Minibus & Group Travel

Group Airport Fares by Vehicle

The same fares we publish on our airport pages, shown for the two group vehicles. An MPV carries up to 6 passengers; the minibus column covers the 8-seater, and the fare is for the whole vehicle, however many seats you fill. Groups of 9 to 16 arrange a 16-seater large minibus with the office by phone or email.

Fares are one way from Southampton, confirmed at booking, and include flight tracking, free waiting after landing (30 minutes at Southampton Airport, 45 minutes at Bournemouth and 60 minutes at the other airports we serve), airport parking and tolls. Meet and greet is available on request. Group cruise, wedding and event journeys are quoted per vehicle in the same way.

Group Airport Transfers, Outbound and Home Again

An airport run for a group is really two journeys. Outbound, everyone has to reach the same terminal at the same time, with every case accounted for, and one minibus removes the weakest link in most group travel plans: the second car that gets stuck, lost or late. The group travels together, the driver works to one plan, and the fare is a single per-vehicle price confirmed when you book, not a meter running in traffic.

Inbound, the practice matters more. We track the flight, the driver meets the group in arrivals, and free waiting from landing is included in the fare, 30 minutes at Southampton Airport, 45 minutes at Bournemouth and 60 minutes at the other airports we serve, along with airport parking and tolls. If the flight is delayed, the vehicle is still there when the group walks out, and nobody is splitting into separate taxis in the arrivals hall at midnight. For a party landing on the same flight, one minibus home is simpler than two saloons, and on the longer routes it is usually cheaper than the two cars it replaces.

• One vehicle, one fare: the whole group travels together, priced per vehicle
• Flight tracking on every airport pickup, with meet and greet in arrivals available on request
• Free waiting after landing, with parking and tolls included
• Return pickups pre-booked around the group's actual landing time

Cruise Groups: Five Terminals, One Vehicle

Southampton's five cruise terminals, Ocean, QEII, City, Horizon and Mayflower, are group travel by default: families and friends sailing together, often with two large cases each. A saloon covers the terminal run from £20 to City, Horizon and Mayflower and from £25 to Ocean and QEII, but once the party reaches five or six people, the MPV from £45 or the 8-seater from £65 carries the group and the luggage in one vehicle, at one fare.

Tell us the ship name when you book and we time the pickup to the live sailing schedule, which matters on turnaround days when several ships berth at once. On the return sailing, the same arrangement runs in reverse: the vehicle meets the group at the terminal as passengers disembark. For parties of nine or more, or where every passenger brings a full cruise luggage load, call or email us and we will arrange the 16-seat minibus, which takes the group and the cases together without folding seats down.

Six and Seven Seaters in Depth: the MPV and the 8-Seater

Groups of five and six are MPV work. The MPV carries five or six passengers plus the driver, with three large hold cases and two cabin bags behind the rear seats, and up to two child seats fitted on request. Its sliding rear doors matter more than they sound: on a narrow Southampton street or in a terminal car park, passengers and bags load from the kerb without anyone standing in the road.

A group of seven steps up to the 8-seater minivan, which has seven passenger seats plus the driver and takes four large hold cases with every seat in use. It is the right vehicle for a family group, a sports team, or a party coming off a flight who would otherwise need two cars and the job of keeping them together. The honest limit is luggage, not seats: seven adults with seven large cases is very tight, and that group belongs in a bigger vehicle: call or email us and we will arrange the 16-seat minibus, where the cases stop being a problem.

Both vehicles are priced the same way as the rest of the minibus range: one fare for the whole vehicle, confirmed when you book, and you never pay for seats you do not use. Tell us the passenger count and the case count and we send the vehicle that fits, which is why one booking covers a 6-seater, a 7-seater and an 8-seater request without you having to guess the vehicle class.

Sports Fixtures, Events and Group Days Out

Matchdays and event nights are where group minibuses earn their keep. We run sports and event transfers to St Mary's Stadium, the Ageas Bowl, concert venues and festivals, and the return pickup is pre-booked when you book the outbound journey, so the group is not competing with the whole crowd for a car after the final whistle. A pre-booked return is the difference between walking out to your vehicle and joining the queue.

Teams travel with kit, and kit travels badly in saloon boots. The 8-seater and the minibuses take the squad and the kit bags together, and groups of up to 8 travel in a single minibus; groups of 9 to 16 arrange a 16-seater with the office. For away fixtures and tournaments further afield, the same per-vehicle pricing applies, starting from the published fares and confirmed before the day.

• Pre-booked return pickups from St Mary's and the Ageas Bowl
• Room for kit bags alongside the passengers, not in a second car
• Groups of up to 8 in one minibus, groups of 9 to 16 in an arranged 16-seater

Wedding Parties, Corporate Teams and School Groups

Wedding parties use the minibus range to move guests between the ceremony, the reception and their hotels, so the day runs to the couple's timings rather than to whoever can get a taxi. Where the day needs several vehicles, they are coordinated as one booking, and the same vehicles can bring guests back at the end of the evening.

Corporate team travel is the weekday version of the same job: a team that needs to arrive together at a site, a conference or an airport, in one vehicle, on one fare, with the booking confirmed in writing before the journey. School and university groups travel the same way, for trips, fixtures and moving days, with the vehicle sized to the group and a licensed driver throughout. None of these journeys are self-drive: the driver handles the route, the parking and the timings, and the vehicle runs under our private hire licence.

Luggage, Boarding and Sizing the Vehicle Honestly

Every group booking starts with two numbers: how many passengers, and how many cases. Those two numbers decide the vehicle, and they matter more than the label on it. An 8-seater carrying eight cabin bags is a comfortable vehicle; the same vehicle loaded with eight large hold cases is not, and for a group of nine or more we would rather arrange the 16-seat minibus than fold seats down and squeeze the group in.

• MPV: 3 large hold cases plus 2 cabin bags with the rear seats up
• 8-seater: 4 large hold cases with every seat in use
• Groups of 9 to 16: a 16-seat minibus arranged with the office by phone or email
• Up to 2 child seats fitted on request in the MPV and the 8-seater
• Sliding doors on the MPV and the 8-seater for kerbside loading

If the counts change after you book, tell us before the day and we will re-size the vehicle rather than discover the problem at the kerb.

The Vehicles Behind the Group Service

Two vehicles do most of this work. The 8-seater minivan carries seven passengers and their cases, and our 8-seater minivan page sets out its exact seat count, the luggage trade off at a full load, and when it beats booking two smaller cars.

Groups beyond that travel in the 9 to 16 seat minicoach, and every fare for the whole group range, alongside the airport, cruise and local tables, is published on our fares page.