The clock starts when the wheels touch down, not when the flight was due, and the first hour is on us.
Short answer: from the moment your flight lands you have 60 minutes of waiting included. That covers a normal immigration queue, baggage reclaim and the walk to arrivals with time to spare. Because we track the flight, a delay does not use up the hour; the hour starts when you actually land.
Border queues at Heathrow and Gatwick swing from ten minutes to well over an hour depending on the time of day and how many wide-bodies have landed together, and baggage can add another thirty. A 30-minute grace period, which is the industry norm, means a large share of passengers on long-haul arrivals pay waiting charges through no fault of their own. Sixty minutes covers almost everyone, and it is priced into the fixed fare rather than added afterwards.
| Situation | What applies |
|---|---|
| Airport pick-up, flight number given | 60 minutes free from actual landing; driver dispatched to the live landing time |
| Airport pick-up, no flight number | 60 minutes free from the booked pick-up time; we cannot track a flight we do not know about, so please give it |
| After the free hour | 15-minute blocks at the rate on your confirmation; we message you before it starts |
| Home, hotel, office or station pick-up | 60 minutes free from the booked time, then 15-minute blocks; or move the time by messaging us |
| Cruise terminal pick-up | 60 minutes free from the ship's docking time when you give us the ship name |
| Stuck in the terminal for reasons beyond you (lost bag, medical, immigration hold) | Tell us; we will normally waive waiting and re-plan the driver |
At the actual landing time of your flight, which we take from live flight tracking, not from the scheduled time and not from when you booked the pick-up for.
Message the driver or our desk and the driver stays. Waiting after the free hour is charged in 15-minute blocks at the rate shown on your confirmation, and we tell you before it starts.
Yes, 60 minutes from the booked time. After that the same 15-minute blocks apply, or you can move the pick-up time by messaging us.
The pick-up moves with the flight, so the driver does not wait through the delay at all; they arrive for the new landing time and your free hour starts then. See the flight delay policy.
Terminal confirmed from your flight number, pickup timed backwards from check-in or tracked forward from landing, name board standing where you exit — London's entire airport system run the way it should have always worked. Sixty seconds books any of it.
Visitor guides: Best time to visit London · Things to do in London in winter · London airports guide
Further reading from our Medium blog