How many people and bags fit in the shuttle? Child seats, strollers, big luggage

Say how many of you are travelling

The passenger count is not decoration on a form. The operator plans runs from it: how many people one vehicle takes, and from what point a second or a bigger one has to be sent.

A typical parking shuttle is a van fitted with rows of seats and worked out for a handful of people with suitcases. Seats usually run out before load space does, and an extra body simply cannot get on, because every passenger needs a belt of their own.

Everyone counts, children and a baby on a lap included. It sounds pedantic, but the driver is planning belts, not heights, and a family of four travelling with two grandparents is six seats, not four and a bit.

At some lots a surcharge appears above four or five people on one booking. It sits in that lot's price list and you see it before you pay, not on arrival.

If the group changes after you book, write or call the operator. A correction costs a minute then. The same correction made at the barrier costs a whole run, because the driver has to come back for the rest of you.

Luggage: what fits unannounced, and what you declare

A vehicle's capacity has two dimensions and only one of them gets remembered. The first is the number of belts, the second is the cubic metres behind the rear bench. A group that fits on the seats can fail to fit by luggage, and it is that second dimension that decides how many pickups one booking turns into.

The rule itself is simple. One large suitcase and one cabin bag per person fit without warning anyone, because that is exactly what every operator assumes when planning the vehicle for a run.

Outside that rule sits anything long, rigid or unusually heavy: skis and boards, a bike in a bag, a double stroller, a wheelchair, fishing gear, a large instrument. Put those in the booking notes, because they do not so much take up space as block it.

Load space is often shared. One run carries several families from several different cars, so your oversized item pushes somebody else's suitcase out of the vehicle, not your own. That is why operators ask up front instead of improvising on the kerb.

Carry anything fragile or valuable in the cabin with you. Loading is quick, often in the dark, and done by someone who has no idea what is inside.

If the luggage grows after you book, because you bought skis or you are coming back with an extra case, report it the same way as a change in the group. An operator would rather know a day ahead than find out with the boot already open.

Child seat and stroller

Travelling with children raises two questions, and both are worth asking before you leave home rather than on the lot at five in the morning.

The first is the child seat. You can bring your own if the vehicle has a position with a suitable belt and, for some models, lower anchor points as well. Ask the operator before you unbolt the seat from your car. Some lots offer child seats as an add-on you pick while booking, and then the question disappears.

With an older child it is easier, because a backless booster goes in a cabin bag and takes no separate space. It is still worth mentioning in the notes if several families are travelling together and each of you is bringing kit.

The second is the stroller. A folding one goes in the boot with no discussion. A deep one, with a carrycot and a frame, takes the room of two suitcases, so declare it exactly as you would skis.

If you are flying with a small child and a full set of equipment, consider a lot where staff collect the car at the terminal. Nothing is transferred on the way then, and the child seat stays where it was fitted. Another text in this guide covers how such a lot differs from one with a shuttle.

The way back

The return works the other way round: you call the driver, not the other way about.

How to call the vehicle is set out in your booking confirmation. It may be a phone call to a given number, a message, or a set meeting point on a particular level by the terminal. Save it in your phone notes before you switch it off for take-off.

Call only once the cases are in your hands, after passport control and after the belt. A call made earlier means the driver waits where waiting is not allowed, and it usually ends in a second pickup.

The meeting point is often not where you got off on the way out. At many airports arrivals and departures sit on separate levels, so read the instruction to the end instead of going back to the same pillar you remember from a week ago.

If you are coming back as a different group than you flew out, say so as you order the run. Two people more than the booking often means a different vehicle, not a different conversation.

A big group or two cars

A group that does not fit in one vehicle is its own case. The earlier the operator knows, the less time it costs you.

Two cars can go on one booking or on two separate ones. The first is tidier to settle, the second works better when the cars arrive at different times. Either way, write in the notes that you are travelling together and want the same run.

With a big group, add your own time margin as well. Eight people with eight suitcases board more slowly than two, and if the operator plans two pickups, the last pair rides on a later run than the first. Half an hour more at the home end solves that without any nerves.

At eight or ten people, call instead of writing. The operator will say straight away whether there is a vehicle with that many seats, whether two pickups back to back are planned, and how much earlier you then need to be on the lot.

The closing rule fits in one sentence: count heads, count bags, and put anything that is not an ordinary suitcase into the booking notes. A vehicle sent out for a known load leaves at once; a vehicle sent out for a surprise goes twice.