"How long will the driver wait?" is one of the most common questions about airport transfers, and it's usually the wrong question. The better one is "when does the clock start?" — because the gap between your plane's wheels touching the runway and you walking into arrivals can be anything from twenty minutes to well over an hour.
Get that part right and waiting time mostly stops being an issue.
Landing time is not arrival time
Your flight lands. Then, in order: taxi to the stand, wait for a gate or a bus, disembark, walk the terminal, clear immigration, wait at baggage reclaim, collect your bags, walk through customs, and finally into the arrivals hall.
Realistically:
- Domestic or short-haul, hand luggage only: 20–30 minutes from landing.
- Short-haul with checked bags: 35–50 minutes.
- Long-haul with checked bags: 45–75 minutes, sometimes more when several wide-bodies land together.
- Long-haul at a busy immigration period: longer again, and genuinely unpredictable.
A pickup booked for "landing time plus 15 minutes" is booked wrong. That's the single most common cause of a driver waiting a long time — not the passenger being slow, but the booking being unrealistic about the process.
Why the flight number matters more than the time
This is the mechanism that solves most of the problem. When your booking carries a flight number rather than just a clock time, the pickup can be referenced against your actual flight status.
That helps in both directions:
- Delayed flight. You land two hours late. Without the flight number, a driver is sitting at the terminal from the original time. With it, the pickup shifts.
- Early arrival. Tailwinds get you in forty minutes early. The pickup can move up rather than you waiting in arrivals.
- Diversion or cancellation. Visible in the flight status rather than discovered by a driver at an empty gate.
For long-haul in particular, where delays are more common and reclaim takes longer, this matters more than any other single detail on the booking. Our Manchester Airport guide and Heathrow guide both cover terminal-specific timing.
Meet and greet vs kerbside pickup
These are genuinely different products and worth choosing deliberately.
Meet and greet means the driver parks, comes into the terminal, and waits in arrivals — typically with your name displayed. You walk out and find someone waiting. It's the easier experience with luggage, children, or after a long flight, and it's the more forgiving option if you're not sure how long you'll take to clear. Because the driver parks, an airport car park charge usually applies.
Kerbside or designated pickup means you make your own way to a specified pickup point and the car meets you there. It avoids the parking element, but requires you to be reasonably predictable about timing and to know where the pickup point is — which is not always obvious, and varies by airport.
Neither is better in the abstract. For a first visit to an unfamiliar airport, arriving with a lot of luggage, or landing after a long-haul flight at night, meet and greet earns its cost. For a frequent traveller with hand luggage who knows the terminal, kerbside is efficient.
Airports also increasingly charge for terminal drop-off and pickup access — our UK airport drop-off charges guide covers the current per-airport picture.
What to do if you're delayed inside the terminal
Sometimes the flight is on time and you aren't: a bag doesn't appear, immigration is backed up, someone in your party needs assistance.
The practical steps:
- Get in touch as soon as you know, not once it's resolved. Twenty minutes of notice is far more useful than an apology afterwards.
- Give a realistic new estimate, then update it if that slips too. "Still at reclaim, probably 30 minutes" is more useful than "nearly there".
- Say where you'll actually emerge if it's changed — a different exit or terminal.
Our guide on changing a booking covers what to have ready when you contact us.
Getting the booking right in the first place
Most waiting-time problems are booking problems. When you book an airport pickup, include:
- The flight number — the single most valuable field on an airport booking.
- The arrival terminal, not just the airport. Gatwick's North and South terminals are a shuttle apart; Heathrow's four are in two separate locations.
- Whether you have checked baggage — it changes the realistic clearing time substantially.
- Meet and greet or kerbside, chosen deliberately.
- Your luggage, so the vehicle is the right size — see the luggage guide.
The booking an airport taxi in advance guide works through the full checklist.
Frequently asked questions
Q: How long does a taxi wait at the airport after landing? A: Waiting arrangements are confirmed with your individual booking rather than following one universal rule. The more important factor is that the pickup is set against your flight number, so timing tracks your actual arrival instead of a fixed clock time.
Q: How long does it take to get through the airport after landing? A: Typically 20–30 minutes with hand luggage only, 35–50 minutes short-haul with checked bags, and 45–75 minutes or more for long-haul with checked bags and immigration queues.
Q: What happens if my flight is delayed? A: If your booking includes your flight number, the pickup can be adjusted against the flight's actual status rather than the originally booked time. This is why the flight number matters more than the time you enter.
Q: What is meet and greet at the airport? A: The driver parks and waits inside the arrivals hall, usually with your name displayed, rather than meeting you at a kerbside pickup point. It is easier with luggage or after a long flight, and normally includes an airport car park charge.
Q: Should I book meet and greet or kerbside pickup? A: Meet and greet suits unfamiliar airports, heavy luggage, families and late-night long-haul arrivals. Kerbside suits frequent travellers with hand luggage who know the terminal and want to avoid the parking element.
Q: What if I am delayed at baggage reclaim? A: Contact us as soon as you know, with a realistic revised estimate. Early notice is considerably more useful than an explanation after the fact.
Landing soon? Get an estimated fare and add your flight number — it's the one detail that makes airport pickups look after themselves.