Airport services and VIP in Georgia

The difference between meet and greet and a transfer

These are two different services and they are often confused. A transfer is a drive: the driver waits at the exit, takes you to the hotel, and that is where it ends.

Meet and greet begins inside the terminal. A representative meets you with a sign - before passport control or after it, as agreed - helps with the luggage and walks you to the car. The difference is that you are not left alone in the terminal.

Georgia's airports

There are three international airports. Tbilisi airport is about 17 kilometres from the centre, 20 to 30 minutes by car; it operates all year and around the clock.

Kutaisi airport is 14 kilometres from the city and about 230 kilometres - three hours - from Tbilisi. Some of the cheap flights from Europe land there, which is why a transfer from Kutaisi is one of the commonest requests we get.

Batumi airport is unusual in being only a couple of kilometres from the city centre - the transfer there is under ten minutes. Beyond those, regional flights to Mestia and Ambrolauri leave from the Natakhtari airfield near Tbilisi.

Which airport to choose

If you are staying in Tbilisi or heading into eastern Georgia, Tbilisi is the only sensible option. If you are going straight to the coast, Batumi is the shortest and Kutaisi the second choice - Batumi is two hours from there.

Kutaisi also makes sense if you are starting with western Georgia: Gelati, the canyons and Prometheus cave are an hour away. In that case there is no need to pass through Tbilisi at all.

For many people the most efficient arrangement is to arrive at one airport and leave from the other - landing in Kutaisi and departing from Tbilisi, say. We allow for that when planning the route.

When VIP is worth it and when it is not

We say it plainly: not in every case. If you travel with hand luggage, arrive on a morning flight and are not in a hurry, a standard transfer is entirely sufficient.

VIP makes sense in four situations. The first is a tight connection: forty minutes spent in the terminal can cost you the flight. The second is children or limited mobility, where the queue and the distance are a real problem.

The third is a night arrival, when waiting after the tiredness costs most. And the fourth is a business visit with a fixed schedule. If you are in none of those four, we will tell you so ourselves.

Timing: how early you need to be at the airport

The standard recommendation is three hours for an international flight and two for a regional one. That is not a formality: at Tbilisi airport, in the morning and late evening peaks, the check-in and security queues genuinely build up.

Fast track shortens that, but not indefinitely. It applies to passport control and the security check, not to the airline's check-in desk. So you still have to make the bag drop in time.

Our practice is this: we set the departure pickup at three and a half hours before the flight, not later. With fast track we take an hour off that. We send you that calculation in writing, so there is no argument in the morning.

Night flights

A significant share of arrivals into Georgia are at night or around dawn - that is a feature of the region's flight schedules. Some hotels run reception with reduced staff at that hour.

The practical consequence: on a night arrival we warn the hotel in advance and confirm that the room will be ready that same night. That is often charged separately and we agree it with you beforehand.

The driver follows the flight's actual time and not the schedule. If it is late, waiting up to two hours is included in the price - an aircraft's delay is not your fault and we treat it that way.

With children, elderly travellers and limited mobility

Two things make an airport hard with a child: the queue and the distance to the exit. Meet and greet solves both - the representative takes the luggage and shows you the shortest route.

Child seats are in all our vehicles and we choose them by age. We confirm that at booking rather than on the day, because the right seat is not always available at short notice.

For limited mobility, the wheelchair is the airport's own service and is booked through the airline; from our side come the meet and greet, the luggage and a suitable vehicle. We arrange both together, so the agreement sits in one place.

Luggage: sizes, excess and special items

A standard saloon with four passengers takes two large cases and two cabin bags. If there are five or more of you, or a lot of luggage, a minivan is needed - we have to know that in advance, because swapping the vehicle on the day does not work.

Special baggage is a subject of its own: ski equipment, a bicycle, a musical instrument, a hunting firearm. Each has its own rule both with the airline and in the vehicle.

Excess baggage is settled with the airline at the airport and is outside what we do. What we can do is leave a spare case in storage in Tbilisi - going up into the mountains, that is often the more practical answer.

Documents and border control

Crossing the border is the border police's competence and we do not interfere in it. Fast track shortens the queue, but it does not remove the check and has no bearing on the decision.

What is on us: we tell you in advance which documents you need for your nationality and for how long. Passport validity, insurance, an invitation letter - you receive that list together with the offer.

If you travel with a child and one parent is not present, an additional document may be required. That situation is common and we check it separately at booking.

Discretion

Part of what is here - the VIP terminal, personal security, a charter - exists precisely so that you are less visible. So discretion in this section is a technical requirement rather than an extra.

In practice that means: we do not disclose the name, we do not take or publish photographs, and the driver and the representative do not address you by name in a public space if that is what we agreed.

The wording on the sign is also a matter of agreement. If you do not want your name on it, we agree another marker - that is an ordinary request and causes no awkwardness.

Booking, confirmation and cancellation

To book, the flight number, the date and the number of passengers are enough. From the flight number we look up the time and the terminal ourselves - so you do not have to write out everything by hand.

The standard notice is 24 hours. Fast track, the VIP terminal and a charter need more: the first two 48 hours, and a charter several days, because permits and slots are arranged in advance.

Cancellation is free with 24 hours' notice. If the airline cancelled or moved the flight, moving the booking is free with us too - that is the case where the decision was not yours.

What we do not do

We do not sell tickets on scheduled flights - that is the business of airlines and agents, and we do not broker where we add nothing.

We do not influence the decision at border control and we promise nobody entry. Anyone who promises you that is not telling the truth.

And we do not arrange a service whose standard we cannot control. If a particular request is beyond what we can do, we say so plainly and, where we can, point you in a direction.

What the price covers

For each service the price is fixed and known in advance. Meet and greet covers the representative, help with the luggage and the escort; a transfer covers the vehicle, the driver, fuel and parking.

Charged separately is whatever is the airport's or the airline's own service: the fast track fee, lounge entry, excess baggage. We arrange those, but the money is the provider's and it appears as its own line in the offer.

Waiting up to two hours for a delayed flight is included. Beyond that is charged separately and only with your agreement - a driver never quietly runs up the hours without telling you.

Entering Georgia: visas and duration

Georgia's entry regime is unusually liberal for the region. Citizens of many countries may stay visa-free for up to a year - that is a rare provision and often an unexpected one.

For everybody else there is an electronic visa system and the application is filled in online. Processing usually takes a few working days, so we start it as soon as the booking is made rather than in the last week.

We check your particular case against your passport and write it into the offer. The decision to admit you is always the border police's - nobody can promise you that.

Charter and regional flights: when they make sense

A charter is often taken for a luxury, though sometimes it is simply the only option. Scheduled flights to Mestia and Ambrolauri run on small aircraft and the seats are limited - for a group a charter often turns out simpler as well.

The second case is time. Mestia is 8 to 9 hours by road and one by air. On a five-day visit that is two whole days gained - and it is usually on that calculation that the decision rests.

The main constraint is the weather. At mountain airfields a flight goes at dawn or not at all, and cancellations are not rare. So we always plan a flight alongside a ground fallback.

Personal security: what it is and what it is not

Personal protection is a licensed activity in Georgia and only companies holding the relevant permit carry it out. We arrange the service rather than perform it - and we tell you in advance who we work with.

In practice it is most often discreet accompaniment rather than what you see in films: one person in plain clothes who checks the route beforehand and is with you as you move.

The request usually comes from one of three reasons: a business visit involving the movement of large sums, a public figure who does not want attention, or a family in an unfamiliar country. Each is a different format and each is planned separately.

Corporate clients and delegations

A delegation at an airport is a logistics exercise of its own: often more than ten people, on different flights, at different times. In that case a single coordinator works and gathers every arrival.

Usually several vehicles stand at once and each has a particular passenger assigned by list. That is harder work than an ordinary transfer, but it is exactly where the difference shows.

Settlement in such cases is normally by transfer and against an invoice. The documents - contract, invoice, act - are issued as standard if it is billed to a company.

The geography of the terminal: exactly where you are met

The meeting point is fixed in advance and that matters more than it appears. At Tbilisi airport arrivals is one hall and departures is above it - if that is not agreed, the two sides stand on different floors.

The standard arrangement is this: after the baggage belt, at the exit, with a sign. If meet and greet is booked for before passport control, the representative meets you earlier and that is a separate service.

The driver's number and photograph reach you as soon as the booking is confirmed. It is the kind of detail that looks useless in advance and is the most useful thing you have on the day.

Why we track the flight and not the schedule

Every airport service of ours follows the flight's actual status. That means that if it is delayed, the driver comes out at the new time rather than the original one.

The same applies to a terminal change and to an early arrival. Both happen, and in both cases we find out before you do - which is exactly why we ask for the flight number rather than simply the time.

If the flight was cancelled and you fly another day, the booking moves free of charge. That is not treated as your cancellation, because the decision was never yours.