New York, NY – Stranded by the massive winter storm that battered the East Coast this week, a New York mother of five paid $900 for a cab to drive her family home through heavy snow and high winds, ABC News reported Wednesday.
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Emilian Emeagwali’s family had enjoyed a week-long vacation at Disney World when they learned their flight to New York City’s John F. Kennedy International Airport was canceled because of the storm, she told ABC.
Rather than wait out the backlog of canceled flights, Emeagwali decided to book another flight to Buffalo, N.Y., the report said.
Upon arriving in Buffalo, the family took a cab to the local Greyhound Bus station where they learned no buses were running.
After asking the cab driver, Eddy Emran, to take them to a hotel, he offered to drive them home for the price of $1,100, The New York Times reported.
Emeagwali negotiated the price down to $900 and the group set off on a 13-hour slog toward their home in Elmwood, N.Y., a suburb of New York City.
The ride from upstate New York was fraught with heavy snows and low visibility, Emeagwali told ABC. To pass the time, the group opted not to listen to news reports about the storm but instead talked about their families, the report said.
After leaving Disney World at 9:00am ET Sunday, the family arrived home at 10:00am ET Monday.
Grateful to Erman for getting her family home safely, Emeagwali gifted the driver a bottle of wine and told him he was welcome in her home anytime.
The cab driver shortchanged himself.
They could have rented an SUV for much less.
They should have stayed at Disney longer or maybe they were sick of hearing “it’s a small world” over and over again.
Someone’s math is incorrect. The article says the trip took 13 hours. Later on it says they left Sunday at 9:00 am and arrived Monday at10:00 am. That’s 25 hours which I believe is the correct driving time. What do you expect from the N.Y.Post?
i hope its tax deductible… …
I did not read the article carefully. The 13 hours was from Buffalo not Orlando. Sorry
i would not drive in that storm for 900 bux
I pity the driver
From my experience driving upstate during the winter that was a fair price, but they could have taken the Amtrak train to Buffalo for a lot less.
I know someone who paid $400 for a cab from Boro Park to Monsey on Monday to attend his sisters wedding, his car was stuck in the snow on a BP street
sorry buffalo to nyc is an 8-9 hour trip i did it several weeks ago
People seem to forget that on 9/11/01, there were pedestrians who needed to get home. There was a report of a taxi driver charging some people $200.00 from Manhattan, over the George Washington Bridge, to Newark Airport, where they were able to rent a car, to drive home to Ohio.
To #16
I thank you for your post. It showed a great deal of sensitivity. You must be a special person. I think we both learned something.
In the ’80’s there was a pilot strike(Bob Hawke government vs pilots)and all Australian domestic flights were cancelled. There were some business people needing to get to Perth from Melbourne(about the same distance as London-Tel Aviv). They paid thousands for taxis to drive them there. While they were crossing the Nullabor plain desert, they looked up and saw the planes flying, as the strike had ended…
To #21 - Aussie- I’m familiar with Perth, Australia; when our astronaut John Glenn orbited the earth on Feb. 20, 1962, the people of Perth had their lights turned on all night, so John Glenn could see the city, as he orbited overhead. Later, he thanked the people of Perth for their kindness. Regarding the comparative distances between Melbourne and Perth and London and Tel Aviv, please note that the driving distance between Melbourne and Perth is about 1690 miles. The air distance (as the crow flies) between London and Tel Aviv is about 2220 miles.
It was a long time ago. Maybe it was Sydney to Perth which is only about 150 miles difference..