Limo & Car Service Glossary | A to Z Industry Terms

No terms under this letter yet.

Airport Transit System (ATS): The free automated people mover at Chicago O'Hare that connects Terminals 1, 2, 3, and 5 with the parking garages and the Multi-Modal Facility. Relevant to ground transportation because a passenger connecting between a domestic terminal and Terminal 5 needs ATS transit time built into any pickup estimate.
As-Directed: A booking type where the vehicle and chauffeur stay with you for a block of time and you set the route as the day unfolds, rather than naming destinations in advance. Billed hourly with a minimum. The standard choice for roadshows, multi-stop business days, and property tours.
Airside / Landside: Airside is the secure area of a terminal past the security checkpoint. Landside is everything before it, including baggage claim, ticketing, and the arrivals curb. A chauffeur meeting you inside the terminal is always landside, which is why meet and greet happens at baggage claim rather than at the gate.
Arrivals Level: The terminal roadway where passengers are picked up, normally the lower level at O'Hare. Distinct from the departures level above it. Booking confusion between the two is one of the most common causes of a missed connection between passenger and driver.

Black Car Service: Pre-booked, chauffeur-driven transportation in a professional sedan or SUV at a fixed price agreed before the trip. The vehicle and driver are assigned in advance rather than dispatched from whoever is nearby, and there is no meter and no surge pricing. The defining difference from a taxi or rideshare is that the arrangement exists before you need the ride. See our O'Hare car service page.
Base Rate: The core fare for a trip before tolls, airport fees, gratuity, wait time, or extra stops are applied. When an operator quotes a flat rate, ask whether the number is a base rate or an all-in figure, because the two can differ substantially.
Block Time: An airline's published schedule duration from pushback at the origin gate to arrival at the destination gate. Carriers commonly build cushion into block time, which is a main reason flights arrive early. See our post on flights that land early.
Baggage Claim: The landside area where checked luggage is returned. At O'Hare, international passengers arriving at Terminal 5 must collect their bags after clearing customs even when connecting onward.

Chauffeur: A professionally trained, licensed, and background-checked driver employed to operate a passenger vehicle for hire. The distinction from a driver is one of role rather than seniority: a chauffeur handles luggage, holds doors, monitors the route, and is assigned to your booking in advance.
CBP (Customs and Border Protection): The U.S. federal agency that processes international arrivals. At O'Hare, non-precleared international flights clear CBP in Terminal 5. Processing time varies with how many international flights land at once, which is why international pickup estimates carry more uncertainty than domestic ones.
Cell Phone Lot: A free short-term waiting area where drivers stage until their passenger is ready. Vehicles cannot idle at the arrivals curb, so every O'Hare pickup involves a call-forward from this lot. The drive time from lot to curb is why dispatch has to react before you reach the curb.
Corporate Account: A billing arrangement for companies that book regularly, typically including consolidated monthly invoicing, named traveler profiles, and priority dispatch. See corporate car service.
Curbside Pickup: The standard arrival meeting method, where the chauffeur meets you at the terminal's arrivals curb once you have your luggage. Contrast with meet and greet, where the chauffeur waits inside.
Cancellation Window: The period before a scheduled pickup within which cancelling incurs a charge. Windows vary by vehicle class, and specialty vehicles such as stretch limousines and coaches usually carry longer windows than sedans.

Deadhead: An unpaid leg driven without a passenger, such as the trip from the garage to your pickup point or the return after a drop-off. Deadhead mileage is a real operating cost and it is a major reason why flat rates vary by pickup location even for identical distances.
Dispatch: The function that assigns vehicles and chauffeurs to bookings and calls them forward in real time. Quality of dispatch, rather than quality of vehicle, is usually what separates a smooth airport pickup from a bad one.
Deplaning: The process of passengers leaving the aircraft after arrival at the gate. Deplaning a full wide-body can take considerably longer than a regional jet, which is one reason wheels-down time is a poor predictor of curb time.
Drop-Off: A one-way trip delivering a passenger to the airport. Timed backward from the flight departure using check-in and security windows rather than forward from the pickup. See O'Hare airport drop-off.

Executive Sedan: A full-size luxury sedan configured for business travel, typically seating three passengers with three bags. The default vehicle class for solo and paired corporate travel.
ETA: Estimated time of arrival. In airport ground transportation the meaningful ETA is curb time rather than landing time, and the two can differ by an hour on an international arrival.
Extended SUV: A stretched-wheelbase SUV such as a Yukon XL or Suburban, carrying more passengers and significantly more luggage than a standard SUV. Often the right answer for families where a standard SUV runs out of cargo space before it runs out of seats.

Flat Rate: A fixed price agreed at booking that does not change with traffic, time of day, or wait time. The core commercial difference from metered and surge-priced transportation. Confirm whether tolls and gratuity are included, since practice varies by operator.
Flight Tracking: Monitoring an inbound flight in real time and adjusting the pickup accordingly. Tracking that only reacts to delays is incomplete, because early arrivals are the harder operational problem. See arrivals and flight tracking.
FBO (Fixed-Base Operator): A private aviation terminal handling general and business aviation separately from the commercial terminals. Pickups at an FBO follow a different process, usually planeside or in a private lounge.
Fleet: The full set of vehicles an operator maintains, usually described by class, capacity, and model year. See our fleet.

Gratuity: The chauffeur's tip. Some operators include a standard gratuity in the quoted rate and others add it separately, so it is worth confirming which model applies before comparing two quotes.
Ground Transportation: The collective term for all surface transport serving an airport: private car service, taxi, rideshare, shuttle, and transit. At O'Hare, signage directs arriving passengers to designated ground transportation areas that differ by terminal and service type.
Global Entry: A U.S. Customs and Border Protection trusted traveler program that provides expedited immigration processing on arrival. Members typically clear Terminal 5 substantially faster, which materially changes a realistic pickup estimate.
Garment Bag: A luggage type that does not stack like a suitcase and consumes disproportionate cargo space. A recurring reason that wedding and business-formal groups need more vehicle than their headcount suggests.

Hourly Service: Booking a vehicle and chauffeur for a set block of time rather than a single point-to-point trip, subject to a minimum number of hours. Functionally the same product as as-directed service.
Hub: An airport where an airline concentrates connecting traffic. O'Hare is a hub for both United and American, which is why its arrival banks are heavily clustered and why curb congestion is highly time-dependent.

IATA Code: The three-letter airport identifier used on tickets and bags. O'Hare is ORD, a legacy of the site's original name, Orchard Field. Chicago Midway is MDW.
Immigration: The passport control stage of international arrival, completed before baggage claim and customs. Every arriving international traveler passes through it, including U.S. citizens.

Livery: The traditional industry term for for-hire passenger vehicle service operating on a pre-arranged basis. Livery vehicles are licensed differently from taxis in most jurisdictions, and the pre-arrangement requirement is the legal distinction.
Limousine: Strictly, a vehicle with a partition between driver and passenger compartment. In common usage the word covers stretch vehicles and, loosely, the whole chauffeured transportation category. See our stretch limousine.
Luggage Capacity: The number of standard checked bags a vehicle can carry, always published separately from passenger capacity. The luggage number is the binding constraint on most group bookings, as covered in our post on one Sprinter versus three sedans.
Layover: A scheduled connection between flights. A long layover sometimes makes a city trip and return worthwhile, which is a common as-directed booking at O'Hare.

Meet and Greet: A service where the chauffeur waits inside the terminal at baggage claim with a name sign and assists with luggage, rather than meeting at the curb. Especially valuable for international arrivals and first-time visitors, and it neutralizes the early-arrival problem entirely. See meet and greet service.
Minimum Booking: The shortest block of time an hourly or as-directed reservation can be made for, commonly two to four hours depending on vehicle class and day of week.
Motorcoach: A full-size touring bus, typically 54 or 56 passengers, used for large group transfers and multi-day charters. See our coach bus.
Multi-Modal Facility (MMF): The consolidated rental car and public parking facility at O'Hare, connected to the terminals by the ATS. Some ground transportation services stage or collect passengers here rather than at the terminal curb.

No-Show: A booking where the passenger does not appear and does not cancel within the agreed window. Airport no-show policies normally allow a defined grace period measured from actual landing rather than scheduled landing.
NEMT: Non-emergency medical transportation. A distinct regulated category from livery service, requiring different licensing and vehicle configuration.

ORD: The IATA code for Chicago O'Hare International Airport. It derives from Orchard Field, the airfield that preceded the modern airport, which is why the letters do not match the current name.
On-Time Performance: The share of an airline's flights arriving within a defined threshold of schedule. Under the U.S. standard, a flight counts as on time if it arrives less than 15 minutes after its scheduled time, meaning the metric measures lateness only and is blind to early arrivals.
One-Way: A single-direction trip with no return leg booked. Priced separately from a round trip, though booking both legs together normally coordinates better.

Point-to-Point: A trip with one pickup and one destination at a fixed price. The most common booking type, and the alternative to hourly or as-directed service.
Preclearance: A U.S. Customs and Border Protection facility located at a foreign airport, allowing travelers to complete U.S. immigration and customs before departure. Passengers from preclearance airports, which include select cities in Canada and Ireland, arrive in Chicago already cleared and may land at Terminals 1, 2, or 3 rather than Terminal 5.
Party Bus: A passenger bus configured with perimeter seating, entertainment, and lighting for group celebration travel rather than point-to-point transfer. See our party bus.
Peak Surcharge: An added fee applied during high-demand periods by some operators. Distinct from surge pricing in that it is normally a fixed, disclosed amount rather than a live algorithmic multiplier.

Quote: A price given for a specific trip before booking. A firm quote should name the vehicle class, state whether tolls and gratuity are included, and specify the wait time allowance.

Rideshare / TNC: Transportation network company services such as app-based on-demand rides. Legally distinct from livery in most jurisdictions, dispatched on demand rather than pre-arranged, and priced dynamically. At O'Hare, rideshare pickup happens in designated areas that are frequently not the same curb as private car service.
Roadshow: A multi-stop business itinerary, common in finance and sales, where a team visits several locations in one day. Almost always booked as-directed rather than as separate point-to-point trips.
Run: Industry shorthand for a single completed trip, as in an airport run.
Rate Card: An operator's published schedule of prices by vehicle class and route. See our pricing page.

Sprinter Van: A high-roof executive van seating up to 14 passengers with comparable luggage capacity, allowing a mid-size group to travel in one vehicle. See our Sprinter van.
Surge Pricing: Dynamic fare multiplication during periods of high demand, characteristic of rideshare platforms. The practice flat-rate operators define themselves against, since a quoted flat rate cannot move after booking.
Stretch Limousine: A lengthened sedan with an extended passenger compartment, bench seating, and a partition. Traditionally associated with weddings, proms, and celebration travel rather than airport transfer.
Staging: Positioning a vehicle near but not at the pickup point while waiting to be called forward. At O'Hare this happens at the Cell Phone Lot.

Terminal: A passenger building at an airport. O'Hare operates four: Terminals 1, 2, 3, and 5. There is no Terminal 4 in the current passenger configuration. See our terminal map.
Transfer: A one-way trip between an airport and another location. The standard airport product. See O'Hare airport transfers.
TSA PreCheck: An expedited security screening program for departing passengers. It affects departure timing rather than arrival, so it changes how early a drop-off needs to happen but not when a pickup should be staged.
Tolls: Charges for using Illinois tollway segments. Many O'Hare suburban routes involve tolls, and whether they are included in a quoted flat rate varies by operator, so it is worth confirming.

Unaccompanied Minor: A child traveling without an adult, subject to airline handover procedures. Ground transportation for an unaccompanied minor requires advance arrangement and identity verification at handover.
Utilization: The share of a vehicle's available time that is revenue-producing. A commercial metric rather than a passenger-facing one, but it explains why wait time and deadhead legs affect pricing.

Vehicle Class: The category of vehicle booked, such as luxury sedan, premium SUV, or Sprinter van. Class determines capacity and price, and it is the unit that rate cards are organized around.
VIP Service: An elevated service tier, usually combining meet and greet, a premium vehicle class, and additional coordination. Definitions vary by operator, so ask what is specifically included.

Wait Time: Time a chauffeur spends waiting beyond the included grace period, normally billed in increments after that period expires. Airport pickups typically include a longer free wait than city pickups, measured from actual landing.
Wheels Down: The moment an aircraft touches the runway. Distinct from gate arrival and very distinct from curb arrival, with the gap between them varying by terminal, aircraft size, and whether customs is involved.

Still not sure what you need?

Tell us your trip and we will tell you which service and vehicle class actually fits.

Get a Flat-Rate Quote Browse Services

More reading: O'Hare airport guide, terminal pickup guide, our blog, and frequently asked questions.