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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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Stockholm’s Bromma Airport’s future in doubt after it loses 90 percent of air traffic

The future of Stockholm's second airport, Bromma, is in doubt after regional airline BRA struck a deal with SAS that will move nearly all flights to Arlanda Airport.

Stockholm's Bromma Airport's future in doubt after it loses 90 percent of air traffic

As of January 1st, BRA will operate flights on behalf of SAS with Stockholm’s principal airport Arlanda as a hub, the two airlines announced in separate press releases.

As a result, around 90 percent of air traffic will disappear from Bromma airport, according to the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce.

“I don’t think the airport will survive without us,” Per G Braathen, president of the BRA airline, told a press conference.

“We have been present at Bromma for 25 years and it is not profitable to run this airport. We need to concentrate on Arlanda,” he added.

The deal with SAS extends for over seven years and is worth around six billion kronor (530 million euros), BRA said in a statement.

The airline added that its fleet would be expanded and “more pilots and cabin crew will be recruited”, while ground services and administrative functions would be reduced.

The integration of BRA’s fleet with SAS will enhance Swedish infrastructure but is also “positioning Arlanda as a stronger central hub for domestic and international travel”, SAS CEO Anko van der Werff said in a statement.

Jonas Abrahamsson, CEO of Swedavia which operates Sweden’s airports, said that Tuesday’s announcement meant that domestic flights would now be concentrated on Arlanda.

“Bromma in principle will be without scheduled services,” Abrahamsson said in a statement.

He added that while many travellers liked Bromma, “a consolidation of air traffic to Arlanda is a natural development”.

Bromma Airport will lose its biggest air traffic operator from the turn of the year. Photo: Fredrik Sandberg/TT

The city of Stockholm wants to close Bromma airport as soon as possible to make way for housing and infrastructure, but Swedavia has a contract to operate the airport until 2038.

Daniella Waldfogel, CEO of the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce, welcomed the announcement and said it meant that the closure of Bromma should be “moved forward”.

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