Be reachable
Messages from the desk and your chauffeur only reach you if your phone is on and connected, by roaming, a local SIM or Wi-Fi. The Terms ask you to be reachable by phone or WhatsApp on the day you travel.
Guide · Meeting your chauffeur
Meeting your chauffeur from the arrivals hall to the car.
Who is meeting you, where, and how to reach them should all be settled before you walk out of the terminal. This guide sets out the three ways of being met at an airport, what reaches you before pickup, how the 30-minute wait is counted, and what to do if you come out and see nobody.
At a glance
Meeting your chauffeur, in short
- Standard pickup is at the kerb outside arrivals where the airport allows it, with no name board, and the booking desk tells you where to meet.
- With Meet and greet, your chauffeur waits inside the arrivals hall with your name on a board, and it is included with every First Class booking.
- The voucher you receive after paying carries the passenger name, the travel details and the vehicle booked; the chauffeur is not on it.
- Before pickup, you are sent your chauffeur’s name and contact details on WhatsApp or by email.
- Your chauffeur’s 30 minutes start at your flight’s actual arrival time, and the passport queue and the carousel are part of them.
- Held up inside, or cannot see your chauffeur? Call or message your chauffeur on the contact details you were sent.
- A pickup counts as a no-show if you have not reached the meeting point within the wait and nobody can reach you.
Three ways to be met
Kerbside pickup, Meet and greet or airport assistance
What separates them is where you first see someone waiting for you: outside the terminal, inside the arrivals hall, or before passport control.
| Option | Where you are met | How it is arranged |
|---|---|---|
| Kerbside pickup | Outside the terminal, after you have collected your bags and left the arrivals hall. Nobody waits in the hall with a sign. | The standard pickup on an airport arrival transfer, at the meeting point the booking desk gives you. |
| Meet and greet | Inside the public arrivals hall, where your chauffeur stands holding a board with your name as you come through. | Tick Meet and greet in the booking form. Every First Class booking includes it. |
| Airport assistance | Airside, before passport control, where the airport allows it. Services of this kind meet arriving passengers and help with immigration and baggage, using fast-track lanes where the airport has them. | Not part of a standard transfer. Where fast-track lanes are available, the VIP airport transfer can be paired with airport assistance from Universal Airport Assistance, our parent company. |
Airport rules can move the meeting point away from the door. Heathrow allows no passenger pick-ups from its terminal forecourts and gives private hire cars a separate waiting area, its Authorised Vehicle Area, from which they come in to collect. Changi does not allow cars to park or wait at its kerbside or pick-up points, for departures or arrivals. Where rules like these apply, go by the meeting point the booking desk gives you for your terminal, not the nearest door.
Step by step
What reaches you, and when
From the request to the car, and what you should be holding at each step.
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01
Request the transfer with your flight number
An airport transfer is quoted on the flight, so the number is required, along with the date, passengers and bags. Tick Meet and greet here if you want the name board.
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02
Receive and accept your quote
A full quote follows, usually within two hours. It reflects distance, vehicle class, add-ons and any late-night, public holiday or short-notice charges, and nothing is charged until you accept it.
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03
Confirm your service and receive your voucher
We send a quote. Once you pay online, by payment link or bank transfer, we will confirm the service and share your voucher.
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04
Receive your chauffeur’s name and contact details
Ahead of pickup, the chauffeur’s name and contact details arrive on the channel you already use with the desk: WhatsApp if that is where you have been writing, email if not. Save them in your phone, so a call or message on the day shows up by name.
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05
Walk out to the meeting point
Switch your phone on as soon as you are allowed, clear passport control, the belt and customs, then head for the meeting point the booking desk gave you: the kerb, or the name board in the hall with Meet and greet.
At the airport
Once you are off the plane
The clock starts at arrival
The wait is timed from your flight’s actual arrival, so the passport hall and the carousel eat into it however long they take. When either drags, message your chauffeur to say how far you have got. Waiting past the 30 minutes may carry a charge, and how it is charged is explained to you before any charge is applied.
A bag that does not arrive
Report it to your airline before you walk out, at its desk in the baggage reclaim hall if it has one: Heathrow, for one, warns that you cannot go back in once you have left. Message your chauffeur while you queue, because the report can take a while.
One terminal, more than one way out
Large terminals often have several exits and meeting points. Heathrow’s Terminal 5 has a north and a south meeting point in arrivals, and Changi’s Terminal 1 signs its pick-up doors in two groups, 1 to 6 and 7 to 12. If you are unsure where you are, tell your chauffeur the door number or the nearest sign, or send a photo.
Someone offers you a ride
Say no to anyone in the hall who offers you a car. You already know your chauffeur’s name, so check it before you get in or hand over a bag.
Still no sign of your chauffeur
Stay where you are and call or message your chauffeur using the contact details you were sent. If there is no answer, use the day-of-travel contact on the airport arrival transfer page, and give your name, the terminal and the exit you came out of.
Questions
Meeting your chauffeur questions
What is meet and greet at the airport?
It means the person collecting you is waiting inside the public arrivals hall with your name on a board, so you spot them as you come through. On a transfer booked here, Meet and greet is an extra you tick on the booking form, included with every First Class booking. Without it you have the standard pickup: you walk out of the terminal to the meeting point the booking desk has given you, and nobody holds up a sign.
How long will my chauffeur wait at the airport if I am held up?
30 minutes, counted from your flight’s actual arrival time. Passport control, the baggage belt and customs all come after that moment, so they use up part of the wait. If the queue is long, message your chauffeur so they know you are on your way; any waiting beyond the 30 minutes may be charged, and you are told how before that happens.
How will I know who my chauffeur is?
Your chauffeur’s name and contact details are sent to you ahead of pickup: on WhatsApp if you have been talking to the desk there, and by email if not. The voucher does not name them, as it covers only the passenger name, the travel details and the vehicle booked and confirmed. Match the name you were sent before you get in the car.
What if I cannot find my chauffeur at the airport?
Stay at the meeting point you were given rather than walking the terminal, and call or message your chauffeur with the door number or the nearest sign. If you get no answer, the operations desk, whose number is on the airport arrival transfer page, deals with day-of-travel problems like this one around the clock. Changes to the booking itself, such as a new flight or terminal, go to the booking desk on WhatsApp.
Where is the meeting point at Heathrow Terminal 5?
Terminal 5 arrivals has two: a north meeting point opposite Travelex and a south one near Costa Coffee. Heathrow does not let anyone collect passengers from its terminal forecourts, so for a standard pickup the place to meet is the one the booking desk gives you. With Meet and greet, your chauffeur is in the arrivals hall holding your name board.
What happens if I miss my airport pickup?
If you have not reached the meeting point by the time the wait runs out and you cannot be contacted, the booking is treated as a no-show and full charges apply. Under the Terms both have to be true, so if you are running late, keep your phone on and tell your chauffeur where you are. If the airline cancels your flight, diverts it or moves it to the next day, tell the booking desk at once, because under the service terms that is generally treated as a no-show too.
What do landside and airside mean at an airport?
Airside is the restricted part of an airport: in the EU’s aviation security rules, the movement area and the land and buildings next to it to which access is restricted. Landside is every part that is not airside, such as the public arrivals hall and the kerb outside. Kerbside pickup and Meet and greet both happen landside, while the gates and passport control are airside, and on international arrivals the baggage hall usually is too.
Can anyone meet me before passport control?
Only someone the airport authorises, because access to airside is restricted. That is the work of an airport assistance service, sometimes called meet and assist, where the airport offers it, and it can include help with immigration and baggage. At airports where fast-track lanes are available, the VIP airport transfer can be combined with airport assistance from Universal Airport Assistance. Without it, you meet your chauffeur landside: at the kerb, or in the arrivals hall with Meet and greet.
Waiting time, changes, cancellations and refunds are set out in full in our Terms & Conditions.
Request a transfer
Tell us the flight. We hold the car.
Under five minutes to complete. We come back with a full quote, usually within two hours. Nothing is charged until you accept the quote.