There are many ways that airlines try to differentiate themselves in first and business class, from the inflight product, to the ground experience. In some cases the ground experience starts before you even get to the airport, as some airlines offer complimentary chauffeur service to and from the airport. In this post, I’d like to take a closer look at which airlines offer this.
Ultimately I can understand why some airlines struggle with justifying offering chauffeur service. While it’s of course nice to have a door-to-door experience, many premium flyers are traveling for business, and presumably they can expense transportation to and from the airport as well. Many airlines just found that they couldn’t charge a premium that justified this, so some airlines (like Virgin Atlantic) have eliminated it.
With that out of the way, let me share the airlines that currently offer chauffeur service, ranked roughly based on how readily available the service is.
Emirates first & business class chauffeur service
Dubai-based Emirates Airline offers the most readily available chauffeur service:
Unfortunately these opportunities are much more limited than in the past. Several airlines have cut this service altogether, while other airlines added fare class restrictions. At this point there aren’t any readily available award tickets that come with chauffeur service anymore.
If you’ve used an airline chauffeur service, what was your experience like? And did I miss any airlines offering this service?