Meet-and-greet or curbside: when the greeter is worth paying for

Curbside means the chauffeur meets the traveller at a named door. Meet-and-greet means a person waits inside the terminal with a name board, takes the luggage, and walks the traveller to the car. The second option adds cost, and for a seasoned traveller flying domestic with a carry-on it adds almost nothing else.

When it earns its money

A first international arrival at an unfamiliar airport, where the traveller comes out of customs into a hall of strangers holding signs. A client or candidate you are hosting, where being met is part of the impression. A traveller with mobility needs, or with more luggage than hands. A very late arrival when the terminal is thinning out. And anyone travelling who simply does not want to problem-solve after eleven hours in the air.

When it does not

A partner who flies the same shuttle every week and knows exactly which door he wants. A domestic arrival with a roller bag at ten in the morning. In both cases the greeter adds a step: the traveller has to find the greeter, who then walks him to the car he could have reached faster alone.

The case nobody thinks about

Hosting someone. If you are flying in a candidate for a final-round interview, or a client for a board meeting, the greeter is not a transport decision — it is the first thing that happens to them in your city. A name board with your firm on it, at the exit of a long flight, does more for the day than most of what follows. Costed against the flight and the hotel, it is a rounding error.

A middle option

For a regular traveller who occasionally needs more support, some trips can be booked curbside with the chauffeur instructed to come inside if the passenger does not appear within a set window. That is a dispatcher instruction rather than a product, and it is worth asking for by name rather than assuming it happens.