Being met in arrivals: what it actually means

'Personal welcome', 'meet and greet' — the phrase is on every website and tells you very little. In practice the difference is simple. Either you find your driver outside at the kerb, or somebody is waiting for you inside, before you've had to work anything out.

What happens, in order

The flight is tracked from departure. The driver works to the actual landing time rather than the one on your ticket, which is what makes waiting possible without a single exchange of messages.

He stands in the arrivals hall of your terminal, past customs, holding your name. At Charles de Gaulle that precision matters: Terminal 2 is a run of separate halls, and arranging to meet 'at Terminal 2' isn't information anyone can use.

He takes the luggage and walks you to the car. That's the whole thing. The part where you look for the exit, the queue, or which side of the road the car park is on stops being yours.

Who it's genuinely for

Families with small children, without question. Two suitcases, a pushchair and a three-year-old at the end of a long-haul flight is a moment when you're glad somebody else is carrying something.

A first trip to Paris, or a passenger who speaks neither French nor English. Hunting for a driver at a kerbside in an unfamiliar airport after eleven hours in the air is a miserable way to arrive.

A client you're receiving. Sending someone to wait in arrivals says something the journey itself won't — which is why our corporate accounts ask for it more than anyone else.

And late arrivals, when the taxi queue lengthens at exactly the hour you least want to be standing in it.

When it's pointless

If you fly often, alone, with hand luggage, and you know the terminal — then honestly, no. You'll be outside before anyone has spotted you. Meeting the car at the pickup point is quicker and costs less.

We'd rather say so than sell it to everybody.

What to tell us when you book

The flight number — it's what starts the tracking, and without it the whole arrangement loses its safety net. The terminal, if you know it. And the name to put on the sign, which isn't always the person booking: for a client or an executive, it should be theirs.