Beginning in the new year, we must limit our sedan passenger capacity to 3 people. We've had increasing challenges with regard to luggage space and gross vehicle weight that have created unsafe operating conditions for our passengers and chauffeurs. By limiting our sedan capacity to 3 passengers we are insuring that no passengers or chauffeurs will face an unpleasant situation. Four possible scenarios are: 1. An overloaded vehicle will operate unsafely; 2. Passengers would have to wait for a larger vehicle to arrive; 3. A piece of luggage or gear must stay behind; 4. Worst case, vehicle failure or any combination of the above would most likely result in a missed flight.
Please Clear Your Driveway
We are heavily invested in the ability to continue to offer service in adverse winter weather. All of our vehicles are equipped with winter tires, the type that are regularly used on plow trucks, and we carry an 80 pound bag of salt in each trunk. It is tremendously important to us that we protect our ability to move our clients from point A to point B in any weather situation.
On two occasions last year our sedans became stuck in un-cleared driveways and caused clients to miss flights. On another occasion a panicked client slipped and broke his leg trying to free our vehicle so he would not miss his flight. One time this happened in a driveway that was in a dead zone for our chauffeur's cell phone; the client zipped around our car in their SUV and drove to the airport and the chauffeur was faced with walking two miles in sub-zero temperatures in order to call the office and protect the service level of his next client. The chauffeur literally took his life in his hands in the name of customer service.
For the above reasons our chauffeurs are forbidden to enter any driveway that is snow or ice covered, even if they think the car will make it! If necessary, the chauffeur is required to call the client on their home phone, regardless of time, and advise them that the car will not enter the driveway and they will be standing-by at the road. Additionally, chauffeurs are not allowed to carry luggage up and down snow-covered driveways; it is unsafe.
Most clients with challenging driveways have their own SUV. Please work together with us to enable us to give you seamless service without risking life and limb on unsafe surfaces.
Extreme Travel Time Policy Reminder
Adverse weather conditions can create drastic increases in travel time. Our flat-rate fare structure is based on normal time and mileage factors, as is the chauffeur pay structure. In bad weather situations, we must charge differently due to extreme increases in trip duration. During adverse weather conditions or severe traffic delays, we reserve the right to change from our flat rate pricing structure to our hourly pricing structure. This policy will be invoked when a trip may take or has taken greater than 30 minutes beyond the normal trip duration, as defined by the management of AAA Guaranteed On-Time Limousine Service.
Hourly charges will be applied at the normal hourly rate for the vehicle on a "door to Garage" basis. This means the client will be charged from the time of pick-up until the vehicle reaches our garage after the client is discharged. In cases of airport pick-up, the hourly charge will begin when the vehicle leaves our garage until the time we reach the final drop off location.
We will exert every effort, at the time of confirmation, to notify all clients that this policy may be invoked due to predicted inclement weather or heavy traffic delays. However, we reserve the right to invoke this policy without notice.
Meet & Greet vs. Cell Link
With winter approaching and more airport construction planned to begin in 2005 we wanted to remind everyone that we have two methods for an airport pick up. One method gives a potential for wet feet; and one does not.
First is the old standard, Meet & Greet at baggage claim. This procedure is welcoming and helpful. Most leisure travelers prefer the convenience of having a helping hand at baggage claim, especially when toting all the luggage needed for a long vacation trip. For years, Meet & Greet was simply "that's how it's done so that's how we do it". There are always two negatives involved with the Meet & Greet method; parking costs and the necessity to walk to the car through the sometimes snow covered parking lots.
Second is the Cell Link. Clients who have experienced the Cell Link connection system when arriving at Newark Airport are still reveling at the convenience of the procedure. Created mainly for business travelers who rarely check luggage, the Cell Link provides a seamless entry into our vehicle at curbside and an exceptionally fast exit from the airport. Even some of our clients who regularly check luggage are using the Cell Link with success. Please ask your reservationist for details when you book your next trip, you'll love it! No trekking through the parking area, no waiting at the exit; just hop in and go!
Frequent Rider Program Policy Reminder
The program offers any regular client one free trip for every ten trips paid. Program requirements and restrictions are as follows:
- Gratuity, parking or Holiday Fees are not included and should be paid directly to the chauffeur in cash. Gratuities, parking or Holiday Fees not paid in cash are subject to a $10 administrative fee.
- All free trips must be booked at least 7 days prior to the free trip date.
- Only paid trips taken during the 24 months prior to the free trip date may be used in qualifying for a free trip.
- The free trip requested must be of equal value to the ten trips that earned it. The value of the free trip will be determined by taking an average of the base fares of the ten trips that earned it.
- Free trips must be used in the order they were earned, on a first earned - first used basis.
- The maximum value of any free trip credit is $200.00
- If the requested trip is of greater value than the free trip earned, the client may apply the value of the free trip to the more expensive trip and pay the balance due plus a gratuity based on the full retail rate.
- If the requested trip is of lesser value than the free trip earned, no change or credit will be given.
- Free trip credits may not be used for upgrades of any kind.
- No more than one free trip credit may be used towards hourly service in vehicles other than a Sedan.
- Free Ride credits may not be used toward any prom or wedding booking.
- Restrictions apply during Peak Times. During Peak Times, earned free trip value is reduced to half value. It is permissible to use two free trip credits for one comparable trip during Peak Times.
Cancellation Policy Reminder
- Any point to point trip cancellation received less than two hours prior to the pre-arranged pick up time will be billed at the full rate of the trip including all expected charges, including gratuity.
- Any point to point trip cancellation received between two and four hours prior to the pre-arranged pick-up time will be billed 50% of the fare, plus gratuity based on the full amount of the fare.
- Any cancellation of an "As Directed" or "Wait & Return" type trip billed on an hourly basis, received less than twelve hours prior to the pre-arranged pick up time, will be billed at the full hourly rate of the scheduled vehicle times the expected trip duration, including gratuity.
- Any cancellation of an "As Directed" or "Wait & Return" type trip billed on an hourly basis, received twelve to twenty-four hours in advance of the pre-arranged pick-up time, will be billed at 50% of the hourly rate of the vehicle times the expected trip duration, including gratuity based on the full rate.
- Cancellations for trips billed on an hourly basis, weddings or a prom where we have collected a deposit, the deposit will be forfeited by the client unless the originally reserved vehicle can be re-booked. If the vehicle is re-booked for the date in question, the deposit will be returned to the party from whom it was received after it has been re-booked. All decisions regarding deposit issues are made by upper management and are final.
- No-Fault cancellations (Defined as: Pre-arranged reservations that must be canceled due to airline flight delays, missed connections, inability of an airline to deliver our client to an airport in our service area, the cancellation of train service, a 9/11 class catastrophe or a death of a client's immediate family member) received within two hours of the original pick-up time, will be billed a $35 flat fee. No-Fault cancellations received more than two hours in advance of the original pick-up time will not be charged.
A Friendly Message From Our Reservation Department
It has been a challenging year learning our wonderful new limousine software system. Some of the benefits of the real time reservation system that you may have noticed are:
- Your confirmations are now either faxed or emailed after you make your reservation so that you can look it over immediately to determine if the reservation was set up in our computer system as you instructed. Please, also note the link to our Policy Statement that is attached to each confirmation.
- You may have also noticed that you receive your receipts faxed or emailed in a more timely fashion than with our old system. Please, always use these for your expense reconciliation.
- Our new system can verify a flight so as to determine whether the information is correct according to the departure and arrival times you provide. Our system is linked to airline schedules submitted to the FAA.
It is very rare that we have to turn down requests for service; there is ALMOST always something we can do to accommodate last minute reservations and changes. Occasionally, however, time constraints limit our options, especially when all of our vehicles and chauffeurs are already booked. The less notice we have, the fewer options we have, especially on Monday mornings and Friday afternoons. Lately Thursday afternoons would have to be included as well. If you know in advance that you will be requiring our services; please make your reservations as soon as you are able. The only thing that is more bothersome to us than saying "No" is the possibility of making a promise we're not 100% sure we can keep.
Sincerely,
Your Reservations Staff
