How do I book a Bristol Airport taxi, and how long does it take?

Choosing between firms? Run the seven-point checklist on Tick Taxi or anyone else before you book, and the Bristol Airport taxi companies compared guide sets out the other ways to get a car at the airport.

1. Enter your pickup point and destination for an instant fixed quote.
2. Choose the date, time and vehicle class (saloon, estate, MPV, executive or 8-seater).
3. Add your flight number so we can track it, plus any child seats or meet and greet.
4. Pay by card to fix the price and get the 20% online discount.
5. Check your email for the confirmation and the driver's number.

That's it. The price you see is the price you pay, in writing, before you travel.

• Your flight number, so we can track delays and early landings
• The full address, including a postcode and any gate code for a home pickup
• How many passengers and how many cases, so we send the right vehicle
• Whether you need child seats (£5 each) or meet and greet (£15)

If you're on a 4am flight, book the night before at the latest, and earlier in school holidays when demand is high. Pre-booking is what guarantees the car and the fixed price. Same-day bookings are fine when cars are free, but for a flight you can't miss, book ahead. For timing, see how early to get to Bristol Airport.

Online, the minimum is about 2 hours' notice, and for anything sooner you phone 0117 966 6666, so a same-day booking is fine if a car's free. Two points where earlier genuinely matters: a flight before about 6am, where booking the night before at the latest gives dispatch time to plan the driver's shift around it, and school holidays or bank holiday weekends, where demand across the whole city is higher and cars get held earlier in the day. Neither of those means same-day is unsafe, it just means the earlier you book, the less you're relying on something being free at short notice. If you already know your travel dates, booking weeks ahead costs nothing extra, the price is fixed either way.

Plans change. You can cancel free, with a full refund, up to 24 hours before pickup; inside 24 hours, 50% of the fare is charged, as set out in our terms. Changing the time is free more than 24 hours ahead, and you can amend a booking by phone or WhatsApp. Because the fare is fixed, a change to the time or vehicle just re-quotes cleanly rather than surprising you later.

If you only ever need one airport run, book online, take the 20% off, and you're done in the time it takes to find your card. Phone is there if the trip's complicated or you'd rather ask a person. We're not going to pretend booking is an ordeal that needs an app download, it's a form and a card, about 90 seconds.