Family Travel Checklist for Chauffeur Journeys

Child seats are the first decision because they govern the vehicle rather than the other way around. The right seat depends on the child's age, weight and height rather than a rough description, and different stages need different fittings. Three seats across a bench is possible in some vehicles and not in others, which is exactly the kind of thing to establish before the morning of a flight.

Some families prefer to use their own seats, which they know and their children are used to, and that is entirely sensible. Others would rather not carry them. Either works, but say which at the booking stage: your own seats need boot space on the return leg, and seats provided for you have to be requested with the ages and weights they are for.

Families are the passengers most often surprised by boot capacity, because the luggage grows quietly. A week away for four is not four suitcases; it is four suitcases, a travel cot, a pushchair, a bag of snacks, two coats and a carrier of things that would not fit anywhere else. The pushchair alone takes roughly the space of a large case in most vehicles.

Add the seats you are bringing, if you are bringing them, and the picture usually points to a larger vehicle than the passenger count suggests. Four people can travel in a saloon. Four people with a family's holiday luggage generally cannot, and the honest answer at that point is a luxury MPV or two vehicles rather than a boot that will not close.

The loading is where family journeys go wrong, usually because it happens in a narrow street with the car facing the wrong way. Tell us which side of the road you will be on and whether there is a safe kerb for children to step out onto. A chauffeur who knows that in advance will position the car so that nobody is stepping into traffic with a toddler in hand.

Fitting seats takes time, and it takes more time when it is raining and somebody is crying. Allow a few extra minutes at the start rather than discovering you needed them. If the chauffeur is fitting seats you have brought, showing them the fitting once is quicker than explaining it, and they will check it properly rather than take your word for it.

Early flights with young children need a wider margin than the same flight alone, and the margin should go at the front of the morning rather than the end. Getting everyone dressed, fed and into the car takes longer than any planner allows for, and a calm departure is worth more than fifteen extra minutes in bed. Bags packed and stood by the door the night before does most of the work.

At the airport end, decide whether the pushchair is being checked in or taken to the gate, because it changes what comes out of the boot and when. On the return, being met inside the terminal is usually worth it with small children — being found rather than having to find someone is a considerable relief after a flight with a tired family.

Everything above condenses into one message. Families who send the full picture get a vehicle that fits and a chauffeur who has thought about the loading; families who send the passenger count get a saloon and a difficult morning. It takes a couple of extra lines to write and it removes almost every problem this checklist describes. There is no such thing as too much detail here.

If anything changes — a child joining, a pushchair added, a grandparent coming along — send it through as soon as you know. Vehicle allocation is done ahead of the day, and a change that arrives in good time is usually straightforward. Everything is arranged over WhatsApp or email, so it is one message rather than a conversation you have to schedule.