The short answer
When your flight is delayed, you shouldn't have to do a thing. A well-run chauffeur service tracks your flight number, moves your pickup to the time you actually land and doesn't charge you for the airline's delay. The one question worth asking when you book is whether the included wait time starts at your scheduled arrival or your actual landing. Those two answers lead to very different bills, and very different evenings.
Picture the trip that doesn't go to plan
Most of us book an airport transfer picturing the trip that goes perfectly. The flight lands at 4:15, the car is there at 4:15, and you're on the highway by 4:30.
The booking that really matters is for the other trip. Your flight leaves Vancouver ninety minutes late, you land at 5:45 at a terminal you weren't expecting, and your phone is at 9%. What happens next was mostly decided when the booking was made, by one thing: whether the company works from live flight data or from a calendar entry.
The good news is that you can find out with a single question. Here's what to look for.
Scheduled or actual: the detail that decides everything
This is the most important detail in any airport booking, and it's rarely explained clearly.
Some providers start the clock at your scheduled arrival. A 4:15 flight means a 4:15 pickup. If you land at 5:45, the included wait ran out long before you reached the curb, and you're paying for waiting caused by a delay you had nothing to do with. In the worst case, the car has been released and you're looking for another ride.
Others start the clock at your actual landing, using a live flight feed. If you land at 5:45, the included wait starts at 5:45. The chauffeur knew hours earlier that you'd be late and never left for the airport too soon.
Both get described as "flight tracking". Only one of them truly looks after you.
How Canadian Limos handles it
We work from your actual landing time. Every airport pickup includes complimentary flight tracking, your chauffeur is dispatched to your flight's actual arrival, and the grace period for luggage and customs starts the moment you land.
- Toronto Pearson (YYZ), Toronto Billy Bishop (YTZ), Montréal-Trudeau (YUL) and Vancouver (YVR): 1 hour.
- Ottawa (YOW) and Calgary (YYC): 30 minutes for international arrivals, 15 minutes for domestic arrivals.
At any other airport, the grace period is stated in your pickup instructions. Waiting beyond it is billed in 30-minute increments at $120 an hour for a sedan, $150 for an SUV and $300 for a Sprinter, plus tax and gratuity.
Whoever you book with, ask in exactly these words: "Does included wait time start at scheduled arrival or actual landing?" It's short, it's hard to misread, and the answer tells you more about a provider than anything on its website.
Landing isn't the same as reaching the curb
Even with the clock set correctly, there's a second gap that's easy to forget: the time between touchdown and the curb.
The Greater Toronto Airports Authority is refreshingly direct about this. In its guidance for people picking up passengers at Pearson, it says international arrivals need one to three hours to clear customs and collect bags, and suggests planning to arrive one to three hours after the scheduled landing.
That's a much wider range than most transfer bookings allow for. A domestic passenger with only carry-on skips customs and the baggage carousel altogether. An international arrival on a full widebody, with checked bags, a line at the border and a slow carousel, can easily take two hours or more.
So the type of arrival matters more than the time. Domestic, transborder and international arrivals give you three different realistic pickup windows for the same landing time, which is why it helps so much to tell us which one you're on.
Where the car can and can't wait at Pearson
Pearson's curb rules explain a lot about how executive pickups work, and almost nobody mentions them.
The GTAA says waiting isn't allowed at the Terminal 1 and Terminal 3 curbs or on the roads leading to either terminal, and idling vehicles are monitored around the clock. So a chauffeured pickup at Pearson isn't a car parked at the curb. It's a coordinated meeting: your chauffeur waits nearby, then moves when you're ready.
For pre-arranged rides, Pearson directs arriving passengers to the pre-arranged desk inside the terminal at Door A, at both Terminal 1 and Terminal 3, where you let the dispatcher know you're waiting for your ride. Your Canadian Limos booking also includes the arrival instructions for your airport, including where to meet your chauffeur.
What a good provider does while you're in the air
Most of the useful work happens before you land, and ideally you won't see much of it.
- It watches your flight continuously. Not once at dispatch time, but with a live feed on your flight number, so a delay registers when the airline posts it, not when you text.
- It changes the dispatch, not just the notes. A delay should change when the chauffeur leaves. That's what stops you paying for a car that sat at the airport for two hours.
- It follows terminal changes. Diversions and gate changes move people between terminals, and at Pearson, Terminals 1 and 3 are far enough apart that guessing wrong costs real time.
- It tells you first. You should get a message confirming the change before you have to ask.
- It sends contact details in advance. Your chauffeur's name and number and the vehicle details should reach you before pickup. If you land late at 1 a.m. with a fading phone, having that in your inbox matters more than anything inside the car.
What should happen when...
Your flight is two hours late. Relax, you don't need to do anything. The chauffeur is dispatched to your actual landing time, and the grace period starts when you land, not when you were due.
Your flight lands forty minutes early. This is less common but more disruptive, and it's where systems built on scheduled times stumble most visibly: you're at the curb and the car is still downtown. A live flight feed catches early arrivals too.
You're diverted to another airport. Now you need a person, not an algorithm. A diversion means a new pickup, sometimes in another province, so please call as soon as you know where you're landing.
Your flight is cancelled. Please don't worry about the car. When the airline cancels your flight, Canadian Limos reschedules your pickup free of charge. Just send us your new flight details as soon as you're rebooked, and we'll move your chauffeur to match. If you decide to cancel the trip altogether instead, the standard cancellation schedule applies: more than 3 days before pickup is refunded less a $75 processing fee; between 3 days and 24 hours, the charge is 25% of the trip value or $75, whichever is greater; between 24 and 12 hours, it's 50% or $75, whichever is greater; and within 12 hours, or for a no-show, it's 100%.
You're through customs much faster than expected. A lovely surprise, but still a problem if the chauffeur was told to arrive ninety minutes after landing. Good practice is a chauffeur waiting nearby who moves when you're ready, not on a timer, so let your chauffeur know the moment you're through.
What to include when you book
How smoothly a delay gets handled depends on how complete the booking is. These five details do most of the work.
- Flight number and airline. Without them, none of the tracking above is possible.
- Arrival type: domestic, transborder or international. It's the best single predictor of when you'll walk out.
- Terminal, if you know it. Just keep in mind that it can change.
- Honest passenger and luggage counts. The bags decide the vehicle, as our guide to choosing a sedan, SUV or Sprinter explains.
- A mobile number that will be switched on. Add a second contact, such as an assistant or colleague, in the booking notes in case your phone dies.
In short
Flight delays aren't an exception. They're a normal part of flying, and a transfer that only works when the flight is on time isn't much of an arrangement.
Good service isn't only about the technology. It's about someone deciding in advance what happens when the plan changes, writing it down and telling you before you need it. That's how we look after every arrival, so you can step off a long flight and simply be taken care of.
Planning a trip with a late arrival or a tight connection? Request a quote with your flight details, and we'll take it from there.
Frequently asked questions
What if I'm through customs much faster than expected?
Let your chauffeur know as soon as you're through, and the pickup can move up. Good practice is a chauffeur waiting nearby who moves when you're ready, rather than arriving at a fixed time after landing. At Toronto Pearson, the pre-arranged desk at Door A can also let them know you're waiting.
Will I be charged if my flight is cancelled?
No. If your flight is cancelled, Canadian Limos reschedules your pickup free of charge. Simply send your new flight details once you're rebooked, and your chauffeur moves to match. If you'd rather cancel the trip altogether, the standard cancellation schedule applies, based on how far ahead of pickup you cancel.
Does the grace period still start at landing if my flight is early?
Yes. With Canadian Limos, the grace period runs from the moment your flight actually lands, early or late, and your chauffeur is dispatched to the actual arrival time rather than the scheduled one. An early landing never eats into your included wait.
What should I do if my phone dies after landing?
Don't worry: your booking includes the arrival instructions for your airport, so you can follow them without calling. At Toronto Pearson, go to the pre-arranged desk at Door A and give your name to the dispatcher. Adding a second contact in your booking notes means someone else can be reached too.
