What Details Are Needed to Arrange a Chauffeur Journey

The three things nothing can proceed without

Strip an enquiry back and only three pieces of information are genuinely load-bearing: where the journey starts, when it starts, and where it ends. The planner enforces exactly that. It will not move past the route step without a collection point and a date and time, and it insists on a destination for every journey type except By the Hour, where a duration takes its place.

Everything else improves the answer you receive rather than making it possible. That is worth knowing when you are enquiring in a hurry, because a partial message carrying those three facts is far more useful than a complete one sent tomorrow.

Addresses that are precise enough to be useful

A postcode is good; a postcode with a building name is better. Central London in particular is full of addresses where the obvious frontage is not where a car can legally stop, and estates, gated developments and hotel forecourts often have a specific arrival point that differs from the address you would post a letter to.

If your collection point has a quirk, describe it. A rear entrance, a barrier that needs a code, a private road with restricted access, a hospital site with several gates: a sentence in the notes box prevents a phone call at the moment you least want one.

• Building name or number alongside the postcode
• Which entrance, if the address has more than one
• Access codes, barriers or gatehouse arrangements
• Anywhere the vehicle genuinely cannot stop

Passengers, luggage and equipment

The passenger and luggage selectors on step four are not administrative box-ticking. They determine which vehicle is appropriate, and a party that arrives with more cases than declared is the single most common cause of an awkward start. Count hand luggage as well as hold cases, and count the buggy, the golf bag and the cello.

The same step carries a checkbox for accessibility assistance. Tick it if anyone travelling would benefit from help at the door, extra time, or a vehicle with a different step height, then add the specifics to the notes so the right arrangements are considered from the outset.

Aviation details when a flight is involved

Choose Airport Transfer or Private Aviation and a dedicated step appears asking for the airport or fixed base operator, which is required, and the flight number or tail registration, which is optional but genuinely valuable. Naming the FBO rather than only the airfield matters at places like Farnborough, Biggin Hill and Luton, where private terminals sit well away from the main passenger buildings.

The flight number lets your arrival be checked against the live schedule rather than the one printed on your ticket. How that is applied to your particular booking, including what happens to timings when a flight moves, is set out when your enquiry is reviewed.

The notes box does more work than any other field

The free-text box on the final step is where a booking stops being generic. Use it for child seats and the ages they are for, a pet travelling with you, a preferred route, a stop on the way, a request for silence, a discreet collection, or an occasion the timing has to work around.

It is also the right place to explain constraints that are not really about the car at all: a meeting that cannot be late, a train that will not wait, a relative who tires easily. Those sentences shape how a journey is planned far more than the vehicle class you select.

Plan your chauffeur journey

London Chauffeurs provides itinerary-led private travel for airport transfers, executive travel, private aviation, events and long-distance UK journeys. Availability and pricing are confirmed for the requested itinerary.

Frequently asked questions