Cancellation, Changes & Waiting Policy

Fair Terms. No Hidden Charges. No Surprises.

Travel doesn't always go exactly to plan.

Flights get delayed or cancelled. Bags take longer than expected. Pickup times change. Sometimes passengers simply need to change their arrangements.

Our policy is designed around one simple principle:

Keep us and your driver informed, and we'll be as flexible as we reasonably can.

We don't believe in adding unexpected charges every time something changes.

That's why we don't charge amendment administration fees, we don't operate an automatic hourly airport waiting charge, and we'll always try to find a practical solution when genuine travel disruption occurs.

At the same time, our drivers reserve their working time specifically for your booking, so there comes a point when a journey can no longer be refunded.

This page explains exactly how it works.

Our Designated Driver Approach

We don't wait for your flight to land and then simply dispatch whichever driver happens to be available.

Around 24 hours before your pickup, a designated driver is allocated to your booking.

You'll receive your driver's name and direct mobile number in your pre-pickup information.

From this point, your driver has reserved the necessary time in their working schedule for your journey.

This is why the 24-hour point is important:

Your pre-pickup email is normally sent 24 hours before your scheduled pickup and contains your designated driver's contact details.

Before your pre-pickup email is sent:

Your booking can be cancelled for a full refund and most changes can be made online.

After your pre-pickup email is sent:

Your booking becomes non-refundable because your designated driver's time has now been committed to your journey. Reasonable changes may still be possible, subject to your driver's schedule, vehicle availability and any difference in fare.

Cancelling Before Your Pre-Pickup Email Is Sent

If you need to cancel before your pre-pickup email is sent, contact our main office by WhatsApp or email. You will receive a full refund with no cancellation administration fee.

WhatsApp: +44 7907 052138

Email: info@newcastleairporttransfers.com

We'll process your qualifying refund immediately once the cancellation has been accepted.

Refunds will normally appear back in your account the same day or within one working day, depending on your bank or payment provider.

There is no cancellation administration fee deducted from a qualifying full refund.

Please don't simply amend your journey online to remove it. A cancellation request needs to be sent to our main office.

Changing Your Booking More Than 24 Hours Before Pickup

Need to change something?

Most amendments made more than 24 hours before pickup can be made easily online through your booking.

There is no amendment administration fee, and you can make as many reasonable changes as necessary.

This could include changing your pickup time, flight details, passenger information or other journey details.

What if my change affects the price?

We don't charge you for making the amendment itself.

However, if your new journey would normally cost more than the journey originally booked, you'll need to pay the genuine difference in fare.

For example, this may apply if you:

change the pickup or destination;
move the journey to a time when a different fare applies; or
need a larger vehicle.

We'll make any additional cost clear.

No amendment fee. Just any genuine difference in the journey price.

Vehicle changes are always subject to availability.

What Happens 24 Hours Before Pickup?

Around 24 hours before collection, your designated driver is allocated and reserves the necessary time for your journey.

From this point, the booking becomes non-refundable.

But there's an important difference between cancelling a journey and changing one.

Non-refundable doesn't mean non-changeable.

If your plans have changed and you still require the transfer, talk to your driver before assuming the booking is lost.

We'll try to move with your plans wherever reasonably possible.

Changes Within 24 Hours – Contact Your Driver

Once you're within 24 hours of your journey and have received your driver's details, contact your driver directly about any last-minute changes.

This is particularly important outside office hours.

Your driver is now responsible for your immediate journey and needs to know what's happening.

If your pickup time changes and your driver can accommodate the new time, we'll try to move the collection.

If the change requires a different vehicle or substantially different journey, this will be subject to availability and any applicable difference in fare.

We cannot guarantee every last-minute change, but we'll always consider what can reasonably be done.

Cancelling Within 24 Hours – Contact Your Driver

If you no longer require your transfer within 24 hours of pickup, contact your designated driver immediately.

Please tell them as soon as possible so they don't unnecessarily travel to the airport, your home, hotel or other collection point.

Bookings cancelled within 24 hours are non-refundable because your driver's working time has already been allocated to your journey.

Important: Don't Rely on an Out-of-Hours Office Email

Our main office isn't continuously staffed out of hours.

Once your journey is within 24 hours and you've received your driver's contact details, you must contact your driver directly about an urgent cancellation, delay or change.

Sending an email to an unstaffed office does not notify your driver and will not be accepted as notification that they should stop travelling to your pickup.

This avoids a situation where you believe you've cancelled while your driver is still travelling to meet you.

Within 24 hours? Contact your driver.

Staying in Contact With Your Driver

Communication between you and your designated driver is an important part of your airport pickup.

Around 24 hours before your journey, we'll send you your driver's name and direct mobile number, together with the contact details we hold for you.

Please check those details carefully.

Please Contact Your Driver When Requested

When you receive your pre-pickup information, please make contact with your driver as requested.

This confirms that:

you have your driver's correct contact number;
your driver can contact you;
the mobile number you've supplied works; and
both you and your driver have a direct way of communicating if anything changes.

If there's a problem with your contact details, this gives us time to correct it before your journey.

Contact Your Driver Again When You Land

For an airport collection, you must contact your driver when you land.

A quick text is enough.

This confirms that you've arrived and allows your driver to plan your collection using the most up-to-date information.

If your flight was delayed, please also keep your driver updated before takeoff wherever possible.

Flight tracking helps us monitor your journey, but it does not replace direct communication with your driver.

Make Sure We Have a Working Number

You are responsible for providing a mobile number that works on the day of travel and that you'll have access to during your journey.

Please check the number shown in your booking confirmation and pre-pickup information.

If you're travelling from overseas, make sure the number you've supplied will work in the UK, or provide another number that will.

If your number changes or you know you won't be contactable using the details supplied, tell us before your journey.

What Happens If You Don't Make Contact?

Our flexible waiting policy relies on communication.

Your driver will make reasonable attempts to contact you using the details you've provided.

However, if you:

don't make contact with your driver as requested before your journey;
don't contact your driver when you land;
provide an incorrect or non-working telephone number; and
cannot be contacted by your driver,

We cannot reasonably expect the driver to wait indefinitely.

After reasonable attempts to contact you and the applicable waiting period has passed, your booking may be treated as a no-show and will not be refunded.

Flight tracking does not replace your responsibility to contact your driver.

The simple rule is:

Make contact before travel. Text when you land. Keep your driver informed if anything changes.

Do that, and we'll have the best possible opportunity to work around delays and get you collected.

Airport Waiting & Flight Delays - No Ticking Waiting Meter

This is one area where our approach may be different from other airport transfer services.

Some operators provide a fixed number of free waiting minutes and then automatically start charging by the minute or hour.

We don't operate an automatic hourly waiting charge.

We understand that airports can be unpredictable.

Passport control gets busy. Bags can take longer than expected. Airport assistance can be delayed. Luggage sometimes goes missing.

We'd rather communicate with you and understand what's happening than automatically start adding charges to your fare.

Set Fares Not Surprises.

Only Ask Your Driver to Enter When You're Ready

For standard Newcastle Airport pickups, your driver will normally wait outside the airport grounds until you confirm you are ready for collection.

Only ask your driver to enter the airport after you have collected your luggage, completed anything else you need to do inside the terminal and are ready to go directly to the pickup point and your vehicle.

Once your driver enters the airport pickup area, airport parking charges begin. Your normal airport pickup charge is included in your fixed fare. However, if you ask your driver to enter before you are ready and this results in additional airport charges, the actual additional airport cost may be passed on to you.

If you need to get food or coffee, use the bathroom, have a cigarette or do anything else first, simply contact your driver afterwards when you're ready to go directly to the vehicle.

Simple rule: Collect your bags → Do anything else you need to do → Contact your driver → Driver enters the airport → Go directly to your vehicle.

How Long Will My Driver Wait at the Airport?

We don't have different waiting allowances for domestic and international passengers.

We normally expect passengers to be able to meet their driver within around one hour of landing.

However, we understand there are circumstances where this isn't possible.

If you're experiencing a genuine delay inside the airport and keep your driver informed, we can often accommodate a longer wait – potentially up to around two hours, depending on the circumstances and your driver's other bookings.

This does not mean every booking includes an automatic two-hour waiting period.

Equally, reaching one hour doesn't automatically mean your driver leaves or a waiting charge starts.

We look at what has actually happened.

Communication is what makes this flexible approach possible.

If Your Flight Is Delayed

We monitor flights when you've supplied the correct flight number, but flight tracking systems aren't always completely up to date.

Your driver also has other pre-booked journeys to plan around, so direct communication is extremely helpful.

Before You Take Off

If you know your flight is significantly delayed, send your driver a quick text before you take off.

Tell them your revised departure time and, if you've been given one, your new estimated arrival time.

When You Land

Always text your driver again when you've landed.

This is important because estimated arrival times can change while you're airborne.

A delayed aircraft can sometimes make up some of the lost time during the journey, meaning the arrival time originally predicted before departure may change again.

Your message tells your driver that you're safely on the ground and gives them the most accurate information for planning your collection.

Delayed Inside the Airport?

Keep your driver informed.

If you're stuck at passport control, waiting for missing luggage or experiencing another genuine problem, a quick message can make a significant difference.

Before takeoff: update your driver.

On landing: update your driver again.

Delayed in the terminal: keep them informed.

Significant Flight Delays

If your flight is significantly delayed, we'll try to move your collection to your new arrival time.

Often, your designated driver may be able to adjust their schedule.

However, this cannot be guaranteed.

Your driver may have another customer's pre-booked journey later in the day and cannot remain indefinitely available if your arrival changes by several hours.

If we can reasonably accommodate your new arrival time, we'll do so.

If the significant delay means we cannot accommodate the changed arrival time, the original booking remains non-refundable because the driver's time had already been reserved for your journey.

Cancelled Flights

If your flight is cancelled, contact your driver as soon as possible.

If you've been moved onto another flight, give your driver the new details.

We'll see whether your original transfer can reasonably be moved to the replacement flight.

If we can accommodate the change, we'll do our best to help.

However, a cancelled flight does not automatically cancel or refund your airport transfer.

If we cannot accommodate your replacement arrangements, or you no longer require the transfer, the original booking remains non-refundable where your driver had already been allocated.

Diverted or Rerouted Flights

If your aircraft is diverted or rerouted and you'll no longer arrive at the airport originally booked, contact your driver as soon as possible.

We'll consider whether we can accommodate your new arrangements.

Depending on the circumstances, this could involve a different collection time or, where practical and agreed, a different collection location.

Changes of airport or pickup location may result in a different fare and are always subject to driver and vehicle availability.

If we're unable to accommodate the changed arrangements, the original booking remains non-refundable because the driver and their time had already been reserved.

Why Major Flight Disruption Is Different

We understand that a flight delay, cancellation or diversion isn't something you've chosen.

That's why we'll always try to help.

But we're also different from a just-in-time taxi service.

Your designated driver has reserved a specific part of their working day for your journey. They may have turned down other work and may have another pre-booked customer afterwards.

We can therefore offer reasonable flexibility, but not unlimited availability.

That's fair to you, your driver and the next passenger who has also pre-booked their journey.

Passenger Rights Following Major Flight Disruption

If your flight is significantly delayed, cancelled or diverted, you may have rights against your airline depending on the circumstances.

These can potentially include compensation, care, alternative transport or reimbursement of certain reasonable expenses.

Eligibility depends on factors including the flight, length and cause of the disruption.

We cannot guarantee that an airline will reimburse the cost of an unused pre-booked airport transfer.

However, we recommend keeping your booking confirmation and payment receipt together with evidence of the airline disruption if you intend to make a claim with your airline or travel insurer.

If you require additional evidence of your transfer booking or payment for a claim, contact us and we'll be happy to provide it.

For independent information about passenger rights, refer to the UK Civil Aviation Authority's official guidance.

When Should I Call My Driver for Collection?

Once you've collected your luggage and are genuinely ready to make your way to the agreed meeting point, call your driver.

Please don't call to say you're ready and then go for food, coffee, shopping, a cigarette or another unnecessary stop.

Once you've called, your driver may begin travelling into the airport pickup area and airport charges may start to apply.

If you're not ready yet, that's fine.

Simply wait until you are before calling.

Airport Pickup & Parking Charges

The normal Newcastle Airport pickup charge is already included within your fixed fare.

Our current fare allows for the normal pickup charge of:

Cars – £6

Minibuses – £7

We don't suddenly add the normal airport pickup charge to your fare when you arrive.

However, if additional airport or parking costs are unnecessarily created because a passenger asks the driver to enter the pickup area before they're genuinely ready, we reserve the right to pass on the actual additional airport cost incurred.

This isn't an hourly waiting fee or penalty. It's simply an extra airport charge caused by the additional entry or waiting.

Non-Airport Pickups

For collections from homes, hotels, businesses and other non-airport locations, please be ready at your booked pickup time.

No Contact – Up to 15 Minutes

If we haven't heard from you, your driver will normally wait for up to 15 minutes after the scheduled collection time.

Your driver will make reasonable attempts to contact you before treating the journey as a no-show.

You've Contacted Your Driver – Up to 30 Minutes Where Possible

If there's a genuine problem and you contact your driver, we'll normally try to accommodate up to 30 minutes, where the driver's schedule allows.

If you're going to be longer, talk to your driver.

They'll consider what is reasonably possible based on their remaining bookings.

Again, communication is the difference.

No-Shows

We don't want to classify a customer as a no-show simply because something has gone wrong.

But drivers cannot wait indefinitely without communication.

A journey may be treated as a no-show where:

the driver attends the agreed pickup and the passenger doesn't arrive;
the reasonable waiting period has passed;
the passenger cannot be contacted;
reasonable attempts to contact the passenger receive no response; or
a significant change means the original journey can no longer take place and we're unable to accommodate the new arrangements.

A no-show or unused booking within the non-refundable period will not be refunded because the driver and their working time have already been committed to the journey.

Having a problem isn't the issue. Not telling us about it makes it much harder for us to help.

Fairness Works Both Ways

We believe a good cancellation and waiting policy should protect the passenger and the driver.

So our approach is straightforward.

We don't charge administration fees simply for changing your booking.

We don't automatically start an hourly waiting meter because you're delayed getting through the airport.

We'll try to accommodate delayed, cancelled, diverted and changed flights wherever reasonably possible.

We'll allow reasonable flexibility when something genuinely goes wrong.

In return, we ask you to keep us informed, contact the right person and understand that once your designated driver has reserved their working time, we cannot guarantee unlimited changes or refunds.

The Simple Version - Need to change something?

Before your pre-pickup email is sent?

You can cancel for a full refund with no cancellation administration fee. Most changes can also be made online.

After your pre-pickup email is sent?

Your booking is non-refundable. If you need to cancel or make a change, contact your designated driver directly using the details in your pre-pickup email. Reasonable changes may still be possible depending on your driver's schedule, vehicle availability and any difference in fare.

Flight delayed?

Text your driver before takeoff with the revised information and text again when you land.

Delayed getting through the airport?

Keep your driver informed. We don't automatically start an hourly waiting charge.

Flight cancelled, significantly delayed or diverted?

Tell your driver immediately. We'll try to accommodate the new arrangements, but if we cannot, the original booking remains non-refundable.

Need to change something?

There is no amendment administration fee. You only pay any genuine difference if the changed journey costs more.

Set Fares Not Surprises

No complicated waiting-time meter.

No administration fee every time you make a change.

No hidden normal airport pickup charge added when you arrive.

And no rigid one-size-fits-all approach when something genuinely goes wrong.

Keep us informed and we'll be as flexible as we reasonably can.

That's our approach to fair airport transfers.

Set Fares Not Surprises.

Cancellation, Changes & Waiting FAQs

Can I cancel my Newcastle Airport transfer and get a refund?

Yes. If you cancel more than 24 hours before your scheduled pickup, contact our main office by WhatsApp or email. Qualifying cancellations receive a full refund with no cancellation administration fee. Once your designated driver has been allocated, around 24 hours before pickup, the booking becomes non-refundable.

Can I change my booking without cancelling it?

Yes. If you cancel before your pre-pickup email is sent, contact our main office by WhatsApp or email. You will receive a full refund with no cancellation administration fee. Once your pre-pickup email has been sent, your booking becomes non-refundable because your designated driver's time has been committed to your journey.

Do you charge a fee for changing my booking?

No. We don't charge an amendment or administration fee. If your change alters the actual journey price – for example, you need a larger vehicle, change the journey or move to a time when a different fare applies – you'll only pay any genuine difference in fare.

What happens if my flight is delayed?

Text your driver before takeoff with your revised departure time and any new expected arrival time, then text them again when you land. We'll try to accommodate the changed arrival time. We don't automatically start charging hourly waiting fees because your flight is delayed.

Will my driver wait if I'm delayed getting through the airport?

Normally, we expect passengers to meet their driver within around one hour of landing. If you're experiencing a genuine problem and keep your driver informed, we can often wait longer – potentially up to around two hours depending on the circumstances and your driver's other bookings. This isn't an automatic two-hour allowance.

Do you charge waiting time at Newcastle Airport?

We don't operate an automatic hourly waiting charge. If baggage reclaim, passport control or another genuine airport problem delays you, keep your driver informed. We'll deal with the circumstances reasonably rather than automatically starting a ticking waiting meter.

What happens if my flight is cancelled, significantly delayed or diverted?

Contact your driver immediately. We'll try to move your transfer to your new arrangements wherever reasonably possible. If the significant change cannot be accommodated, the original booking remains non-refundable because your designated driver had already reserved their working time for your journey.

What if my flight is diverted to another airport?

Contact your driver as soon as possible. We'll see whether your new arrangements can be accommodated. Collection from another airport may involve a different fare and is subject to driver availability. If we cannot accommodate the change, your original booking remains non-refundable.

What happens if you can't contact me?

You must provide a working mobile number and make contact with your driver as requested before travel and again when you land. If your driver cannot contact you using the details provided and the reasonable waiting period expires, your booking may be treated as a no-show and will not be refunded.

When should I call my driver to enter the airport pickup area?

Call your driver once you've collected your luggage and are genuinely ready to make your way to the agreed meeting point. Please don't call and then stop for food, coffee, shopping or a cigarette, as your driver may already have entered the airport pickup area and additional airport charges could be incurred.

What happens if I'm late for a home, hotel or other non-airport pickup?

Without contact, your driver will normally wait up to 15 minutes. If you contact your driver about a genuine problem, we'll normally try to accommodate up to 30 minutes where their schedule allows.

I need to cancel within 24 hours. Who should I contact?

Contact your allocated driver directly using the number provided in your pre-pickup information. Don't rely on sending an out-of-hours email to the office. Your driver needs to know immediately so they don't travel unnecessarily to your pickup.