Posted on 12/29/2010 10:34:34 AM PST by inflorida
It started out as a dream vacation to Disney World in Florida, but the return trip home for one New York family turned out to be a 13-hour, $900 cab ride.
Emilian Emeagwali and her five children spent nearly a week at the Orlando theme park when their flight to New York's Kennedy International Airport was canceled Sunday due to the massive snowstorm that slammed into the Northeast this past weekend.
"We arrived at Delta around 12:30 but they told us they canceled all the flights and the next available flight for us would be on Wednesday," Emeagwali told ABC News in a phone interview. "So I decided to book a flight with JetBlue to take us to Buffalo, and from there we took a cab."
The family took the cab to the local Greyhound station.
When they arrived there, they found out there were no buses in service.
At that point, Emeagwali asked the cab driver to take the family to a hotel, according to The New York Times.
That's when driver Eddy Emran said he would get them home if "they were willing to pay," the Times reported.
"What the airport taxi charges to take people to New York is $1,100. I asked him, Can he give me a discount and if it is possible for him to drive me to New York," said Emeagwali. "He sympathized with me, so he decided to waive $200 so he charged me $900.
(Excerpt) Read more at abcnews.go.com ...
Well, Eddy’s a mensch.
$900.00 seems like a decent price.
I took a cab from Leesville, Louisiana to Houston Texas, about 170 miles, and I thought that was expensive.
$1,100 to get there, but he knocks 200 off?
Did the cabbie not realize that he had to drive back with no hopes of collecting fares on the way?
The Disney tickets still cost more than the taxi ride.
For $900 they could have spent the extra days enjoying sunny Florida until their flight on Wednesday.
New York is shut down. Why didn’t he spend the money on another couple of days at Disney World?
I’m sure SOMEONE in NY would have been willing to pay a few hundred to get the hell out. :-)
I don’t get it. Are we supposed to feel bad for these idiots?
Oh, I don't know. I'm sure there were folks in NYC looking to get to FL, with no planes, trains or buses to be had.
Does seem silly, though, that she didn't even consider renting a car, unless she just didn't have the paperwork or credit required. But if she and her kids had just spent a week at Disney, you'd think she would have had those.
I didn’t get that reaction when I read the story. In fact, I thought it was cheaper overall for the family. What if someone had to report to work immediately? We don’t know what the reason was for getting home. Maybe someone died or was sick. I thought it was a nice story overall. We are so critical now a days on everything.
Don’t be concerned. I suspect that somewhere along the line the taxpayer will foot the $900 dollar expense.
$900 / 6 = $150.
Not an awful price. Any per-person method of transportation would be pretty steep.
Would think a rental car would have been a good deal cheaper, if available.
Avis is sold out at Buffalo Airport.
The family got the cab in Buffalo. The cabbie had to drive back to Buffalo after dropping them in NYC.
Still think he found a fare for the trip home?
We did stop once for a R-12 freon charge. (Done at a service garage on the way. No paper work or whining liberals involved.)
“If she lives in Manhattan there is a decent possibility that she does not have a driver’s license.”
I can’t help but be amused when city folk come out to the country to find that there are no buses, cabs, or sidewalks.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.