Airport transport: Taxi or lease car?

Most employees take a lease car to the airport. But is this always the best and the cheapest option? While a taxi may seem like a more expensive option, parking at Düsseldorf International only becomes economically advantageous after a period of five days. For longer-term parking, taxi transport becomes the cheaper option. An added advantage of taxi transport is that it gives business travellers leaving for an early flight the chance to read a newspaper and eat breakfast on the way there. They also avoid the stress of having to find a parking spot and don't have to worry about lugging their suitcases through an abandoned car park and fiddling with credit card receipts. Perhaps more importantly, business travellers who arrive at the airport relaxed tend to get the most out of their trip.

But there are also disadvantages. What if the departure time changes? In that case, you have to let your driver know that the flight is delayed. Fortunately, there are technological applications that give the driver real-time updates on flight schedules thanks to a link between the taxi's data terminal and the airline's departure website. So that's the first disadvantage covered. The second is to make sure your colleague finds the driver at the busy terminal when he or she returns from a long and tiring business trip. This also has a simple solution. You could send a text message with the driver's location, which can be fully automated by the taxi company if they have your colleague's mobile phone number.

A travel agent can help you book the tickets and the airport transfer so you don't have to worry about a thing. Why not try it out? Arrange an airport transfer for a colleague's business trip and evaluate how things went when they get back. Chances are, they will be satisfied with how things were arranged and you will save money for your company.