Airport Meet and Greet Service: A Name Board Inside Arrivals, Then a Private Car

Nobody enjoys the first twenty minutes after a long flight. The queue at border control, the carousel, the unfamiliar hall and then the question of where the driver is standing. An airport meet and greet removes the last of those. A named person, holding a board with your name, is where you expect them, and the rest of the arrival follows from there.

This page explains exactly what meet and greet means at Onroutz.ca, where it works well, where it does not, and how it differs from the assistance services that some airports sell separately.

What is an airport meet and greet service?

Without meet and greet, a pre-booked car still collects you. The chauffeur waits at a pickup point and you find them with the help of a text or call. With meet and greet, the chauffeur is inside the arrivals hall, standing where arriving passengers walk out, with your name or alias on a board.

You do not need it for every trip. It is a good fit for:

• First visits. You do not know the airport, the signs or the language.
• Families with children. Bags, strollers and car seats all need a second pair of hands.
• Older travellers. The walk from the arrivals door to a pickup lane can be long.
• Business travellers on a clock. A person who is already waiting saves the minutes spent hunting for a car.
• Anyone who prefers not to use a phone after a flight.

How meet and greet works, step by step

1. Book and ask. Choose "meet and greet" in the booker, or tell the desk. Enter the flight number, passenger count and bag count.
2. Receive the confirmation. It shows the vehicle class, the pickup arrangement and the contact route for the 24/7 desk.
3. Your flight is tracked. The chauffeur is positioned for the real landing time, not the scheduled one.
4. You clear the border and collect bags. Nothing on the car side speeds up or slows down this step.
5. The chauffeur meets you in arrivals, name board in hand.
6. Bags go to the car. The chauffeur walks you to the vehicle, and from the vehicle onward it is an ordinary private transfer.

The booker shows the fixed all-in fare for your exact pickup, drop-off and vehicle before you pay. Your confirmation spells out what is included.

Check your fixed fare

Free waiting time and tracking

Meet and greet only works if the chauffeur is there when you are. That depends on two things the desk controls.

Flight tracking. Every airport pickup is tracked. A flight that lands 40 minutes late moves the chauffeur's position by 40 minutes without a phone call.

Waiting time.

• 60 minutes free after international landings.
• 30 minutes free after domestic landings.
• 15 minutes free on other pickups, such as hotels and addresses.

International arrivals get the longest window because they carry the longest uncertainty: border queues, checked luggage and, at times, secondary inspection. Train and ship arrivals are tracked too, which matters for meeting a passenger at a station or cruise terminal rather than an airport.

What the border queue looks like

Meet and greet does not change the border process, so it helps to know what the process involves. At Canada's larger airports, travellers use self-service kiosks or eGates before an officer. The Canada Border Services Agency lists kiosks at Toronto Pearson Terminals 1 and 3, together with Billy Bishop Toronto City, Ottawa, Montréal-Trudeau, Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, Winnipeg, Halifax, Québec City and Hamilton, and eGates at Toronto Pearson Terminal 1. Passengers verify identity and make an on-screen declaration there.

Where a country asks for an advance travel authorization, that comes first. Visa-exempt foreign nationals who fly to Canada generally need an eTA, and IRCC states that U.S. citizens do not. The authorization costs CAD $7 and is valid for up to five years or until the passport expires. If you land without it you will not reach the arrivals hall at all, so check before you board.

The consequence for the chauffeur is that nobody can predict the minute you walk out. The hall may be empty one moment and full the next, because two flights landed together. That is the reason for the generous waiting time.

Alias name boards and privacy

A name board shouts. Anyone in the hall can read it.

For passengers who prefer to stay unnoticed, the board can show an alias. You agree the code name at booking, tell the passenger what to look for, and the chauffeur is briefed accordingly. A company can show its own name instead of an individual's. A family can use a nickname.

Beyond the board, a few discretion rules apply to every Onroutz.ca booking. Discretion is standard: no photos of clients, no posts about journeys, NDAs on request. For high-profile arrivals the whole picture, including private terminals, is explained in the guide on why celebrities and VIPs book a discreet private car.

Where meeting happens: the options compared

Airports differ in where they allow a chauffeur to stand. The common patterns are below.

The last row is worth understanding. Some airports offer their own concierge or assistance products that sit separately from a driver. At Heathrow, for example, the airport's Meet & Assist page describes a guidance service delivered by independent providers, covering immigration procedures, baggage and finding your way around. That is a different product from a chauffeur holding a board. If you want airside help with formalities, ask whether the airport offers it. Onroutz.ca's meet and greet is the driver-side service.

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Meet and greet in different regions

The rules for where a chauffeur may stand are set by each airport and the local authority, which is why the same product looks slightly different around the world.

• Toronto and the GTA. The Onroutz.ca fleet and chauffeurs handle the pickup from Toronto's airports. See the Toronto Pearson airport page for the terminal-level detail.
• USA and Canada beyond Toronto. A vetted, licensed and commercially insured local transfer partner delivers the ride, and the Toronto desk books, confirms, supports and invoices it. The USA hub and Canada hub show where.
• Europe. The London Heathrow page and the Europe hub explain the arrival halls and pickup arrangements at major airports.
• Gulf. Travellers arriving in the Gulf often want a named person at arrivals, so there are dedicated pages for Dubai airport and Abu Dhabi airport, and the Middle East hub.
• Asia-Pacific. The Asia-Pacific hub lists the airports where Onroutz.ca partners operate.

The age limit for partner vehicles is four model years, extended to seven for Rolls-Royce, Bentley and Maybach. Onroutz.ca does not own cars or offices abroad. The booking, confirmation, support and invoice all remain with the Toronto desk.

The meet and greet hub gathers the airport-specific pages in one list.

Meet and greet versus a train, a taxi or a rideshare

The honest comparison depends on the airport. Toronto offers a good example because it has a fast rail link. The UP Express runs between Pearson and Union Station in 28 minutes, according to its own site, and the adult one-way fare is $12.35 as of 2026. For one traveller with a single bag and a downtown destination, that is a strong option.

A meet and greet earns its place when:

• three or more people are travelling,
• bags are heavy or numerous,
• children or older relatives are with you,
• the flight lands late at night,
• the destination is not near Union Station, or
• you need to be on a phone call or in a meeting the moment you leave the hall.

For a fuller comparison of options, the guide on airport transfer versus taxi versus rideshare sets them side by side.

Vehicles and extras

Meet and greet can be added to any vehicle class. The cars are described as "or similar", with the exact model confirmed at booking.

• Executive Sedan. Mercedes-Benz E-Class, Cadillac or similar. Up to 3 passengers, with 2 large and 2 cabin bags.
• First Class Sedan. S-Class, BMW 7 Series or similar. Up to 3 passengers.
• Luxury SUV. Cadillac Escalade, GMC Yukon Denali, Chevrolet Suburban or similar. Up to 6 passengers and 5 to 6 large bags.
• Executive Sprinter. Mercedes-Benz Sprinter. Up to 12 passengers and 12 bags.
• Mini-coach and coach. 20 to 56 seats, on request.

Child seats come in infant, toddler and booster sizes and can be added to the booking. Water and phone charging are provided in most vehicles. See the fleet page for each class, or the airport transfers service page for the transfer itself.

Meet and greet for business and VIP travel

Business travellers often value meet and greet most when they are carrying a laptop and nothing else. A chauffeur who meets them inside the hall, takes a bag and goes straight to the car lets them keep working. The executive car service page covers corporate accounts, and the VIP transportation page covers privacy-focused arrivals.

Corporate accounts with monthly invoicing are available, and multi-leg itineraries sit on one booking. A traveller flying Toronto to London to Dubai can have a named chauffeur at each stop on one confirmation.

Cancellation

More than 72 hours' notice carries no charge. At 72 hours or less the fee is 10%, at 48 hours or less 50%, and at 24 hours or less or a no-show 100%, all counted from the scheduled pickup. Large events can have a different deadline, printed on the confirmation.

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