Airport transfer businesses need one thing above all else: transparent, predictable pricing. A passenger booking a ride to Heathrow or JFK doesn’t want a meter running, they want a flat fare quoted upfront. RideCab’s geofence pricing engine draws polygon zones around airport terminals and city districts, then assigns a fixed fare between each pair. No distance calculation, no traffic variable, no surprises.
This page covers how RideCab is configured specifically for airport transfer operations. Geofence zones, flat fares per vehicle, flight-number fields, return-trip bookings, and multi-vehicle pricing in one system.
Why airport transfer businesses need geofence pricing
Distance-based pricing is the wrong model for airport transfers. It penalises the driver for taking the motorway (faster, longer) and rewards the customer who chose the slow city route. Flat-fare zone pricing solves this completely. Draw a polygon around the airport terminal, draw a polygon around the city district the passenger is going to, and set one fixed price between them. Every booking on that route charges exactly that amount, regardless of traffic, route choice, or time of day.
This is how every professional airport transfer company prices its rides. The taxi fare calculator for WordPress inside RideCab handles geofence logic natively, polygon zones drawn directly on a Google Map in your WordPress admin, fixed fares assigned per zone pair and per vehicle type.
Polygon geofences. Draw terminal zones (Heathrow T2, T3, T4, T5), city zones (Central London, Canary Wharf, Heathrow Hotels), and set fixed fares between each pair. Bidirectional rules cover both directions from one entry.
How to configure RideCab for airport transfers
- Draw terminal zones. In RideCab → Geofences, draw a polygon around each airport terminal you serve. Name them clearly: “Heathrow T5”, “Gatwick North”, “CDG Terminal 2E”.
- Draw city zones. Draw polygons for the areas you connect to the airport, “Central London”, “Shoreditch”, “Canary Wharf”, “M25 Hotels Zone”.
- Set fixed fares. In the fare rules section, create a rule for each zone pair: origin zone + destination zone + vehicle type + fixed price. Enable bidirectional to cover both directions.
- Add a flight number field. In RideCab → Forms, enable the custom notes field and label it “Flight number”, drivers use it to monitor arrival times.
- Disable distance pricing on airport vehicles. Set airport transfer vehicles to geofence-only mode so they never fall back to distance calculation.
The result is a booking form where the customer enters pickup and dropoff, and immediately sees a flat fare with no asterisks. That’s what converts browsers into bookings for airport transfers, see the full setup guide in our RideCab homepage documentation section.
Vehicle configuration for airport fleets
Most airport transfer operators run 3 to 5 vehicle categories. RideCab supports unlimited vehicle types, each with its own pricing, capacity limits, and geofence fare rules.
Economy Saloon
4 passengers, 2 suitcases. Lowest flat fare. Most booked vehicle for solo and pair transfers.
Executive Saloon
4 passengers, premium comfort. Mid-range flat fare. Popular for business travellers.
MPV / Minivan
6–8 passengers, 4+ suitcases. Higher flat fare. Families and group bookings.
Executive Minibus
Up to 16 passengers. Corporate group transfers and large families.
Return trip bookings
Airport transfers are almost always round trips. Out to the airport on Monday, back on Friday. RideCab’s return trip toggle lets the customer book both legs in one form submission. The outbound and return bookings are created as separate WooCommerce orders linked by a return reference, each with its own pickup time.
For operators who want to offer a discount on the return leg, WooCommerce coupon codes handle this automatically, a percentage or flat discount applied at checkout when both trips are booked together. The WooCommerce taxi booking plugin architecture means no custom discount logic needs to be written.
Payment and invoicing
Airport transfer customers increasingly want to pay online at the time of booking, not on arrival. RideCab processes payment through WooCommerce, which means Stripe, PayPal, Mollie, Apple Pay, Google Pay, and every other WooCommerce-supported gateway work without any extra integration. For corporate accounts, bank transfer and invoice payment are both available.
PDF invoices generate automatically on booking completion and are sent to the customer’s email. For corporate clients who need VAT invoices, RideCab’s invoice templates include all required fields. The full invoicing setup is covered in the online taxi reservation system on WordPress guide.
WordPress vs SaaS for airport transfers
SaaS platforms designed for real-time ride-hailing are the wrong tool for pre-booked airport transfers. Airport transfers are booked hours or days in advance, the customer knows their flight time, they know the pickup address, they want confirmation immediately. None of this requires live GPS dispatch or algorithmic driver matching.
What it requires is exactly what RideCab provides: flat-fare booking, instant confirmation, automated email, PDF invoice, and a clean booking form on your own branded website. The complete WordPress taxi booking system for airport transfers costs $79 one-time plus hosting. A SaaS platform for the same operation costs $50–300 per vehicle per month.
Frequently asked questions
Can I set different flat fares for different terminals?
Yes. Each terminal is a separate geofence zone. You can set different fares for Heathrow T2, T3, T4, and T5 if your pricing varies by terminal.
Does the booking form support a flight number field?
Yes. Enable the custom notes field in the form settings and relabel it ‘Flight number’. The driver sees it on the booking detail page.
Can customers book a return trip in the same booking?
Yes. The return trip toggle in the booking form lets customers specify a return pickup time. Two linked orders are created, each with its own confirmation email.
Do geofence fares override distance-based pricing?
Yes. It checks geofences first. If a matching zone pair is found for the selected vehicle, that fixed fare is used and distance pricing is bypassed entirely.
What payment gateways work for airport transfer bookings?
All WooCommerce-supported gateways, Stripe, PayPal, Mollie, Apple Pay, Google Pay, bank transfer, and cash on delivery. No extra integration needed.
Can I restrict the booking form to airport routes only?
Yes. Set airport transfer vehicles to geofence-only pricing. If a customer enters addresses outside your defined zones, the form shows no available vehicles for those vehicles, directing them to contact you directly.