I've had bad experiences like this with both taxis and Ubers. With Uber, I've had dozens of experiences where either (1) There were no drivers available in my area, (2) The drivers repeatedly canceled on me, or (3) The driver didn't cancel, but also never came to pick me up, and instead just drove in the opposite direction for 10-15 minutes.

I now don't trust taxis, Uber, or Lyft to get me to the airport very early in the morning. I live in DC, not exactly a small town.