Booking & logistics
What should I plan when travelling with a family member who needs assistance?
Answered by the Toronto Airport Limo team · Last reviewed July 6, 2026
Plan three things before you book: which vehicle the aid and the luggage both fit in, how much slack the pace needs at each end, and who is responsible for the parts of the airport a car cannot reach. Folding walkers, rollators, canes and folding wheelchairs stow free in every vehicle and the chauffeur handles the folding and loading at both doors. Inside the terminal, assistance is the airline's to give, not ours — the exception is an airport pickup, where meet & greet ($65) puts a chauffeur in the arrivals hall with a name sign so nobody crosses it alone.
Decide who is doing which job
Travelling with someone rather than sending them alone changes the plan more than people expect. You become the person carrying two sets of documents, watching two boarding passes and pushing whatever needs pushing — which is fine until you are also the person hauling four bags to a curb. Splitting the day into jobs before it starts is what keeps it calm.
The chauffeur owns the road and the luggage: pickup at the door, bags in, bags out, and a hand at the car. Departure-side assistance inside the terminal — a wheelchair to the gate, priority boarding, help through security — is arranged with the airline in advance, usually when the flight is booked. It is a separate request from the ride, and it is the one people most often assume is included in something else.
That leaves you free to do the job that actually needs a family member: being the calm person beside them. Nobody should be simultaneously navigating an unfamiliar terminal, minding a spouse who walks slowly and trying to remember which door the car is at.
- Chauffeur: door-to-door driving, all luggage, the aid at both ends
- Airline: assistance inside the terminal, gate wheelchairs, boarding help
- You: documents, pace, and staying with the person you came with
- Book the airline's assistance separately — it is not part of the ride
The aid goes in first, the luggage goes in around it
Load order sounds like a small thing and is not. A folded rollator or transport chair that goes into the trunk first ends up under three suitcases at the far end, which means unloading the whole car on a departures curb in February. Say at booking that an aid is travelling and it goes in last and comes out first.
The space question is really a luggage question. A sedan trunk handles a folded walker and a bag or two comfortably. Add a week of luggage for two people and the SUV stops being an upgrade and starts being the sensible choice — six seats, a proper cargo area, and a higher seat height that a lot of passengers find easier to get into than a low sedan. The whole fleet is on /fleet/ with capacities.
One more detail worth naming when you book: which side of the car the passenger will use, and whether a front seat is easier for them than a rear one. Chauffeurs can position the car for either, but only if they know before they pull up.
- Folding aids stow free in every vehicle, at both ends of the trip
- Aid plus real luggage plus a companion: book the SUV, not the sedan
- SUV seat height is often easier to enter than a low sedan
- Mention the aid, the preferred door and the preferred seat at booking
Where the car's help stops — and how to cover the gap
On a departure, the chauffeur can go as far as the terminal doors with your luggage and no further. From there it is the airline's territory. On an arrival, the standard pickup has the chauffeur waiting kerbside once you have cleared customs and collected the bags, which means the walk from baggage claim out to the car is yours.
Meet & greet closes that second gap. For a flat $65 on any airport pickup, the chauffeur waits inside the arrivals hall holding a name sign, takes the luggage cart at the doors, and walks you to the car at your pace. When the traveller is unsteady, or the arrival is after a long-haul flight, or you are managing a person and bags and a phone that has no Canadian data, that is the piece worth paying for.
If the passenger cannot leave their wheelchair and must ride seated in it, none of the above applies: this fleet has no ramp or lift and no floor tie-downs. The wheelchair accessible airport transfer page sets out exactly which aids do and do not work here, and what to do instead.
- Departures: chauffeur to the doors, airline from there
- Arrivals, standard: chauffeur meets you kerbside after baggage claim
- Arrivals, meet & greet ($65): chauffeur inside the hall with a name sign
- Passenger stays seated in a non-folding chair: see the accessible-transfer page
Pace, and the minutes a car cannot give back
The drive is the fastest, most predictable part of an assisted trip. Everything around it is slower than the version in your head: getting out of a house, getting into a car, crossing a terminal, queueing. Assume each of those takes twice as long as it does when you travel alone, and the day stops feeling like a race.
Practically, that means an earlier pickup rather than a faster driver. Add 20 to 30 minutes to whatever departure time you would choose for yourself, and if the flight is an early one, remember that a 4 a.m. pickup means waking someone at 3 — a decision worth making deliberately rather than discovering the night before.
On the return, the flight number on the booking does the work. The pickup follows the actual landing, so a slow immigration queue or a long wait at the carousel costs nothing and changes nothing; the car is timed to when you are really out, not to when the timetable said you would be.
- Add 20–30 minutes to your usual departure timing
- Very early flights: decide the wake-up time deliberately, not at midnight
- Airport pickups are timed to the real landing, not the schedule
- SMS confirmation on booking, plus a reminder about four hours before pickup
Booking it so nothing is improvised
Book online at /ride/ at least three hours ahead; inside three hours it is arranged by phone on (416) 200-5070, day or night. Put every relevant detail in the booking rather than saving it for the chauffeur: the aid, the entrance you want at both ends, whether there are stairs at the door, who is travelling.
For a bigger trip, phoning is often better than a form. A two-minute call settles vehicle choice, seat position and door access in one go, and the booking that comes out of it is the same flat all-in quote you would have got online.
Whatever changes afterwards — an earlier flight, a different pickup address, one more passenger — the confirmation email's self-serve link lets you edit it yourself up to 12 hours before pickup. Child seats, if grandchildren are part of the party, are free and installed on request.
- Online 3+ hours ahead at /ride/, or call (416) 200-5070 any time
- Note the aid, the door, the stairs and the seat in the booking itself
- Self-serve edits up to 12 hours before pickup
- Child seats free, fitted on request
Quote a car sized for the aid and the bags
Related questions
Does bringing a walker or folding wheelchair cost anything?
No. Folding mobility aids travel free in every vehicle in the fleet, and the chauffeur folds, loads and unloads them at both ends. Say it is coming when you book so the aid is packed last and comes out first, rather than being buried under the suitcases on a departures curb.
Will the chauffeur help my mother into the car?
A chauffeur will open the door, steady the door frame, position the car close to the entrance and take every bag — the ordinary courtesies, done properly. Physically lifting or transferring a passenger is outside what a chauffeur does, so if that help is needed, it needs to come from you or from a service equipped for it.
Is meet & greet worth it when I am travelling with them anyway?
Often yes, because it removes the moment where you are managing a person, a cart and a stranger's phone number at once. For $65 the chauffeur is inside arrivals with a name sign, takes the cart at the doors and walks you both out. If the traveller moves easily and you have a carry-on each, a standard kerbside pickup is perfectly fine.
Can I book one car for the two of us and a third relative?
Yes — the fare is per vehicle, so a third passenger costs nothing extra as long as the vehicle seats them. Three adults with a mobility aid and a week of luggage is an SUV job rather than a sedan job; the instant quote at /ride/ prices both so you can see the difference before deciding.
What if my relative uses a power wheelchair they cannot leave?
Then this fleet is not the right answer, and we would rather say so before you book. There is no ramp, lift or tie-down system in these vehicles. Call (416) 200-5070 and we will point you to a dedicated accessible-van operator; the wheelchair accessible airport transfer page explains the distinction in full.
Keep reading
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- Can I book a same-day or last-minute airport limo in the GTA?
- What happens to my airport pickup if my flight is delayed?
- What time should my limo pick me up for an early-morning flight (3–5 AM)?
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