Travel Secrets: Grab Airport Food Quick

While I don’t travel that often for work, I still travel a good amount. I scaled back and I’ve only flown to or have air travel booked to Belize, Ireland, Colorado, Florida, New Hampshire, and Canada for 2016 between business and pleasure. Here’s the first of an occasional series of tips and tricks I’ve picked up.

I use Grab when grabbing a quick bite in the airport. The Grab Airport Mobile Ordering app is straight forward—order from eateries in the airport via your phone, get notified when your food is ready, then pick up. An app version of the ole “pick up order” in a market that hasn’t seen improvement in awhile.

Even in airports that they do not offer mobile ordering or particular places within an airport that doesn’t support it, their app still lists the various places and what gate. I travel a fair amount and typically not to a place more than once, so trying to figure out what’s available at an airport is a pain.

Austin was one of the first two airports with mobile ordering options, so I gave it a spin. Again, pretty straight forward. The only hiccup I’ve had is working with restaurant partners to be a bit more clear that a single order equals two tacos at the particular place I ate at.

Order on the phone, confirm it, get a notification of the ready-by time, get a notification that the order is ready for pickup. Additionally, there is an option to order ahead of time and “hold” the order until you’re at the airport and confirm it.

Personally, since I’m Global Entry/TSA Pre-Check and know my security time will be short, I order right before heading into security, then head straight to the restaurant to pick up my food. Once, I had to wait a minute or two for the food to be ready, but otherwise, it’s a straight shot so I can spend more time working, reading, strolling through the airport and less time standing in a line hungry.

Use my invite code, AA6B98D6, when signing up, and we’ll both get some credit.