Important Questions You Should Ask Airport Transfer Operators
By: Fabiola Grosshan
Submitted: 2010-05-21 05:54:07 | Word Count: 558
When you book airport transfers you have to make sure you avoid any unwanted troubles. In order to do so, it is very advisable that you as certain questions that are very important for choosing the right service. Below you can review the top ten questions you should ask your operator:
1. Make sure you understand transfer booking procedure. What is the process for changes to your booking, what is the cancellation policy? There should be no fees for changes or cancellations up to a few days before your actual transfer date.
[ advertisement ]
2. Make sure your chosen airport transfer provider has license and registrations to operate in your country of destination (and your country of arrival). For example, you might ski in Meribel, which is in France but you might fly into Geneva, which is in Switzerland. Your airport transfer provider might have a French or European license but no Swiss license, which could put your transfer at risk. Transfer license are normally published on the transfer operator's website. If in doubt ask you chosen airport transfer provider.
3. Always ask for refund policy in case things go wrong - this is particularly important when you travel during peak holiday periods such as summer school holidays seasonChristmas, New Years, Half Term or Easter holidays.
4. Ask for contingency procedures in case of flight cancellations, traffic delays, missed flights back to your home country. Make sure you understand before you travel what the transfer operator will do. How will your airport transfer operator deal with potential delays, cancellations and problems?
5. Check how much luggage, golf or ski equipment you are allowed to take with you on the airport transfer. This may depend on the size of your group or the size or type of the transfer vehicle. Some transfer operators impose limits and charge extra if you go above the limits.
6. Always double check airport transfer prices quoted - what is included, what is excluded, is there a group limit, is the price per person, single or return? Are there any other extra cost such as fees for waiting for late flight?
7. Make sure transfer drivers provided will be able to speak in your language or at least in a language you can understand.
8. Ask for transfer operators contact details post booking - make sure you get a local office number and a driver mobile number so you don't rely on a call centre number or on email to get in touch on arrival and during your holiday.
9. Check the airport transfer operator’s track record. How long has the company been in business, how many transfers per season, how many delays, how many complaints etc.? Sometimes travel web forums help to get you some user experiences.
10. Ask for quality related details such as the age and make of fleet vehicle.
Obviously there is no need to be paranoid about the airport transfer service you might get. Most airport transfer operators run a business. They want to make sure their customers have a positive experience. 99% of all transfers pass without any problems and in case of problems. The list above is just to make sure you got it all covered in case of problems.
