A LondonLimo.net airport pickup works like this: you book with the flight number on the reservation engine; the desk tracks the flight from its departure and moves the pickup with it; the chauffeur's name, mobile and plate reach you the evening before; the chauffeur is in the arrivals hall with a name board before the flight lands - at Pearson, in Terminal 1's or Terminal 3's international or domestic arrivals hall by the exit from customs or the carousels, and at London International beside the single carousel; the chauffeur takes the bags and the car is at the curb; the chauffeur waits sixty minutes after a domestic arrival and ninety after an international one at no charge, and longer when the desk sees a queue; and a text tells whoever is waiting at home that you are in the car. For a departure, the chauffeur is at your door at the time the Pearson page's rules set. This page is each step in detail.
Step one: booking with the flight number
The flight number is the pickup's anchor: the desk tracks it from the moment it departs, and the pickup time follows the flight rather than the booking. Book the flight's scheduled arrival time and let the tracking do the rest; a delay moves the chauffeur, an early arrival brings the chauffeur earlier, and a cancellation is rebooked without a fee. Add the terminal if you know it, the number of passengers and bags, whether a car seat is needed, and a mobile number that works when the phone lands - a foreign number is fine, and so is a relative's in London.
Step two: the evening before
The chauffeur's name, mobile and plate arrive by text and email the evening before the flight; save the number. If the flight is overnight from Europe or Asia, the text arrives the evening before departure so that it is on the phone when it lands. A corporate or household booking for a visitor sends the same details to the host.
Step three: in the air
The desk watches the flight; the chauffeur leaves London for Pearson two hours before the tracked arrival, or for YXU fifteen minutes before, and adjusts en route. Nothing is needed from the passenger; a text from the plane's Wi-Fi is welcome but not required.
Step four: landing, customs and the hall
At Pearson, an international arrival clears customs and immigration in Terminal 1 or Terminal 3, collects bags at the carousels, and exits through the doors into the arrivals hall, where the chauffeur is standing with a name board among the other greeters; a domestic arrival collects bags and exits into the same hall. At YXU, the single carousel and the hall are one room and the chauffeur is at the carousel. The Pearson page and the YXU page describe each terminal's hall and the exact meeting spot; the CBSA publishes the customs process for arriving travellers.
Step five: the meet
The name board reads the passenger's surname, or a company's name, or a phrase the passenger chose, in the language the passenger asked for; the chauffeur greets, takes the trolley or the bags, and walks to the car, which is in the commercial pickup area a short walk from the hall - Pearson's limo lot and curb are a few minutes from the doors and the chauffeur brings the car round when the passenger prefers to wait at the curb. A text goes to whoever is waiting at home.
The free-wait window and what happens beyond it
The chauffeur waits sixty minutes after a domestic arrival's actual landing time and ninety after an international one at no charge, and the desk extends the wait when it sees a long customs queue or a bag delay; waiting beyond the window is billed at the hourly rate in half-hour increments and shown on the receipt. A passenger who is delayed inside - a secondary inspection, a lost bag - texts the chauffeur, and the chauffeur waits.
A late flight
The tracking moves the pickup; the chauffeur arrives for the new time; there is no charge for the delay and no need to call. A flight that is four hours late at midnight is met at 12:40 a.m. by a chauffeur who tracked it.
An early flight
The tracking brings the chauffeur earlier where the roster allows; where it does not, the passenger waits a few minutes in the hall and the chauffeur texts the arrival time. Tailwinds from Europe arrive early more often than they used to.
A missed connection or a changed flight
Text or call the desk with the new flight number and the booking moves to it without a fee; the chauffeur is rebooked to the new arrival. A connection missed at Pearson on the way to YXU is the commonest case, and the desk will move the meet from YXU to Pearson if the passenger prefers to abandon the connection and be driven home.
A lost bag
The bag desk is inside the hall before the exit; file the report, text the chauffeur, and the chauffeur waits. A bag delivered to a London address later is the airline's job, and the travel desk will chase it for a client who asks.
A visitor who has never been to Canada
Book the pickup in the visitor's name with the host's number for the text; the name board is in the visitor's language on request; the chauffeur walks the visitor from the hall to the car; the hotel is the drop; and the host is texted at each leg. The universities page describes the international student's arrival, the commonest version.
The departure run
For a departure, the chauffeur is at the door at the time the rules set - for Pearson, three hours and forty minutes before an international flight and three hours before a domestic one, plus the winter margin; for YXU, an hour and a half before - and the Pearson page explains the arithmetic. The chauffeur drops at the terminal's departures curb by airline, and a text confirms the drop to the host on a corporate booking.
Meeting at the other airports
Billy Bishop has a tunnel and a ferry from the island and a curb on the mainland; Hamilton and Waterloo have single halls like YXU; Windsor likewise; Detroit and Buffalo add the border on the drive and the cross-border page's documents. Each airport page has the exact meeting spot.
Three pickups, as they actually ran
A family from Mumbai, Terminal 1, August. Landed 40 minutes late at 7:10 p.m., 95 minutes through immigration and customs; the chauffeur, who had tracked the delay, was at the doors with the board at 8:45, and the family's London host was texted at 8:50 and again at 10:55 at the door.
A surgeon returning from Vancouver, YXU, midnight. The last flight landed at 12:05 a.m.; the chauffeur was at the carousel; the surgeon was home in Old North at 12:35.
A missed connection, Pearson, February. A student's Halifax flight missed the YXU connection; the student texted the desk from the gate, the meet moved from YXU to Pearson's Terminal 1, and the student was driven home to Western that night.
Booking it
Book the pickup with the flight number on the reservation engine; the airports hub has each airport's meeting spot; the rates page the fares; and the desk is awake for the bookings in progress.
On the airports' procedures. Terminal layouts, customs processes and pickup areas are set by the airports and the agencies and change; the airport pages are updated when they do, and the airports' own sites and the CBSA are the authorities on the day.
What the passenger should have ready
The phone on and charged when the plane lands, with the chauffeur's number saved; the name on the booking, which is the name on the board; the terminal, if the flight changed it; and, for a visitor, the host's name and the hotel. Nothing else is needed - not cash, not a printed confirmation, not the booking number - and the Pearson page has a map of each hall.
Pearson's two terminals, briefly
Terminal 1 handles Air Canada and Star Alliance and most of the international arrivals; Terminal 3 handles WestJet, the other Canadian carriers and the rest of the foreign airlines; the airport's site lists which airline uses which, the flight number tells the desk, and the chauffeur is at the right hall. A passenger connecting inside Pearson to a YXU flight does not leave the terminal and does not need a meet; the YXU page explains when the drive from Pearson beats the connection.
Three questions the desk is asked about the meet
What if I cannot find the chauffeur? Call or text the number sent the evening before; the chauffeur is in the hall and will come to you, and the desk can reach the chauffeur in seconds if the phone does not answer. Can the chauffeur help with a lot of luggage? Yes - a trolley from the hall to the car, and the bags into the trunk; a family with six cases books the SUV or the van, as the fleet page explains. Is there a charge for the meet and greet? No - the name board, the wait and the walk to the car are inside every airport fare on the rates page.
The pickup from a private terminal
A passenger arriving by private aircraft at YXU's FBO or at Pearson's private terminals is met on the apron or at the FBO's lounge door, with the chauffeur cleared to the airside procedures the FBO requires; the private jet and FBO page describes it, and Transport Canada's rules on airside access are the ones the FBOs apply.
The arrival by train, bus or car, for completeness
A passenger arriving in Toronto by train rather than by air is met at Union Station's Front Street entrance with the same board; a passenger arriving at a Pearson hotel, a cruise pier in another city or a friend's door is met where they say; the Toronto page has Union Station and the downtown pickups, and the city-to-city page the logic of a pickup that is not an airport.
The departure, step by step
The evening before, the chauffeur's details arrive; the morning of, the chauffeur checks the flight's status and the road, and is at the door ten minutes before the booked minute; the bags go in the trunk while the passenger locks the house; the drive is two hours to Pearson or fifteen minutes to YXU with the CATSA security wait factored into the pickup time; the drop is at the departures curb of the terminal by airline; and the desk's text confirms the drop to a host or a family member who asked for it. A passenger who wants to be earlier than the rules say simply books earlier; a passenger who wants to cut it fine is told, gently, what the rules are for.
