The gap between “my driver is here” and actually finding each other is where most airport pickups go wrong. It is rarely the driver's fault or yours — it is that airports treat pre-arranged cars differently from taxis and rideshare, and the designated areas change with construction.
Meet-and-greet or curbside?
There are two ways to be collected, and they suit different trips.
Meet-and-greet
Your driver parks, comes inside, and waits in the arrivals hall with a name board. He takes the bags and walks you to the vehicle. This is the default for our bookings because it removes all the uncertainty — you walk out of baggage claim and someone is standing there with your name.
It suits first-time visitors, families with children, anyone with a lot of luggage, and international arrivals where you have no idea what the terminal looks like.
Curbside
You text when you have your bags, and the driver pulls up to the designated pickup point. Faster if you know the airport and are travelling light, and it avoids the walk from the parking structure.
It requires a working phone on landing. If you are arriving internationally without roaming, choose meet-and-greet.
Miami International (MIA)
MIA's arrivals roadway is split by terminal and airline, and the terminals are lettered around a long horseshoe. The distance between the far ends is genuinely significant — walking from one to the other with luggage is a serious undertaking.
The single most useful thing you can give us is your flight number, not a terminal letter. Airlines get reassigned between terminals; flight numbers do not change. We use the flight number to track the arrival and to know which door to be at.
For international arrivals, remember that the walk from immigration through customs to the public arrivals area takes longer than you would guess. Nobody meeting you can get past customs, so the meeting point is always on the public side.
Fort Lauderdale–Hollywood (FLL)
FLL has four terminals and is a much simpler airport to navigate than MIA. Pre-arranged pickups are directed to designated areas that vary by terminal — generally the lower level, though this shifts during construction, and FLL has been under near-continuous construction for years.
FLL takes a lot of low-cost carrier traffic, which means a higher rate of delays than MIA. Flight tracking matters more here, not less.
Palm Beach International (PBI)
PBI is small, calm and by far the easiest of the three. One main terminal, short walks, and a pickup area that is genuinely close to baggage claim. If you have a choice of airports and hate airports, fly into PBI.
What to send when you book
- Your flight number — more useful than the airline or terminal.
- How many passengers, and how many checked bags. Bags decide the vehicle more often than seats do.
- A phone number that works on landing, and whether it takes WhatsApp.
- Car seats, if you need them, and the children's ages.
- Anything oversized — golf clubs, skis, dive gear, a wheelchair.
If you cannot find your driver
Call him. You will have his name and mobile number by text the evening before, and he will have been watching your flight. In our experience nine out of ten missed connections at an airport are resolved by one phone call, and the tenth is someone standing at the wrong terminal.
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