The phrase is used loosely across the travel industry and covers several quite different things, which is why it is worth defining before you book rather than after you land. Some operators mean a driver at a kerb. Some mean an airport product involving escorted passage through terminal processes. The two are not remotely the same service.
What we provide sits between them and is deliberately specific. Somebody is standing inside the building where you emerge, holding a board with your name on it, ready to take the heavy bag and walk you to a car that is already close by. This page sets out exactly what that includes and where it applies beyond airports.
What happens in the arrivals hall
The chauffeur parks, walks into the terminal and takes up position in the arrivals hall in good time, working from your flight details and the way that terminal usually clears at that hour. They stand where arriving passengers actually emerge rather than where the map suggests, which at the larger terminals are two different places. The board is held at chest height rather than waved.
When you appear, they introduce themselves, take the heavier luggage and walk you to the car. The vehicle is in a nearby car park rather than at a kerb, because the kerbs at major terminals are restricted, timed and frequently gridlocked. That walk is typically a few minutes and is far more pleasant than standing in a set-down lane wondering which black car is yours.
What it deliberately does not include
It is not airside. A chauffeur cannot come through security to a gate, meet you at the aircraft door, or accompany you through immigration, and anybody suggesting otherwise is describing something they cannot deliver. Those areas are controlled, and access to them has nothing to do with the transport waiting on the other side. Nobody can offer you passage through them.
It is equally not a fast-track through border control or baggage reclaim. Airports and airlines operate their own expedited services and they are booked directly with them, entirely separately from your car. We would rather be plain about that than let you land expecting a shortcut. What we do control is that somebody is there, whenever you finally get through.
- The chauffeur waits inside the terminal, not at the kerb
- A name board is used, showing your name or an agreed alternative
- Heavy luggage is taken and carried to the vehicle
- The walk is to a nearby car park rather than a set-down lane
- No airside access, and no fast-track through airport processes
Beyond the airport
The same arrangement works at railway termini, where the concourse is large, the platform is not announced until late and finding a car outside is genuinely difficult. It works at hotels, where the chauffeur can wait in the lobby rather than outside. It works at venues and conference centres with several exits and no obvious front. In each case, somebody visible inside beats a car somewhere outside.
Tell us at the booking stage where you would like to be met and, at large buildings, which entrance you expect to use. If you would rather not have a name board with your name on it, we can print initials, a company name or an agreed word instead. All of this is easier to set up in advance than to explain by message while you are standing in a crowd.
