You’d think that a chauffeur service that promises to “upgrade your travels” and that offers “effortless travel at your fingertips” would do a little better than this. To Blacklane’s credit, I’m impressed by the service recovery, but only after I reached out.
In this post:
Despite outrageous pricing, Blacklane fails at basics
Ford and I have been in Europe with our older son Miles for a fun trip, and it’s now coming to an end. While we traveled with a car seat, it somehow disappeared during our second to last hotel stay of the trip. We really don’t know what happened — we had a massive amount of luggage (it’s hard to travel light when you’re going to a ski destination and are traveling with a kid), and at some point we realized we just no longer had it, and the hotels we stayed at also claimed they didn’t have it.
Anyway, we had an early morning flight out of Geneva Airport, and were staying in the city for the last night of our trip. At that hour public transportation wasn’t practical, so I knew we needed to figure out some sort of other way to get to the airport.
I decided to book with Blacklane, a known global chauffeur service. Blacklane’s prices have ballooned in recent years — for the short 15-minute drive, the cost was 166 EUR (190 USD). While Switzerland is expensive, that’s next-level. However.
- With the Citi Strata Elite, I receive a $100 Blacklane credit every six months, so that lowered the cost to $90 out of pocket
- A taxi might will run you a minimum of $50 for such a ride, so we’d be paying at most an extra $40 for the piece of mind of knowing we’d have a driver arrive on-time, with a car seat, nice car, etc.
Blacklane’s system for requesting a car seat strikes me as being bizarre. You’d think there would be a specific box you check, a specific confirmation process, or something. Instead, this is what Blacklane says the process is:
Do you provide car seats in pre-booked rides?
Yes, Blacklane provides car seats in pre-booked services only. If you are traveling with small children or an infant and require a child seat or booster, please add your request to the “Notes to the chauffeur” field, including the age and weight of the child. The chauffeur will provide the appropriate car seat at no extra charge.
So I did exactly what I was supposed to do, and filled out that field. This is a global company that I imagine transports thousands of people per day, and I figured that if that’s how they describe their process, then that will work. Want to guess what happened? The driver showed up without a car seat, and seemingly had no clue that the request had been made.
He was very nice and apologetic, and we weren’t mad at him, but of course that wasn’t going to work. Oddly, the trip was marked as “completed” rather than “canceled,” so I was still charged the full amount, despite the failure on Blacklane’s end. I truly think that might have been an honest mistake on his end, but the process just shouldn’t work that way, because it adds even more friction to a bad experience.
Fortunately we managed to get an Uber with a car seat within minutes, and paid a fraction of what we would’ve otherwise paid.
To Blacklane’s credit, the service recovery was good
I try to be balanced in my coverage, so I forwarded my confirmation to Blacklane’s email address, and wrote a few sentences about what happened. I received the following response within an hour, which exceeded my expectations (I’m so used to just getting AI slop customer service responses nowadays):
Thank you for taking the time to reach out and share what happened. We completely understand how essential a baby car seat is when traveling with your little one, and we truly appreciate that you clearly noted this in your special request.
I’m genuinely sorry that we fell short of your expectations and that this situation caused inconvenience during a moment when you should have been able to travel comfortably and confidently. You deserved better from us, and we sincerely regret that this was your experience.
After carefully reviewing the details on our end, you are absolutely right — the ride should have been marked as canceled. Unfortunately, it was mistakenly tagged as finished, which caused our system to register an incorrect charge. Please rest assured that we are escalating this internally so the appropriate corrective actions can be taken.
You will not be charged for this ride. Additionally, as a gesture of our sincere apology, we would like to offer you a 50% promo code. Please let me know if this would be acceptable for you.
For future reference, if you ever need to cancel a ride or encounter any issues, please don’t hesitate to reach out to us directly. We’re always here to help and want to ensure your experience is smooth every time.
So kudos to Blacklane for the service recovery, as that’s one of the fastest and best responses I’ve received from a big, faceless company, in a long time.
Blacklane needs a better system for car seats
Of course humans make mistakes, so I’m not angry at the individual driver for forgetting the car seat, or anything. What really stands out to me about this is how strange and seemingly careless Blacklane’s process is for requesting car seats.
Kids under a certain age need car seats, and that’s a huge percentage of the population. If a chauffeur service claims that the process for requesting a car seat is to simply put it in the notes and that it will be taken care of, then I trust that will be the case. However, it sure seems like simply telling someone to put that in the notes isn’t sufficient, and that there should be a better process.
Also keep in mind that Blacklane doesn’t give you the driver’s contact details until an hour before the ride, so it’s not like you can even message them a day before to remind them and confirm that (not that this should be necessary).
I guess I shouldn’t be surprised. While Blacklane labels itself as a high end chauffeur service, and while it’s priced in a way where you expect a very high quality experience, I do hear a lot of complaints about ride experiences. It’s par for the course to see a tech company (which is ultimately what Blacklane is) charge insane rates while contracting out the service, and not living up to what it promises.
For what it’s worth, Ford and his team have arranged a countless number of car services with car seats through hotels for clients over the years, and he can’t remember a single time that the car seat was forgotten. So you’d expect a company that specializes in chauffeur service would be able to reliably get that right as well.
Bottom line
You’d think that a high priced global chauffeur service could at least be reliable with offering car seats for kids when the correct process is followed, but unfortunately exactly the opposite happened. The whole reason we booked Blacklane was because we needed a car seat (since we lost ours during the trip), only to then learn the driver didn’t have the car seat.
Even worse, the ride was marked as completed rather than canceled, so we were even charged. At least Blacklane’s service recovery was good, and within an hour I received a promise of a refund, plus an offer for 50% off a future ride.
So let this serve as a warning — despite Blacklane’s high pricing and promises, don’t count on car seat requests being honored.
To be fair that service recovery message ALSO has signs of being AI-generated slop but at least it was positive
Can't recommend this product enough for traveling with kids.
https://shop.saferide4kids.com/products/ridesafer-travel-vest
It's a game changer not having to haul around a giant car seat or have to deal with car services and whether they'll have a car seat (let alone a safe car seat that doesn't look like it's been through a few crash tests already).
What I've learned with Blacklane is that no one looks at the comments until after a car is dispatched. So if you ask for something that they can't do, no one will tell you until the car is dispatched. And drivers don't look at the comments until they are at the airport if at all. It's definitely a hit or miss process. I do like them in London because cabs to heathrow are so expensive...
What I've learned with Blacklane is that no one looks at the comments until after a car is dispatched. So if you ask for something that they can't do, no one will tell you until the car is dispatched. And drivers don't look at the comments until they are at the airport if at all. It's definitely a hit or miss process. I do like them in London because cabs to heathrow are so expensive that a blacklane is the same price. But that's rare. Usually they are more expensive. They are great when I want something where I can count on a good, professional driver but often Uber black will do the same. Meanwhile in London 75% of the time the cars now reek of cigarette smoke. Grr..
I’ve used blacklane twice now and it’s been okay. The first one was good enough, but not worth the big markup. The second one… not so much. We specifically used blacklane SUV because we were traveling with a bike in a big cardboard box. Usually they’re waiting with your name and a trolley. This guy didn’t have his sign out and we had to wander around and call him twice and he had no cart....
I’ve used blacklane twice now and it’s been okay. The first one was good enough, but not worth the big markup. The second one… not so much. We specifically used blacklane SUV because we were traveling with a bike in a big cardboard box. Usually they’re waiting with your name and a trolley. This guy didn’t have his sign out and we had to wander around and call him twice and he had no cart. He then said “do you want me to wait while you get a cart or are you going to carry it?” I was frustrated and didn’t want to pay for a cart on principle, I was tired and just said I’d carry it. He then starts walking around so fast and crossed LAX traffic not on a cross walk and I’m hobbling after him, struggling to carry the bike and move that fast and cars are honking. And then the driving wasn’t the best he’d speed up super fast and take hard turns, he took the wrong exit 3 times and also passed really stinky gas at one point. I emailed blacklane and they apologized but nothing else. Not as bad as forgetting a car seat, but I only paid the extra because of the Citi credit and it was still more expensive.
Farts were intended as a 'welcome amenity'.... Unfortunately, you didn't appreciate them !
... lol.. I'd request some sort of compensation solely for experiencing that episode !
Blacklane just contracts rides out to local black car chauffeurs who aren’t blacklane employees and are either self employed or part of local private company. A car seat is 100% guaranteed to be forgotten unless someone calls the driver the night before and have them load it through. There is literally no automated process that will remind the driver they need a car seat, and people including drivers won’t read additional details. Uber with car...
Blacklane just contracts rides out to local black car chauffeurs who aren’t blacklane employees and are either self employed or part of local private company. A car seat is 100% guaranteed to be forgotten unless someone calls the driver the night before and have them load it through. There is literally no automated process that will remind the driver they need a car seat, and people including drivers won’t read additional details. Uber with car seat works better because the car seat is already available on the car.
Pre arranged rides, you must personally confirm with the driver for things like this.
Well, so much for a 'high tech' company ... I'm sure AI will improve the customer interface
And now they're going to get even worse, as they were acquired by Uber.
just wanted to come here and say how much I appreciate the evolution of this blog. I love seeing Ben writing about traveling with little kids and also problems with car seats in rideshares! :)
Why would you pay $190 for an airport transfer?
Especially in Geneva. You can walk from downtown to the airport in under an hour and trains run 24/7.
As he wrote, he had a small child and lots of luggage and this was early morning. Would you walk or take a train in that situation?
No. I'd take bus 10. The airport is small and close. Of course, I'm the bum who books the room in the Ibis and walks with full baggage train to the airport in the morning—no point in waiting for the shuttle. If you got a bunch of bags, take two trips.
But hey, if you've got money to burn, why not try to make the ride work? In that case, though, the fancy hotels...
No. I'd take bus 10. The airport is small and close. Of course, I'm the bum who books the room in the Ibis and walks with full baggage train to the airport in the morning—no point in waiting for the shuttle. If you got a bunch of bags, take two trips.
But hey, if you've got money to burn, why not try to make the ride work? In that case, though, the fancy hotels have a concierge for a reason. I guess what I'm arguing is that, for this application, blacklane doesn't make sense. It's supposed to be the upgrade option. For this application, it's spending two large to go slumming.
When my kids were little we always traveled with our car seats. This not only ensures a car seat is available but the safety standards meet our expectations. And we traveled with carry on luggage only to boot. Many trips zero problems.
Imagine if you read Ben's post. Ben did travel with the car seat.
Imagine being so pompous, yet so illiterate as you, Greg.
I address this response to the “St*pid Monopoly and a report of inappropriate behaviour to Ben, if you please.
Quite obviously this Monopoly login has been made up by some creature for the express purpose of posting a derogatory comment about Greg. What coward has to make up a pathetic login just so that they can troll another commenter? Clueless, pathetic.
Ben, people are noting your inactions don’t you know?
MEEEEEEOOOOWW !
I've had this happen with Blacklane before as well as some other car services. VERY frustrating. The drivers often try to make it seem like not a big deal to have the wrong type of seat or not one at all.
https://investor.uber.com/news-events/news/press-release-details/2026/Uber-to-Acquire-Global-Chauffeur-Service-Leader-Blacklane/default.aspx
You really shouldn’t trust a rideshare service to provide a car seat. You don’t know the condition, type of the car seat at all.
Please for safety reasons for your family, please arrange your own seat in the future.
Thanks for the review, Ben. Between Citi Strata Elite and Bilt Cash credits for Blacklane, I'm considering using it throughout my family's France trip this June. But we would be requesting a carseat each time, so I'll reconsider...
With the Citi credit, I’d considered giving these guys a shot. But I’d be going with kids, so this is remarkably valuable knowledge to me. I’d perhaps foolishly assumed that Blacklane was a company that actually owned vehicles and employed drivers rather than yet another tech middleman solution, but now knowing it’s the latter, there’s no justification in my mind to the eye-watering price premium. Not exactly sure how “uber but more expensive and equally...
With the Citi credit, I’d considered giving these guys a shot. But I’d be going with kids, so this is remarkably valuable knowledge to me. I’d perhaps foolishly assumed that Blacklane was a company that actually owned vehicles and employed drivers rather than yet another tech middleman solution, but now knowing it’s the latter, there’s no justification in my mind to the eye-watering price premium. Not exactly sure how “uber but more expensive and equally crappy” is a viable business strategy, so good luck to them!
Oh but the Citi Strata Elite card is sooooo amazing! Get it now, get it often. It pays for itself 5 times over. Get it while you can! You and Gary….
Only use Blacklane when Emirates uses them for the chauffer service for J/F, or to burn the $100 credit on the Citi Strata Elite; otherwise, no thank you, way too expensive; would rather bounce between Uber/Lyft, depending on whichever isn't manipulating data to price-gauge me (should be illegal). For JFK-Manhattan, if one must rideshare, often can't beat the yellow NYC taxi $70 flat rate. Personally, I prefer $3 bus/subway via Lefferts, if it's just me.
In the NYC and LAX, Empire CLS sets *the* standard for a professional limo service. I have used them many times. The service is impeccable. They are not inexpensive. I have used Blacklane recently . . . just to see. To me, while the drivers are polite, little cues tell me that they're not the same caliber as Empire CLS drivers. Given this, my expectations are set. I'll use Blacklane when I need a little bit more than a Lyft/Uber ride but not a full-on limo service.
Blacklane is generally fine but I'd put them pretty far down the pecking order of "luxury" transportation companies. I work with a lot of them and rates across the board have hugely surged over the past few years, unfortunately. Always have to reconfirm things like a child seat directly with their team.
$190 for a 15 min ride to the airport. Consider for a moment the absurdity of this charge plus the dishonesty of the driver who indicated the ride was “completed”. I wonder if he asked for a tip too. The 50% off coupon is insulting. Ben could have lost his flight plus all the stress of having to find alternate transportation last minute.
No one asks for tips in Europe. Some American customers give tips, but noone expects that.
"No one asks for tips in Europe."
Clearly you've not been to Berlin lately.
Tips are common in the UK. It’s usually rounding up, saying “keep the change” or maybe 10% though. Not an across the board 20%.
The UK is part of Europe despite Brexit.
Yeah. bui they're shrewd enough to only request tips from the 'gringos', being culturally respectful !! ... lol
*** but ***
Oh, don't worry they gave me one of those once... it didn't work.
Very early am flights I just pay the premium and have the hotel arrange a private car service. This way there is someone at the desk if there is an issue or the car doesn't show up. Usually it isn't any more expensive then a blacklane although I get you have the credit.
Was there a number to call to reach a live human at that moment? Comments below suggests not. So their response of telling you to contact them directly if you encounter any issues seems off.
You'll encounter more of these problems as you travel with family more. Like try booking connecting hotel rooms. Its the same thing. Hilton is the only one so far that makes it easy.
From age ~4, Trunki BoostAPak. Small and light backpack, booster or footstool in airplanes and carseat in cars. Perfect travel solution until they hit ~8-10.
Ours is as worse in Spain. Not Blacklane, but FreeNow. We specifically ordered and paid for a car with a car seat, which the drivers carry in their trunk. When he arrived we saw the car seat wasn’t set up so we asked him to do that. He said “well it’s only a few blocks” and stupid me I didn’t push back. After we rode I requested a credit for the difference and we received. Like talk about next level lazy.
Seems like an honest mistake for which they apologised, refunded the incorrect charge, promised to investigate what went wrong and even offered you compensation for the inconvenience. I would have expected a title that was more positive, praising them for their impressive service recovery. Instead you went with the clickbait-y “Blacklane Fail”.
@ Frog -- I'm sorry, but when I paid $190 for a 15-minute drive and they forget a car seat and still charged me, my post should be titled in a way that praises the company? You're of course entitled to your opinion, but that doesn't reflect how I feel, and I think the way I praised the company in one section was appropriate.
why would you praise them for having a failure of a system and causing inconvenience. some ppl just want to complain about everything thats posted now
Refunding the money promptly when they fail to deliver the promised service is the bare minimum, not particularly praiseworthy.
And their failure to deliver could have left Ben in a very difficult position, had an Uber not been available.
I have booked 2 Blacklanes in Europe in April and was able to denote with a checkbox that I needed a car seat or booster seat. Mind you, these are scheduled trips rather than immediate pickup.
Glad they resolved your issue, our company has used Addison Lee, Tristar, Blacklane and currently HQ Summit but to be honest I just use Uber pre book which has never failed, I just have no faith in 3rd party intermediaries which shouldn’t be the case.
I wonder how this will work with more driverless vehicles hitting the rideshare/chauffeur market.
Try traveling with twins and needing TWO card seats! ;) In the US I recommend https://www.kidcar.com. A while back, they were awesome on a trip NYP-Brooklyn and Brooklyn-JFK. Highly recommend you do a post with recs for travelling internationally with kids. For ex, AF bulkhead bassinets in J are AMAZING. Where to rent kids toys and cribs (plenty of good services in the US). Tips and tricks for getting seats together as a family on a plane. Etc.
For those of you wondering, www.kidcar.com has astronomical prices (Manhattan to EWR for $300?!) and app from the 90s (no wonder it has a whopping 2.2 average score in the Apple Store).
They were great a couple years ago. Seems they've changed. But there are many companies that are specifically oriented towards families needing car seats, high chairs etc.
Could not agree more - at my company we use both Sixt Ride and Blacklane.
Sixt ride provides way better service, albeit is sometimes a bit more expensive.
We stopped using Blacklane due to their constant service failures. This includes late drivers (claiming to be there, even when they are not), a service center that is only reachable via chat, or substandard cars.
It's not a 'global chauffeur service', it's an intermediary that coordinates contractors.
As it looks like you were staying in the city, you could've just walked up to a taxi rank the previous evening and gotten everything arranged with a driver. Making special requests through a third party that's based on a different continent wasn't just superfluous in the circumstances, it actually introduced risks into the process- as you duly discovered!
@ Throwawayname -- I believe Blacklane is based in Germany? Regarding the rest of the premise, I wouldn't have much confidence in making a deal with a random taxi driver to pick me up in the wee hours of the morning. Ultimately Uber came through, though.
You're right, they are based in Berlin! I always thought of them as an American company.
Why wouldn't you have confidence in making an arrangement with a taxi driver, especially in Switzerland which is one of the highest-trust societies out there?
@ Throwawayname -- Maybe I'm off base, but my assumption was that *any* company in the business of transporting people would be able to get basic requests right when they promise them. We've booked a countless number of rides with our kids over time, and have never had an issue until now.
I don't think it's unreasonable to expect a company to follow through on those basic requests, and that's why I'm calling out...
@ Throwawayname -- Maybe I'm off base, but my assumption was that *any* company in the business of transporting people would be able to get basic requests right when they promise them. We've booked a countless number of rides with our kids over time, and have never had an issue until now.
I don't think it's unreasonable to expect a company to follow through on those basic requests, and that's why I'm calling out Blacklane. For example, if I book a hotel transfer and they screw it up, my takeaway wouldn't be "well I should've walked across the street to a taxi stand and coordinated a ride 12 hours in advance," because, well, that's something that wouldn't logically cross my mind (though I get that we're all different).
One of the reasons that rideshare companies like Uber and Lyft have become so popular is because of the issues people had with taxis before. I can't count the number of times globally that I've had bad experiences with taxis.
So sure, from a "hindsight is 20/20 perspective," you're not wrong. But in a similar light, from the same perspective, all of that was unnecessary, because an Uber with a car seat ended up being available in the early morning hours.
Problems with taxis tend to arise when there's a monopoly (e.g. at an airport) or an information imbalance (e.g. around pricing in places meters aren't used). Problems with pre-booked taxis are extremely rare, especially nowadays that you can communicate in real-time with the driver through WhatsApp etc.
Ben - presumably you were staying at a hotel in Geneva, and probably one with decent service. Can't they arrange you a taxi ride to the airport?