Airport pickup | U Want Taxi
Being collected from a London airport after you land works differently to being dropped off before a flight — the timing depends on when the plane actually arrives, not a time fixed weeks in advance. We track the flight itself, so the pickup adjusts to the real landing time, whether that's early, on time, or hours late.
When you book an arrival pickup, we take the flight number, not just a scheduled landing time. That number is tracked from the moment the flight takes off at the other end, so if it lands 40 minutes early, or two hours late because of weather or a delayed departure, the pickup adjusts automatically. You don't need to call and explain what happened — we already know.
Landing time isn't the same as being ready to leave. After a long-haul flight, clearing immigration and collecting luggage can take anywhere from twenty minutes to well over an hour, longer again if there's a queue at the border or a delay on the baggage belt. The pickup time is set to allow for that gap, based on the flight and the terminal, rather than assuming you'll walk straight out the moment the wheels touch down.
The driver waits inside the terminal, past the arrivals gate, usually holding a name board if you've asked for one when booking. Different terminals have different arrivals layouts — Heathrow's five terminals each have their own arrivals hall, for instance — so tell us the terminal as well as the flight, and we'll tell you exactly where to look rather than leaving you to search a crowded hall with a trolley.
If a flight is delayed on the ground before it's even taken off, tell us as soon as you know, though in most cases the tracking will already have picked it up by the time you land. For a longer delay — several hours, or an overnight one — the pickup is simply rebooked for the new arrival time rather than treated as a missed booking.
The fare for an arrival pickup is fixed at booking and doesn't change because your flight was delayed or because immigration took longer than usual. You're not charged extra for the driver waiting — that waiting time is already built into how arrival pickups are priced, since delays and queues are normal, not exceptions.
If you can't get a signal to check messages after landing, that's fine — the driver is tracking the flight independently and will be there whether or not you've been able to send a text. If you do have signal and want to double check, a quick message confirming you've landed is welcome, but it isn't necessary for the pickup to happen.
Group arrivals work the same way as a single traveller's, just with a larger vehicle if the headcount and luggage need it. Tell us the full party size when you book an arrival pickup, not just the lead passenger's name, so the car waiting at the terminal is the right size for everyone getting in it, with room for the luggage that comes back from a longer trip as well as the cases that went out with it.