Airport transfer day: booking to completed trip

An airport transfer starts the moment a guest’s flight details land in a booking; it continues through driver and vehicle assignment; it closes when the trip is actually started and completed. This article explains which record and which state each of these three stages maps to, and what happens when something goes wrong along the way.

From booking to a draft trip

When a booking comes in — by phone, through an agency, or directly — the record opens with the flight code, flight time, passenger count and any meet-and-greet note. No driver or vehicle is assigned yet; the trip sits in a “draft” state and is deliberately invisible to drivers, because an unconfirmed job should not land in a driver’s day. Operations places the draft trip into the day’s plan and, if needed, enters price items (the transfer fee, an extra passenger, a waiting charge) at this stage. If the booking came through an agency, the trip is linked to that agency and passengers are kept as separate cards; if it came directly from a guest, the same person can be matched as both customer and passenger — which pattern applies is a one-time setup decision based on how your business works.

Driver and vehicle assignment, moving to “on the way”

A draft trip moves to “planned” once it is assigned a driver and vehicle. From there, the move to “on the way” can be made either by the assigned driver or by a fully-permitted panel user; at that exact moment the system checks whether the required fields (driver, vehicle, and — for the D2 profile — province/district codes and passenger identity) are complete. At the same time, it checks whether the driver or vehicle is already assigned to another trip in an overlapping time window; if so, it warns rather than blocking automatically, because a deliberate handover can be legitimate. If the passenger count exceeds the vehicle’s seat capacity, that also shows as a warning at this moment.

On the way: live tracking and completion

Once a trip moves to “on the way,” its actual start time is stamped. When the driver finishes, the trip is moved to “completed” and the actual end time is recorded; again, only the assigned driver or a fully-permitted user can make this move. If an automatic notification is meant to reach the customer or agency, it is triggered only by the driver’s own action; a manual state change made from the panel leaves the notification decision to the user — so the same trip is never notified twice. This distinction pays off on busy morning shifts: as drivers mark a trip started or completed from their own screen, the customer is notified automatically, and the dispatch desk does not have to call someone for every single trip.

Cancellation and no-show

If a transfer is cancelled at the last minute, the trip moves to “cancelled” and a reason is required — this is what lets you look back at month end and see why trips were dropped, and why. If the guest never arrives at the airport, or the pickup never happens, the trip is marked “no-show,” but only from the “planned” state — a trip that is already “on the way” or “completed” cannot be marked no-show, because the two states exclude each other.

The return leg is its own trip

On a round-trip transfer, the return is not the same trip record as the outbound leg — it is a separate trip linked to it. This matters because the return leg can have its own driver, its own vehicle, even its own completion time; when a guest changes their return flight time, only the return trip is updated, and the outbound record is untouched. Because the two records stay linked, they appear together in reports and in the agency’s account.

Example: a delayed arrival and a handover

A driver assigned to a 06:00 airport transfer reports a 20-minute delay because of a traffic accident. While the trip is still “planned,” the dispatcher hands it to a different driver; the system checks that the new driver has no other trip in that window and confirms the handover. When the new driver picks up the guest and starts the trip, it moves to “on the way,” and comparing against the flight time shows no actual delay to the guest. Once the trip is completed, it posts to the agency’s account. The same morning, a second trip already sits open for the same guest’s return flight, three days later; if that return flight time changes, only this second record is updated — the completed outbound trip is untouched.

How this works in Rotenta

1. A booking opens in the rezervasyon (booking) module with flight details and passenger count; the trip is created as a “draft” at this stage.
2. Once the trip is assigned a driver and vehicle it moves to “planned”; seat capacity read from the filo (fleet) module and the time-clash check both run at this moment.
3. When the assigned driver or a fully-permitted user moves the trip to “on the way,” the sefer (trip) module verifies the required fields are complete and stamps the actual start time.
4. On completion, the actual end time is recorded and the state becomes “completed”; any notification triggered by the driver’s own action goes out automatically.
5. If something goes wrong, the trip is marked “cancelled” (a reason is required) or, only while still “planned,” “no-show.”

Frequently asked questions

Are a booking and a trip the same record?

No; the booking holds the request, the trip is that request’s assigned, trackable form once a driver and vehicle exist. Transfer software keeps the two in one chain.

How does a driver handover work?

As long as a trip has not yet moved to “on the way,” its driver and vehicle assignment can be changed; the system checks the new assignment for time clashes too — we cover this check in detail in vehicle and driver assignment.

What happens if the flight time changes?

The trip record is updated; if a U-ETDS report is due, we explain whether it still falls inside the reporting window in U-ETDS reporting.

Can I edit a completed trip afterward?

A trip can be edited as long as it has not been invoiced; once invoiced, editing requires a separate permission, so an issued invoice’s basis never changes retroactively.

Who can we talk to about setup?

To discuss moving your current booking flow onto Rotenta, reach our team on the contact page.