Operations
Our operations desk. Answered at any hour by a person who can see your booking and move the car.
A chauffeur company is only as good as the room behind it. Ours watches aircraft, traffic and diaries around the clock, so that most of what goes wrong is dealt with before anyone thinks to tell you.
- 20+years in private travel
- Ownedchauffeur fleet in London and Manchester, a trusted global network beyond
- 24/7operations desk, one contact
- 3services on one itinerary: car, jet and yacht
In partnership with Harrods Aviation · Signature Aviation · SW Global
What it is
A staffed desk, not an answering service
Our operations centre is a room with people in it, working through the night as well as the day. It is not a voicemail box that wakes somebody up, and it is not a call centre reading from a script. The person who answers at three in the morning can see your booking, knows which chauffeur is on it and can move a car while still talking to you.
Our office sits at London Luton Airport, at Office 32, Hangars 7 and 8 on Percival Way. That is not an accident of property. A great deal of our work begins or ends at an aircraft, and being on an airfield is a useful education in how often an aircraft does something other than what the schedule says.
What the desk watches
Everything that could move your car
- Scheduled flights by flight number, from the moment the aircraft leaves the gate at the other end
- Private flights by tail number, with the handling agent's estimate alongside it
- Diversions, slot changes and the long taxi at a busy hour
- Motorway incidents, city closures, protests, roadworks and the events that shut a district for an evening
- Weather that changes a journey time, and the weather that changes an airport
- Every chauffeur's progress towards every job, so a car that will be late is replaced rather than apologised for
- Your own changes, whenever they arrive and from whoever sends them
A journey, from the desk's side
What happens around your booking
- 01
The day before
The journey is checked in full: flight or tail number, route for that hour, access at both ends, preferences and requests. The chauffeur is briefed and you are sent their name and number.
- 02
Before the car leaves
The aircraft and the traffic are looked at again, and the departure time is set from what is happening rather than what was planned a week ago.
- 03
While you travel
The desk follows the car and the aircraft together. If either moves, the other moves with it, and any onward journey is adjusted at the same time.
- 04
When something changes
We act first and tell you second, unless it affects your timing, in which case you hear it from us before you notice it yourself.
Reaching us
One number, any hour
- Telephone+44 2030 048300Answered at any hour of any day, including the small hours.
- WhatsApp+44 7727 111747The way most assistants send a change. Written, so nothing is misheard.
- By dayYour own contactA named person who knows you, your travellers and your preferences.
- Where we areLondon Luton AirportOffice 32, Hangars 7 and 8, Percival Way, Luton LU2 9LX.
Account clients are given the direct route to the desk and can name everyone who is allowed to book and change journeys.
Private flights
A tail number tells you more than a schedule
A private aircraft rarely behaves like a scheduled one. There may be no flight number in the ordinary sense, the departure can move earlier as easily as later, and the useful information sits with the handling agent rather than on a departure board. So we track the aircraft's registration and stay in contact with the terminal, and we ask you for the tail number when you book rather than at the gate.
It matters at the other end too. An arrival into a private terminal can be off the aircraft and into a car within a few minutes, which is wonderful when the car is already there and embarrassing when it is not. See private jet and FBO transfers.
When something goes wrong
Dealt with before you know it exists
Nothing described here is unusual. A warning light on a car an hour before a collection, so a second car and chauffeur are sent. A flight into Luton put down at Stansted because of fog, so a colleague nearer the diversion field takes the job. A road closed for an incident, so the route changes while the client is still in a meeting.
The discipline is simple. Fix it, then tell whoever needs to know, in that order, and never let a client be the person who discovers the problem. We would rather make an awkward call early than a comfortable one too late.
For travel teams
We will work to your process, not ours
Travel managers, assistants and travel management companies each have their own way of booking, approving and reporting. Tell us how you work and we will fit the desk around it: named bookers, references on every journey, reporting in the format your finance team wants.
Questions people ask
About the desk
Is somebody really there at three in the morning?
Yes. The desk is staffed around the clock, because that is when a good part of our work happens: first flights out, long haul arrivals and the evenings that turn into mornings.
Who do I contact if my chauffeur is not answering?
The desk, on +44 2030 048300 or by WhatsApp. They can see where the car is and will ring the chauffeur while you stay on the line.
Do you track private flights as well as scheduled ones?
Yes, by tail number and through the handling agent. Give us the registration when you book and tell us the terminal.
Will you tell me about a problem or just fix it?
Both, in that order. We fix first and tell you as soon as it is in hand. If it affects your timing at all, you hear it from us immediately rather than when the car does not appear.
Can several people from our office contact you?
Yes. Account clients name their bookers and we take instructions from any of them, with changes confirmed back in writing to whoever sent them. We work with travel management companies in the same way. See travel management.
How quickly do you reply to a quote request?
Quickly, at any hour. We would rather tell you what happens than publish a number on a website that we cannot guarantee for every enquiry.
One contact, wherever you are