Meet and Greet or Kerbside: Choosing an Airport Collection

Two arrangements that look similar and are not

A meet-and-greet puts the chauffeur inside the terminal, on foot, waiting where passengers emerge from customs with a name board. A kerbside or call-forward collection keeps the vehicle in a car park or holding area until you say you are ready, then brings it to a designated pick-up point where you meet it.

The first costs more because the vehicle is parked for the whole of your clearance and the chauffeur is away from it. The second costs less and asks more of you: a walk, a wait of a few minutes, and the ability to find a pick-up point you may never have used.

When being met inside is worth it

Some arrivals are simply not suited to standing outside. A long-haul landing at six in the morning with three cases and two tired children is one. A first visit to an unfamiliar terminal is another, as is any arrival where somebody in the party cannot walk far or stand for long.

It is also the sensible default for guests you are hosting. Somebody arriving in a country they do not know, into a terminal they have never used, appreciates a name board considerably more than a set of directions to level three of a multi-storey. It also removes the possibility of a guest leaving by the wrong exit, which happens more often than anybody admits at the larger terminals.

• Long-haul arrivals and overnight sectors
• Travelling with young children or a lot of luggage
• Guests, clients or family arriving into an unfamiliar airport
• Anyone who would find the walk to a pick-up point difficult

When a call-forward is the better answer

A frequent traveller with cabin baggage only, arriving on a short-haul service into a terminal they know well, rarely needs a name board. They clear immigration quickly, send a message, walk to the pick-up point and the car is there. The whole thing is often faster than the meet-and-greet alternative.

It also suits arrivals where the timing is genuinely unpredictable, because nothing is committed while you are still airside. The vehicle waits somewhere sensible rather than accruing time in a short-stay car park. For a traveller who does the same route every fortnight, it is usually the arrangement that feels least like a fuss and takes the least thought.

Terminals change the answer

The choice is not purely about preference, because UK terminals differ enormously. Heathrow spreads its arrivals across separate buildings with their own car parks and pick-up arrangements, and the walk at Terminal 5 is not the walk at Terminal 3. Gatwick's two terminals are joined by a shuttle. Manchester, Birmingham and Edinburgh each have their own designated private hire areas.

So name the terminal, not just the airport, when you enquire. Writing Heathrow alone leaves the most consequential detail of the collection undecided, and the terminal is printed on your boarding pass. If it changes between booking and travel, which some carriers do routinely, send the new one on the same thread as soon as you see it.

Making the choice on the enquiry

The journey planner does not ask you to choose between the two arrangements, so this belongs in the notes box on the final step. A sentence is enough: meet inside arrivals with a board, or call-forward to the pick-up point, plus anything relevant about the party.

If you are not sure which suits your arrival, describe the arrival instead and let the recommendation come back on the WhatsApp thread. Number of bags, terminal, time of day and who is travelling are the four facts that decide it. A recommendation built on those beats a preference chosen from a web page, particularly at a terminal you have never walked through before.

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