Answers to RDU airport transfer questions before reserving

Send the form with your address, flight number, date, and the number of riders and checked bags. The desk checks available dates and times with a car company in the Triangle, then replies with the fixed rate, the vehicle class and the pickup time. When you confirm, the desk places the ride. Before the ride you receive the car company's name and telephone number, the vehicle and the driver's first name.

A sedan carries up to 3 riders and 3 checked bags. An SUV carries up to 5 riders and 5 checked bags. A van carries up to 10 riders and 10 checked bags. Each rider may also bring a carry-on in any of the three. When your count sits right at the edge of a class, list the bag sizes in the request and the quote will suggest the larger car if the trunk looks tight.

The request form on the website takes requests 24/7. A request sent while the line is staffed is answered within 30 minutes, and one sent overnight is answered soon after 4:00 am. Reserving a few days ahead gives the car company the widest choice of pickup times. For a ride within the next 12 hours, telephone the desk rather than using the form, so the car can be arranged in time.

Give the age and weight of each child in the request, and say whether you are bringing a seat. North Carolina law requires the driver to secure every child in a suitable child restraint or seat belt, and young children in a seat that fits their age and weight. When the car company can supply a child seat, it costs $10 per seat per ride and appears in the quote. Otherwise, bring your own.

Drivers waiting for passengers stay with their vehicles and do not enter the terminals. While you are in the air, the car waits in the airport's commercial vehicle lot a few minutes away. Once you have your bags, text or call the driver and walk out to the pickup zone outside baggage claim: Zone 1 at Terminal 1, or Zone 8 at Terminal 2. The driver meets you at the car there.

Nothing changes on your side. The flight number in your reservation is used to follow the real landing time, so the driver adjusts to the later arrival without a call from you. The 45 minutes of waiting included in the fixed rate start from the actual landing, not the scheduled one. If you move to a different flight, reply to your confirmation or telephone with the new flight number.

We start from the measured drive minutes between your address and the airport, then add a traffic allowance: 10 minutes for towns up to 20 minutes away, 15 for towns up to 30, and 20 beyond that. Then comes the curb margin you choose; our tables assume two hours before departure. From Cary, a 17 minute drive, that puts the door time about 2 hours 27 minutes before your flight leaves. The car drops you at the departures curb of Terminal 1 or Terminal 2.

Snow is uncommon here. Long-term normals for the RDU weather station show about 3 days a year with measurable snow, and 1 or 2 with an inch or more, mostly in January and February. Heavy summer rain comes more often. When a winter storm is forecast, the desk contacts riders who have rides the next morning during the evening before, so a pickup can be moved if the roads call for it.

The figures on the pricing page are starting points, per car, one way, by zone and vehicle class. A sedan from Zone 1 starts at $65 per car, one way, and a van from Zone 4 starts at $235 per car, one way. Your quote states the exact fixed rate for your ride, with any extras such as an added stop at $15 per stop, before you reserve. The rate is the same at any hour of the day or night.

You pay the car company at the end of the ride, by card or cash in the car, the fixed rate shown in your confirmation. Nothing is paid on this website, and the request form never asks for card details. The desk is paid by the car company for each ride it places. Gratuity is optional, is not part of the rate, and goes to the driver.

Cancel or change by telephone or by replying to your confirmation. Before the car is dispatched (90 minutes before your door time or the scheduled landing, 3 hours for vans) canceling costs nothing, and the desk takes no cancellation charge at any point. After dispatch the car company may charge half the fixed rate, as your confirmation states. If the desk cannot find a car for your time, it tells you and you owe nothing. Details sit on the cancellation policy page.