When you book an airport transfer, one of the first choices you will see is whether to add meet & greet. The name is self-explanatory at a surface level — someone meets you and greets you — but the practical difference between this and a standard pickup is worth understanding before you decide. For some journeys it is an easy yes. For others, the standard option is perfectly good and the saving is real.
Here is an honest breakdown of what each option involves, which situations make meet & greet worth paying for, and how the process works at London's major airports.
Your driver pays for an access permit to enter the arrivals hall. They are waiting with a name board on the public side of the customs exit when you emerge. You hand over your luggage, follow them to the vehicle and you are done. No phone call, no guessing which exit leads to the pick-up area, no walking a large terminal at the end of a long journey. For Heathrow T5 in particular, this saves a meaningful amount of time and effort — the distance from customs to the road-level pick-up zone is significant.
Your driver tracks your flight, arrives at the terminal as you land, and waits in the designated pick-up or short-stay area just outside the building. They send you their location once you are through customs. You follow the signs out, they meet you at kerb level or pull up to the collection point, and off you go. For a frequent traveller who knows Heathrow or Gatwick well and travels light, this is efficient and costs less. The trade-off is a brief coordination step at the end of your journey.
1. Arriving with young children. You have a buggy, car seats, hand luggage and a five-year-old who is tired. Having a driver waiting the moment you come through removes one more decision.
2. Long-haul arrivals after midnight. After 10 hours on a plane, seeing a name and following someone is far easier than reading signs for the collections area.
3. First-time visitors to London. Someone unfamiliar with Heathrow or Gatwick can find the exit and pick-up zone process confusing. A name board solves it immediately.
4. Reduced mobility. If you use a wheelchair or walk with difficulty, the fewer decisions and distances involved, the better.
5. VIP or executive travel. If your guest is a client or a senior executive, meet & greet is the expected standard — it signals that you planned ahead.
With meet & greet, your driver enters the arrivals hall and waits for you with a name board. You clear customs, spot your name and walk straight to them. With a standard pickup, your driver is in the designated waiting area outside the terminal and contacts you once you have landed. Meet & greet costs a little more but removes all guesswork — especially useful with heavy luggage, young children, or after a long overnight flight where you just want to see a name card and follow.
This page pulls together everything you need on meet and greet airport pickup in one place — how it works, what to expect and the questions we are asked most — so you can decide and book with confidence. Prefer to talk it through? Call us any time on +44 (0) 158 282 4631 for a fixed-fare quote.
Your driver collects a parking permit allowing them to enter the airport arrivals hall for your terminal. They wait beyond the customs exit holding a board showing your name. When you clear baggage reclaim and step through into arrivals, you see the board, walk over, and your driver helps you with luggage from that point. There is no phone call to coordinate, no navigating to a pick-up lane, no guessing which exit leads where. For travellers unfamiliar with a terminal, first-time visitors to the UK, or anyone arriving somewhere new at an odd hour, this is a significant practical benefit.
Driver waits inside the arrivals hall with a name board
No phone coordination needed on arrival
Driver helps with luggage from the exit
No need to find the right exit or pick-up area
Available at all major London airports including Heathrow, Gatwick, Stansted and Luton
With a standard pickup, your driver monitors your flight, arrives at the terminal at the right time and waits in the designated pick-up or short-stay waiting area nearby. They will contact you — usually by phone or text — once you have landed and cleared arrivals. You then follow the signs for collections or the car park, and your driver either comes to meet you at kerb level or directs you to where they are parked. It works well for passengers who know the terminal, travel light or prefer to keep costs down.
Meet & greet earns its cost in specific situations. If you are travelling with young children who need carrying or corralling as you move through arrivals, having someone waiting to take bags immediately helps. If you are arriving from a long-haul flight — eight-plus hours, delayed, tired — reducing the number of decisions you have to make is genuinely valuable. If you are bringing a guest who has never been to London before, or if you have a medical condition that affects your mobility, meeting them inside removes a layer of stress. It is also worth it at large terminals like Heathrow T5, where the distance from the customs exit to the pick-up area can be longer than at smaller airports.
If you are a regular traveller who knows the terminal well, travel with minimal luggage and are comfortable following a phone call and signs to the pick-up point, a standard pickup is straightforward and costs less. For domestic flights or short hops where you come off the plane quickly with hand luggage, the difference between meet & greet and standard pickup is usually marginal. The savings are real, and for seasoned travellers the standard option is entirely sufficient. See our meet & greet service page for full pricing and availability, or book now and select your preferred pickup type at checkout.
Meet & greet means your driver enters the arrivals hall and waits with a sign showing your name. You clear customs, see the sign and go directly to your driver. It removes the need to navigate to an external pick-up zone or coordinate by phone on arrival.
At Heathrow, meet & greet drivers wait beyond the customs exit in the arrivals hall for your specific terminal — T2, T3, T4 or T5 each have their own arrivals area. Your driver will be there with a name board before you come through.
The additional cost depends on the airport and waiting time, as drivers incur a parking permit charge to enter the arrivals building. You will see the meet & greet option and its price at checkout when you book. It is typically a modest addition to your total fare.
Heathrow T5 is a large terminal and the walk from the customs exit to the road-level pick-up area can take 5–10 minutes with luggage. Meet & greet removes that walk entirely — your driver is waiting as you step out of customs, which makes a real difference after a long flight.
With meet & greet, your driver is inside the arrivals hall. With a standard pickup, they wait in the pick-up area outside the terminal and contact you once you land. Both include flight tracking and a fixed fare — the difference is where you first see your driver.
Yes. Meet & greet is particularly useful when travelling with children — there is no juggling of luggage, children and a phone call while navigating signs to an external pick-up point. Your driver is waiting the moment you come through customs.
The meet & greet fee in your booking covers the permit your driver needs to enter the arrivals hall and any associated short-stay charge. There are no surprise extras on the day — the total is confirmed before you book.
Your driver tracks your flight by number and adjusts their timing to your real landing time. If your flight is delayed, your driver delays their entry to the terminal accordingly. There is no extra charge for airline delays or air traffic control delays.
Yes. Meet & greet is available for any vehicle size — saloon, MPV or 8-seater. If your group is large, your driver will be waiting in arrivals and can help coordinate luggage for several passengers at once.
Airportmove offers meet & greet at Heathrow, Gatwick, Stansted, Luton, London City and Southend airports. Select meet & greet during booking and specify your terminal where applicable.
This page is written and reviewed by the Airportmove operations team, a London-licensed private-hire operator based at 450 Bath Rd, near Heathrow. We arrange fixed-fare airport, station, cruise-port and door-to-door transfers across London and the UK every day. Need help? Call +44 (0) 158 282 4631 or email booking@airportmove.co.uk.
Last updated: 1 July 2026
