I live in SW London and booked a cab for my sister and family to be taken to Stansted airport yesterday.
To my utter shock, they were taken through south London, then into Docklands and then up north to the airport. It took them 2 hours 15 minutes. Most of the time sitting in traffic in South London. (After 1 hour they were still at Southwark).
We always take the M25 and then M11 and it takes us 1.5 hours.
I assumed they would take that route so I didn’t ask and booked the time so that they would arrive with plenty of time for them to check in and have a browse around the shops.
they arrived with 15 minutes left before check in closed and didn’t stop until they reached the gate.
I was feeling sick to my stomach and thought they were going to miss the plane and kicked myself for not checking with the driver.
Do you guys ask for a specific route when booking?
just to clarify, this was at noon so he wouldn’t be avoiding morning or evening traffic on the M25.