Sevilla Travel Forum

We traveled all over Sevilla with great taxi drivers. Most costs were 5-10 euros. When we left for the airport on January 7, the driver wanted to charge us 20 euros each!! she said 40 euros. Well we thought it may be a scam. She then took off from the airport pulled over and tried to grab our purses and told us to get out. We refused and she drove back to the airport and got security which we were happy about. They only said we had to pay it and took our passports as well. My sister tried to go in to the airport to try an ATM but she didn't have her pin number. Meanwhile, the taxi driver tried to pull me out of the car by leg and arm. We scrounged up around 37 euros with change and all. We got our passports back and they all acted like we were criminals. We were actually very upset and traumatized. Anyone who can explain what happened to us...we will be eternally grateful.

At the risk of belaboring the obvious, and with respect, what happened is that you did not fix the price of your taxi to the airport before accepting the ride. When you fail to do that you leave yourself open to all sorts of unethical behavior from the drivers. It's a difficult pill to swallow, but that's the way it is if the taxi isn't metered or if the meter isn't engaged. ALWAYS set the price before getting in a taxi.

i agree entirely with mr love. anywhere in the world where taxis are non-metered, it is important to fix the price beforehand. it is helpful to know the price as well of where you are going.

NO, taxi tariffs are made by the govern, so you can't arrange any price. I mean if you go to some countries, like for example russia, morocco and others, you can arrange the prices to go to some place but in Spain this is not possible. The taxi have a taximeter which says the price and tariff. The taxi driver can't touch it, I mean it is impossible, and it is very very controlated.

If you take a taxi to travel inside the city, or to do a short distance, it is normal that the cost is not very high like 5-10 euros. But always when you want to go to the airport the tariff increases because of: the distance, the luggage, and the airport suplement, so maybe 40 euros if the taximeter said so is normal.

I live in Barcelona and from my home to the airport costs 25 euros more or less and because i don't live very far from the airport, if i would live in an other part of my city farther away from it it would cost me probably almost 40 euros.

So if you can explain me more what exactly happened. Because when u enter into a taxi u have to pay the price the taximeter say and it is never rigged, because it is really controled and the taxi drivers can't open it and do anything.

And in Spain all taxis are metered and the law with them is very strict.Maybe is that u thought that the travel till the airport will cost you the same like if u were in the city when u take a taxi to go to the hotel because u are tired or to go to visit some monument instead of taking the metro or the bus, so u would have to think that the airport is much more far away. The taximeters fix the prices by the meters u do, so more meters more money.The same if you take a taxi at night it would cost you more than during the day or the same if you take a taxi during the weekends nights it will cost you more than during the workdays night. And Spain is not a cheap country so the prices are hight. And they acted in that way maybe because you didn't want to pay thinking that it was a fraud so they think you were trying to avoid paying the taxi, because it is not normal that a person argue about the price and refuse to pay the money that the taximeter say because is like if you go to a restaurant and u don't want to pay because you think that it is too much expensive.

What's not clear from your post is whether the price of 40 euros was shown on the meter or whether the driver just quoted it verbally. That information might help people to explain what happened. The Seville Airport website says that a taxi should cost between 15 and 22 euro depending on the time of day.

The poster gave no idea of where the Taxi picked them up or how far away it was from the airport. Taxi fares of between 5 and 10 euros strike me as being for possibly quite short distances.

I'm sorry to hear you had this upsetting end to your trip to Sevilla (I hope you have better memories from your stay there!!).

While in Spain most taxi trips are metered with the taximeter, the fare from/to the Airport of Sevilla is an exception (there are other similar cases, in other cities).

Here you'll find the current fares (page 2 in English)
http://www.womex.com/realwomex/pdf/taxi_fares.pdf

RATE 3 Airport (Arrivals and Departures)
• Same cases of the Rate 1... 19,04 €
• Same cases of the Rate 2... 21,24 €
In the services requested by phone, it`s necessary to add the amount marked in the taximeter till the collection of the passenger. Always the shorted route but choosen by the taxidriver.

Note this prices are per trip, NOT per person. Maybe the taxi driver really scammed you, asking for the actual fare to the airport, but multiplied for 2 people? (in this case, the "security agents" where part of the scam??? There even were real security agents?????) But maybe not, if your departure point was somewhere further to the airport, or that you asked the taxi to go to collect you so it was right to add what the taximeter showed (only to the collection point!), or if there were other reasons we don't know.

The only problem I ever had with taxis in Sevilla when arriving to the airport the driver asked me the festive fare on a weekday (silly for his part, I was to give him a tip higher that what he was trying to get "extra" for me!!.... and obviously after that he did not get any tip)

If any of you reading this ever do not agree with a taxi fare in Spain, you have to ask for a detailed official receipt. They are obliged to give these to any customer asking for it. I'm asking these all the time to claim my business travel expenses, and usually they put only the total amount. But if you disagree, you have the right of asking for a detailed receipt (i.e. taximeter 11.54, luggage 0.82, train station supplement 1.00 etc... total XXX) so you'll know exactly for what are you paying, and you can use this to complain. Without this info, it's difficult to say for sure it was a scam, or a misunderstanding.

The original poster has not visited Virtual tourist before (or so it seems) and it a 'first posting'. Not that this is odd or anything, but could it mean that it was this persons first trip abroad and does not know about these sort of things?

I have used taxis in Seville a number of times and know beforehand what sort of fare is going to be charged by asking other travellers or by asking at the tourist office. As Belsaita says, there is a TARIFF fixed by the Seville city hall regulating the fares outside and inside the city limits. It is a requirement that taxi drivers keep a copy of this tariff so passengers can check. I remember getting a taxi once from Santa Justa rail station to the airport and being told how much it would cost (a little over 20 Euros from memory) and saying it was too much, and then the taxi driver got out the Tariff sheet and showed me that on Sunday afternoons the fare was indeed a bit more !
It appears that you took a taxi operated by a very unfortunate soul who should have been reported for this type of behaviour if the taxi was running at normal hours from central Seville with no undue waiting etc and no other factors that would influence the cost.

Took taxi from bus station to hotel, driver charged meter amount. Took taxi in Malaga from city to airport, driver charged 3 EUR extra, but informed us before we drove off.