As any regular traveler well knows, eating in an airport isn’t always the greatest dining experience. Long lines, lack of seating, lack of time in the airport itself…all these things can make trying to grab a bite while traveling kind of a pain.
Luckily, a new app called Grab is looking to change all of that. The Grab app provides locations, menus, and online ordering for airport-based restaurants at 20 U.S. airports, making it much easier to get some food while you’re on the go.
I decided to give it a try during my recent Austin – Charleston trip. Knowing that we were flying out in the morning, a notoriously busy time of day to fly, I knew the AUS airport restaurants were likely to be pretty swamped. But I had downloaded the app and created my account in advance, and so I was ready to go.
While on the shuttle from our airport parking spot, I perused the app and was able to look at the available restaurants and their menus. As it was still early, I settled on Maudie’s Tex Mex, and added a couple breakfast tacos to my cart, then checked out. Grab virtually sent my order over to the restaurant, and I crossed my fingers for a good result.
A few minutes later, just as I was clearing airport security, I got a text: my order was now ready for pickup! I headed over to Maudie’s, bypassed the 10-person-deep line of folks waiting to order, and told the cashier I had an online order. And voila! He handed me a bag with my tacos and a receipt with no wait at all.
My food was hot and fresh, and I had completely bypassed the need to wait in the long order line. It worked perfectly!
Needless to say, I’ll definitely be adding Grab to my arsenal of travel tools. This is a perfect service for times when you have a quick layover in particular, or anytime you’re traveling in which the restaurants are likely to be busy. I can also see the service being of good value to people with food allergies or sensitivities; with each item, I was able to remove any ingredients I didn’t want included with my dish, or add special preparation requests.
All in all, I was a fan of the app, and can definitely see myself using it again in the future!
What apps and travel tools make your travel arsenal? Tell me in the comments!
