbelievable!

Or at least send him to get his FIL. OP and her husband are weird. Given it's a holiday, this should have been no drama.

Friday after Thanksgiving is NOT a federal holiday.

It is a state holiday in MD and, as you well know, huge numbers of people take the day off regardless. There is little to no traffic the Friday after Thanksgiving.

I live and work in MD and i am a fed, and i had to work.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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 a city thing. You don't expect relatives in NYC to pick you up at the airport.

Well, I've mostly lived in cities, so, no. Unless you think the only cities in America are NYC and DC.

Well, many American cities are not all that city-like. I'm sure it's NBD to drive to the airport to get someone in Phoenix or whatever, but in dense cities with crazy traffic where a lot of people don't own cars and cabs/ubers are cheap and plentiful, the expectations are different.

If you're complaining about how much a cab ride costs each way, you shouldn't be living in such an expensive city.

That's just common sense and not a good excuse.

What? I'm saying that cabs in cities like NYC are cheaper. So it makes more sense to just use one, rather than make your host fight hideous traffic to come get you

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s an age boomer thing I don’t get why they have to be picked up and coordinating that mess and parking and getting out of airport when they could literally get their luggage if any hop in Uber hop out. I don’t expect family to wait for me and specifically ask not to be waited on since it’s more effective

I’ve Ubered out of SeaTac and LGA in the last few months. I can see an older person who doesn’t fly often struggling with this.

I like the idea of arranging a taxi service if you can’t pick him up.

You don't need to arrange a taxi service. There will be a taxi stand with a line of cabs waiting at the exit.

It's hilarious to me that people think you have to arrange a taxi from the airport in a major city.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Normally I'd say that refusing to take a 10AM flight due to personal inconvenience and choosing a flight that gets in at 5:30 instead, during rush hour traffic and conflicting with your work schedules, is incredibly rude. But since it's the day after Thanksgiving and traffic should be light, yeah, you should pick him up. I do think it's fine for him to wait an hour or so if you need to handle daycare etc. first. But I assume your DH can do that?

For me this would be an issue bc we have one car and it is required for daycare pickup. Don't know about OP. However, on the day after thanks giving no one will be working, so I would just pick up my kids a little early and then have one spouse to airport duty while the other does dinner/bathtime/bedtime.

Why are your kids going to daycare the day after thanksgiving?

Because I have work?

[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 a city thing. You don't expect relatives in NYC to pick you up at the airport.

Bullshit. My husband is from New York and his parents pick us up and take us to the airport all the way from Connecticut.

Lol...so your husband is from Connecticut, not NYC

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Did OP ever answer why her DH can't pick up the dad while she stays with the kids? Or why she can't pick up her own father when DH stays with the kids? Seems simple enough.

Before my dad bought the flight, we had the discussion about timing and pick up. We did not know it would be the day after thanksgiving and therefore normal traffic and work would not be an issue. (He just said it would be Friday at 5:30pm.) While speaking to him, I found a flight for Tuesday arriving at 10am (that was cheaper). If he chose the 10 am arriving flight, he said he would have to get up at 4am and he didn’t want to do that. I really just couldn’t understand why he couldn’t take that flight and I would be able to pick him up easily.
The call ended at a standstill and 2 days later my sister let me know that his flight was booked and that my brother (who lives an hour away) would be picking him up. So it ended with my brother driving two hours instead of my dad taking a 10-15 minute cab or Uber (that we offered to pay for).

Also, we would have been able to figure out the pick up if we knew it was the Friday after thanksgiving. But now I’m annoyed that he was choosing to inconvenience me or my brother over himself.

How did you not realize it was the Friday after Thanksgiving when he gave you his proposed flight info. The only person who made this into a drama and major inconvenience for your brother was YOU. He did not inconvenience you because he selected his flight for one of the lightest traffic days of the year. You can keep insisting he inconvenienced you but that doesn't make it true!

I can't believe OP thought it was reasonable for her dad to get up at 4am just so she wouldn't have to slightly inconvenience herself to pick him up at an airport only 10-15 min from home!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Did OP ever answer why her DH can't pick up the dad while she stays with the kids? Or why she can't pick up her own father when DH stays with the kids? Seems simple enough.

Before my dad bought the flight, we had the discussion about timing and pick up. We did not know it would be the day after thanksgiving and therefore normal traffic and work would not be an issue. (He just said it would be Friday at 5:30pm.) While speaking to him, I found a flight for Tuesday arriving at 10am (that was cheaper). If he chose the 10 am arriving flight, he said he would have to get up at 4am and he didn’t want to do that. I really just couldn’t understand why he couldn’t take that flight and I would be able to pick him up easily.
The call ended at a standstill and 2 days later my sister let me know that his flight was booked and that my brother (who lives an hour away) would be picking him up. So it ended with my brother driving two hours instead of my dad taking a 10-15 minute cab or Uber (that we offered to pay for).

Also, we would have been able to figure out the pick up if we knew it was the Friday after thanksgiving. But now I’m annoyed that he was choosing to inconvenience me or my brother over himself.

How did you not realize it was the Friday after Thanksgiving when he gave you his proposed flight info. The only person who made this into a drama and major inconvenience for your brother was YOU. He did not inconvenience you because he selected his flight for one of the lightest traffic days of the year. You can keep insisting he inconvenienced you but that doesn't make it true!

I can't believe OP thought it was reasonable for her dad to get up at 4am just so she wouldn't have to slightly inconvenience herself to pick him up at an airport only 10-15 min from home!

This. And has a bizarre relationship with her husband to boot. Plus her poor brother! She really couldn't flex and handle the pickup once she realized it was a low-traffic day?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Did OP ever answer why her DH can't pick up the dad while she stays with the kids? Or why she can't pick up her own father when DH stays with the kids? Seems simple enough.

Before my dad bought the flight, we had the discussion about timing and pick up. We did not know it would be the day after thanksgiving and therefore normal traffic and work would not be an issue. (He just said it would be Friday at 5:30pm.) While speaking to him, I found a flight for Tuesday arriving at 10am (that was cheaper). If he chose the 10 am arriving flight, he said he would have to get up at 4am and he didn’t want to do that. I really just couldn’t understand why he couldn’t take that flight and I would be able to pick him up easily.
The call ended at a standstill and 2 days later my sister let me know that his flight was booked and that my brother (who lives an hour away) would be picking him up. So it ended with my brother driving two hours instead of my dad taking a 10-15 minute cab or Uber (that we offered to pay for).

Also, we would have been able to figure out the pick up if we knew it was the Friday after thanksgiving. But now I’m annoyed that he was choosing to inconvenience me or my brother over himself.

How did you not realize it was the Friday after Thanksgiving when he gave you his proposed flight info. The only person who made this into a drama and major inconvenience for your brother was YOU. He did not inconvenience you because he selected his flight for one of the lightest traffic days of the year. You can keep insisting he inconvenienced you but that doesn't make it true!

I can't believe OP thought it was reasonable for her dad to get up at 4am just so she wouldn't have to slightly inconvenience herself to pick him up at an airport only 10-15 min from home!

Well clearly she thinks it's fine for her parent to be exhausted and/or her brother horribly inconvenienced!

[Anonymous]

My parents (mid-80's) don't Uber. It would be new to them and for them new can mean uncomfortable. We always pick them up from the airport. It seems to mean a lot to them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Did OP ever answer why her DH can't pick up the dad while she stays with the kids? Or why she can't pick up her own father when DH stays with the kids? Seems simple enough.

Before my dad bought the flight, we had the discussion about timing and pick up. We did not know it would be the day after thanksgiving and therefore normal traffic and work would not be an issue. (He just said it would be Friday at 5:30pm.) While speaking to him, I found a flight for Tuesday arriving at 10am (that was cheaper). If he chose the 10 am arriving flight, he said he would have to get up at 4am and he didn’t want to do that. I really just couldn’t understand why he couldn’t take that flight and I would be able to pick him up easily.
The call ended at a standstill and 2 days later my sister let me know that his flight was booked and that my brother (who lives an hour away) would be picking him up. So it ended with my brother driving two hours instead of my dad taking a 10-15 minute cab or Uber (that we offered to pay for).

Also, we would have been able to figure out the pick up if we knew it was the Friday after thanksgiving. But now I’m annoyed that he was choosing to inconvenience me or my brother over himself.

How did you not realize it was the Friday after Thanksgiving when he gave you his proposed flight info. The only person who made this into a drama and major inconvenience for your brother was YOU. He did not inconvenience you because he selected his flight for one of the lightest traffic days of the year. You can keep insisting he inconvenienced you but that doesn't make it true!

I can't believe OP thought it was reasonable for her dad to get up at 4am just so she wouldn't have to slightly inconvenience herself to pick him up at an airport only 10-15 min from home!

This. And has a bizarre relationship with her husband to boot. Plus her poor brother! She really couldn't flex and handle the pickup once she realized it was a low-traffic day?

Also, I missed initially that the alternate flight she was proposed was on a Tuesday, LOL. She expected him to move his trip by 3-4 days (can't tell if it was the Tuesday before or after).

[Anonymous]

My parents have heard too many bad stories about Uber, and wouldn't feel comfortable using the service. They're old, I get it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My parents have heard too many bad stories about Uber, and wouldn't feel comfortable using the service. They're old, I get it.

Say it with me: T A X I

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My parents have heard too many bad stories about Uber, and wouldn't feel comfortable using the service. They're old, I get it.

Say it with me: T A X I

Depends which airport. Sometimes the wait for a taxi is an hour in the cold. I'm not going to put them through that to save myself a short drive!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My parents have heard too many bad stories about Uber, and wouldn't feel comfortable using the service. They're old, I get it.

Say it with me: T A X I

Depends which airport. Sometimes the wait for a taxi is an hour in the cold. I'm not going to put them through that to save myself a short drive!

I pick up my parents too, and guests whenever I can, because it's polite and I'm happy to do it. But the idea in this thread that people over 60 can't navigate transportation from an airport bc they are "old" is silly. It's probably good for them to have to figure things out once in a while! Otherwise mentally competent people shouldn't need their adult children to micromanage every minor logistical challenge