How do I find the correct DiDi pickup floor or zone at an airport?

At a glance

• DiDi's English setting is under Me → Settings → General → Language in Shanghai's published guide; the app also provides translated driver messages. [1]
• That guide tells passengers to match the registration plate and use the last four digits of the booking phone number when confirming the ride. [1]
• As a provider-specific example, Hongqiao's Xiangdao Station uses T1–P1 parking Level B2 and T2–P2 parking Level 2. These are Xiangdao locations, not universal DiDi instructions. [2]
• The Hongqiao Xiangdao service supports immediate and advance bookings through its own app. An airport name alone therefore does not identify the provider, terminal or floor. [2]

What to do next

1. Before landing, save the destination's Chinese name and address, activate usable data and identify the booking phone number. If someone else will order, agree how they will forward the exact pickup instructions and the driver's messages.
2. After collecting luggage, open the actual airport pickup selector. Check the selected terminal against your arrival signs, then read every part of the location: car park, floor, zone and meeting-point number. A map pin without its text can leave you directly above or below the car.
3. Follow signs for the designated ride-hailing area and compare them with the order. If the displayed floor or zone cannot be found, show the order to airport staff before walking farther. Stay together with children and luggage while one adult resolves the route.
4. Request the ride when you can realistically reach the stated point, or follow the prebooked service's meeting instructions. Send the driver the terminal, floor and zone in one message; add a photograph of the numbered sign if the app supports it.
5. Match the vehicle registration and driver details before loading bags. Confirm the required phone digits from the booking account and check the destination shown in the order. Keep the journey and payment within the booking you agreed.
6. If you and the driver remain on different levels, stop moving and agree one named meeting point. If the ride must be cancelled, use the app's cancellation process and inspect any displayed charge before starting a replacement.

If your situation is different

You are at the taxi rank: either take an authorised queued taxi under that system or move to the pickup point for your booked ride. Do not expect the app driver to join a different queue because its entrance is visible.

You have an advance airport transfer: follow that operator's confirmation, including any name-board meeting point and waiting-time terms. It may meet you differently from an immediate DiDi order.

Your phone has no working data: use an available airport connection to recover the order, or choose a transport option you can arrange in person. Keep the destination saved offline so a connectivity problem does not become an address problem.

Someone else booked for you: obtain the actual plate, location, contact method and confirmation digits from them. Your own phone number may not be the one attached to the ride.

Common mistakes

• Following a guide for another provider: use your order's instructions.
• Treating Level 2 and B2 as interchangeable: one is above ground and the other is a basement level.
• Ordering while still waiting for luggage: reach the stated meeting area before starting an avoidable waiting charge.
• Changing floors while the driver is approaching: agree the new location first so neither party keeps chasing the other.

Quick questions