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How to avoid taxi scams at Stockholm’s Arlanda Airport

Taxi prices in Sweden are not regulated, so the cost of your journey can vary wildly depending on the company you travel with. How can you make sure you're not getting ripped off?

How to avoid taxi scams at Stockholm's Arlanda Airport
Taxis outside Arlanda Airport. Photo: Fredrik Persson/TT

Check the comparison price

Tourists and foreigners are often the target of unlicensed taxi operators, so if you’re getting a taxi in Sweden, always check the window for a yellow and white sign with the jämförpris or comparison price, as well as yellow registration plates at the front and back of the vehicle.

This is a legal requirement and will show you the price of a 10 kilometre journey taking 15 minutes at different times of day, although beware that they are allowed to add an extra fee for pickup/dropoff at stations or terminals, as well as a waiting fee. 

Don’t be tempted to get in a taxi without these yellow registration plates – it’s an illegal taxi and can be expensive, or in the worst case scenario, dangerous.

Keep an eye on the company you’re travelling with

At Arlanda, there are different sections in the taxi queue for different companies. The first queue, closest to the exit, is for friåkarna, or the independent taxis. The second queue has small companies which are linked to a central ordering station, followed by Taxi Kurir, Sverigetaxi, Taxi Stockholm, with taxis to Uppsala and Västerås in the last queue. You don’t have to take the first taxi in the queue.

The taxi companies in this zone have an agreement with Swedavia, who run Arlanda Airport, which means that the maximum price for journeys in the marked zone below is regulated – 800 kronor for a standard-sized car for 1-4 people, or 1,275 kronor for a larger car.

The taxi zone at Arlanda – journeys within the dotted line shouldn’t cost more than 800 kronor for a small car. Photo: Swedavia

As you can see, there are many Stockholm suburbs which are not included in the taxi zone. So if you’re going to be travelling to a destination outside of the taxi zone area, you’ll be paying the meter rate – which is why it’s important to check the jämförpris before you get into the car.

Do the prices really vary that much?

Yes.

A number of taxi passengers have in recent months complained of extremely high prices when travelling to destinations just outside of the taxi zone area. Many of these passengers thought they were getting into a Taxi Stockholm cab (with a basic jämförpris of 349 kronor), only to realise upon arrival that they’d actually got into a cab run by a different operator with a much higher jämförpris.

“Some people come into our reception crying because they’ve paid five or six thousand kronor,” Taxi Stockholm’s CEO Pernilla Samuelsson told public broadcaster SVT.

According to Samuelsson, the company has had issues with so-called “copycabs” for a number of years. In 2022, Taxi Stockholm sued a copycat company which was using a name and logo which was almost identical to theirs and won. The company was forced to change its name and pay Taxi Stockholm six million kronor in damages.

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What do we know about the drone incident at Sweden’s Arlanda Airport?

All flights were grounded at Stockholm's Arlanda Airport in the middle of the night after several drones were spotted from the control tower.

What do we know about the drone incident at Sweden's Arlanda Airport?

“The Civil Aviation Authority decided not to allow take-offs or landings, and flights were redirected, after drones were observed at Arlanda Airport,” police wrote in a statement.

Cecilia Bengtström from the aviation authority told the TT newswire that there were four of them in varying size.

Around five flights were redirected to airports such as Nyköping and Gothenburg, with some redirected as far away as Copenhagen or Finland, according to Swedish media.

According to Aftonbladet, one of the flights, which landed at Skavsta outside Nyköping, was met by fire engines after an emergency alert was issued.

“It’s not as dramatic as it sounds,” Jörgen Hansson from the emergency services told the newspaper. “The plane had low fuel levels so it’s part of the routine. The landing went well.”

The drones were spotted around 1am, with traffic resuming around 3.30am on Monday.

“The police are collecting information on what has been observed and have launched a preliminary investigation into airport sabotage and violation of the Protection Act,” police wrote on their website.

The Protection Act refers to skyddslagen, the law which designates certain key areas, like airports and defence-related buildings, as protected areas, prohibiting unauthorised people from entering, photographing or mapping the area, among other things.

Around 10pm on Sunday, police were also alerted to the presence of suspected drones in Uppsala, Upsala Nya Tidning reports. They were allegedly close to a protected area. The event has also been reported as a potential violation of the Protection Act.

“They were close to our operations, essentially police buildings,” Tobias-Ahlen Svalbro, from the police, told the newspaper.

Police have said that it is too early to say whether there’s a connection between the sightings in Uppsala and Arlanda.

Flying a drone near an airport requires special permission, and airport sabotage can risk a jail sentence of up to four years, if the aim is to endanger the security or function of the airport.

If there is deemed to have been a risk to human life, then it is classified as gross airport sabotage, which can carry a life sentence.

No arrests had been made by the time of publication.

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