One Group, Several Flights: Coordinating Arrivals

The decision: one vehicle or two

One vehicle for everyone is cheaper, but somebody waits. Two vehicles cost more, but nobody sits around in the arrivals hall. Where the line falls depends less on price than on the group: a tour party who know each other will tolerate an hour; twenty wedding guests after a night flight will not.

As a guide: up to about an hour apart, one vehicle usually makes sense. At two hours and beyond, the waiting becomes the real cost — then two vehicles run and both parties get away promptly. Anything between those figures is worth discussing with us; we can tell you what is realistic on your route and at your arrival time.

Every arrival gets its own flight number

This is where group bookings most often go wrong. A group on three flights has three arrival times, and each is tracked separately. A single shared "group arrival time" is a number that belongs to no real flight — and if one of the three is delayed, nobody knows which.

In practice: one booking per flight, with that flight's number. Note in the notes field that the bookings belong to the same group and we join them up at our end.

What belongs on the arrival list

When you send us the group, five columns are all that is needed:

1. Flight number and arrival date for each sub-group.
2. Scheduled arrival time.
3. Number of people on that flight.
4. Number of luggage items, where it exceeds one per person.
5. A contact person for each sub-group, with a mobile number.

The last line is the one most often missing and the one that helps most. With twenty people nobody rings twenty phones — the driver needs one number per vehicle that somebody answers.

Vehicles and luggage

The classes run from the minibus for 7 to 14 people, through the midibus, to the coach for up to 45. As always the higher of two numbers governs — people or luggage items; the sum is in when luggage decides your vehicle. It is worth doing carefully with groups, because a miscalculation involving twenty people is not as easily absorbed as one involving four. Classes, from-prices and the key figures are collected on the group transfers page.

Stops along the way

If the group is spread across several hotels, we plan the order in advance. An additional stop costs €15 and up to three are possible — give the properties in the order you want them served, or leave the sequencing to us and we will order them by route.

The journey home

With groups it pays to think about the return leg early, because the same split rarely applies: people who arrive together often fly home separately. Each departure time gets its own backwards calculation from when should you leave your hotel for the airport — with several departures on one day, that generally means several pickup times.

Common questions