A pre-booked transfer is the one airport option you have to arrange before you fly. The other three you can decide on when you land, and how they compare is set out under airport transfers. This page is about making the booking.
You book before you fly, the price is fixed per vehicle, and the driver meets you in arrivals.
What you are buying
A price fixed per vehicle rather than per person, agreed before you leave home, and a driver holding a name board in arrivals. Nothing about it is faster than an app. What you are paying for is that none of it can go wrong at one in the morning.
Because the price is per vehicle, four people in one car usually beats four app fares. With six and luggage it is not close.
What they need from you
Have these ready
- Flight number
- The single most important field. It lets them track the flight and move the pickup when it slips.
- The address, not the name
- Small guesthouses and apartments are often not on the driver’s map by name. A street and number saves a phone call in the dark.
- How many of you, and the bags
- This decides the vehicle. Declare the pushchair and the golf clubs now, not in the car park.
- Child seats
- Required by law here for young children and never automatically included. Ask at the time of booking and expect to state ages.
If the flight is late
This is the whole argument for booking ahead. The operator watches the flight and shifts the pickup, and a normal delay costs you nothing extra. Most include an hour of free waiting after landing, which covers passport control and a slow bag.
An app cannot do that. At two in the morning after a three hour delay you are competing for whatever is left at the rank.
Paying and cancelling
You normally pay the full fare online when you book, and free cancellation up to a day before is standard. Check the specific listing, because the window belongs to the operator rather than the site selling it.
The return leg is worth booking at the same time. Hotels will arrange one for you on the day, usually at a worse price.
When not to bother
Two people landing in the afternoon with hand luggage, staying in Sliema or St Julian’s, will do fine on an app for less. The case for booking ahead is a late arrival, a family, a lot of luggage, or a hotel somewhere the driver will need an address for.
Book an airport transferThe other three ways in are compared under airport transfers, and the airport itself under the Malta Airport guide.