Questions about airport transfers in Irvine, from counting bags to a reserved car

It follows the load. A medium or large suitcase, a duffel, a taped box, a bodyboard bag or a dive bag counts 1 load point; a carry-on or garment bag 1/2; a golf, ski or snowboard bag 2; a surfboard bag 3. A sedan takes up to 3 riders and about 3 points, an SUV up to 6 riders and about 6. The form works out the smallest size to ask for, and the airport transfer for luggage and gear in Irvine page lists every item.

Yes. Skis, snowboards, a bike box and a rod tube go on the ski, snowboard, bike and rod bags counter, 2 load points each, and ride in an SUV with the third row folded, at the SUV figure: up to 4 riders, gear laid flat behind them, about 9 load points. A surfboard bag has its own counter, and the desk asks each company about the board before a fare goes out, because not every company carries one. Load points guide the asking; they are never a promise.

Up to 6, in one car: a sedan seats up to 3 riders, an SUV up to 6, and an SUV with the third row folded up to 4, leaving room for long gear laid flat. By form or by phone, a request holds one car, an SUV at the largest. A load past what an SUV takes goes in the note, and the written reply tells you whether one car can carry it.

Either works. Ask in your request and the company can bring one, naming any charge for it in the written fare before your yes, or bring your own. A child seat takes a rider seat, not load points, and the note can give each child's age and seat. Under California law, a child under 8 generally rides in a child seat in a back seat; when a parent rides along, that duty sits with the parent rather than the driver, so the seat is still needed.

A local car company drives, holding its own California passenger-carrier permit and its own permit for each airport it serves. Before passing a ride on, the desk makes sure the company's state permit is active and in good standing and that it holds a permit for your airport, and it records each look-up. The written fare names the company and its state permit number; after your yes, the company confirms under its own name and sends the car.

Before your yes, the companies asked about a car receive only the ride details: date, time, pickup town, airport, riders, load and any child seats, extra stop or longer wait you ask for. Your name, phone, email and note go to one company, the one whose fare you accepted. Calls and texts reach only the number you gave, only about that request, and replying STOP ends the texts. The written fare comes by text, and by email when you give an address.

Each company accepts the desk's conditions in writing before it receives rides. Its fare for the ride itself is at most the printed figure for that town, airport and car size; an extra you ask for sits on its own line on top, and the whole written fare stays within $250 for the car, one way. If the company cancels or its car does not come, you owe nothing for that ride, and the company returns anything already paid for it. Whenever a company charges more than the written fare, it refunds the amount above it.

Every figure here is for the car, one way. From Irvine, a sedan to John Wayne Airport is at most $110 and an SUV at most $135; to Long Beach Airport, at most $150 and at most $175; to LAX, at most $170 and at most $215. Each figure is for the ride itself, the most a company may charge through the desk; extras you ask for come as their own lines, with the total within $250 for the car, one way.

The printed figure holds the ride itself: the drive, fuel, the airport's fee for the trip, road tolls on the route the company picks and any service charge. A tip for the driver is your call, outside the fare and never added by default. A child seat, an extra stop or a longer wait comes only at your request, each named on its own line in the written fare on top of the figure, before your yes; the whole written fare stays within $250 for the car, one way.

You pay the company that drives you, on a card in the car or through whatever its confirmation lays out; this site never takes a payment. For each ride it completes, a company pays the desk the same flat fee every company pays, and that fee already sits inside the company's fare, never on a line of its own. A free quote carries no obligation, and a ride is reserved only after your yes.

Each company accepts these terms in writing before the desk hands it a booking. Canceling costs nothing up to 6 hours before the pickup time; later, the company may charge up to the written fare, and a no-show counts only after the free wait runs out. A new time, address or load goes through the desk or the company's line in its confirmation, and the company confirms each change in writing; a changed load can bring a new car size and fare, within the same limits.

Pickup is on the lower level, at the spot the confirmation names: a white curb zone, or the Ground Transportation Center when the company's cars carry its markings. Bring your bags out to the curb; the driver stays with the car and helps load them there. Drop-off is at the upper-level curb of Terminal A, B or C. The airport asks every company to carry the flight number on its trip record, so have yours ready when you reserve.

At LAX, pickup is at the outermost curb of the lower arrivals level, outside baggage claim, at the door the confirmation names; drop-off is at the upper-level curb of your terminal. A small name sign inside the terminal is possible only when the company offers it in writing. Long Beach Airport has one terminal and curbside pickup on the median strip in front of it: you collect the bags, and the driver loads them at the car.

Free waiting at the airport counts from the time the flight actually lands: 60 minutes after a domestic flight, 90 minutes after an international arrival, timed by the flight number on your request; at a pickup address it is 15 minutes. Beyond that, waiting is charged only when you ask the driver to keep waiting, at the rate the written fare names, with the total within $250 for the car, one way. Each company accepts these waits in writing before it receives rides.