What Happens If You're Late — or Your Chauffeur Is: A No-Show & Grace-Period Guide

"What if I'm running late?" and "what if my car doesn't show up?" are two of the most common questions people ask before booking a chauffeured car, and the honest answer is that both situations have a real policy behind them — not just an assumption on either side. Here is how it actually works.

If your flight is delayed

This one is simple: every airport pickup is flight-tracked, so a delayed flight is not a no-show situation at all. Your chauffeur's dispatch time adjusts automatically to your actual arrival, and you get complimentary wait time after landing — 45 minutes for domestic arrivals, 60 minutes for international — before anything resembling a grace-period conversation even applies. See our winter weather flight delay playbook for how this plays out during a weather event specifically.

If you are running late for a non-airport pickup

Non-airport pickups carry a 15-minute grace window built in automatically. If you expect to run later than that — traffic, a meeting running long, anything — calling or texting dispatch as soon as you know keeps your chauffeur waiting rather than assuming you are not coming. Most delays inside a reasonable window are handled this way without any additional charge, as long as you communicate.

What actually counts as a no-show

A no-show generally means the passenger cannot be reached and does not appear within a reasonable window past the grace period, with no communication at all. This is different from running 20 minutes late with a heads-up call — the distinction that matters is whether you told dispatch what was happening. Our deposit and cancellation policy guide covers the related question of cancelling in advance rather than not showing up at all.

If your chauffeur is late

A chauffeur dispatched against your confirmed pickup time who is running late due to traffic or a prior trip running long should proactively contact you with a realistic updated arrival time — you should never be left guessing or calling in to ask where your car is. If a chauffeur is genuinely a no-show on our end, that is a service failure we take seriously and resolve directly with you, not something billed as if the trip happened normally.

How to avoid either situation

The single best thing you can do on either side of this is communicate early. If you know you are running behind, a quick call or text to dispatch the moment you realize it — rather than waiting until the grace period has already expired — gives your chauffeur the best chance to adjust and keeps the trip on track without friction.

The bottom line

Grace periods and flight tracking exist specifically so that reasonable delays on either side do not turn into a bigger problem. Call (877) 609-1919 with any questions about a specific trip's timing, or request a quote online for your next ride.