What details a booking for a transfer with a driver asks for and why: addresses, time, flight, passengers, contact, payment and data protection
A transfer booking asks for what is needed to provide the service and nothing more: the exact pickup and destination addresses, because the fixed price is calculated on them; the date and time, because they set the tariff and availability; the flight or train number when the pickup is at a terminal, to adjust the pickup to the real arrival; the number of passengers and bags, to assign a vehicle they fit in; a name and a phone number, so the driver can find the passenger; an email, to send the confirmation and the invoice; tax details only if a full invoice is requested; and a means of payment. The General Data Protection Regulation requires asking only for what is necessary, explaining what it is used for and keeping it for as long as the law requires.
Written by Ridelta - Taxi y VTC · reviewed on 27 October 2026
Why does it ask for exact addresses, the date and the time?
The pickup and destination addresses are the basis of the booking because the route is traced on them and the fixed price is calculated on them: a street with its number, a hotel, a terminal or a platform give an estimated distance and time; a neighbourhood or a town on its own does not. That is why a serious form asks for the full address and, when the place is large — a hospital with several entrances, an exhibition centre, a station with two concourses —, a detail of the exact spot where the passenger will wait. That detail is not curiosity: it stops the driver and the passenger looking for each other in different places and stops the wait turning into a cost for one of them.
The date and time determine two things. The first is the tariff, which may carry a declared surcharge for the small hours or public holidays and which estimates the length of the trip according to the hour, as the piece on fixed pricing explains. The second is availability: a pre-booked service is assigned to a driver with a specific vehicle, and that assignment requires knowing when it starts and how long it will last so as not to commit the same car to two places at once. Changing the time after confirming is possible, but it may recalculate the price or require another driver; that is why it is best to book with the real departure time and not with an approximation to be corrected later.
What are the flight number, the passenger count and the luggage for?
When the pickup is at an airport or a station, the form asks for the flight or train number. It lets the driver know the scheduled arrival time and the terminal or platform, and lets the pickup be arranged on the real arrival rather than on the time printed on the ticket, as the piece on pickups at airports and stations explains. Without that detail, the driver can only turn up at the booked time and wait; with it, they can check the public arrivals information each airport or station publishes and adjust to it. What happens with the wait when the delay is long is published by each platform in its terms, and it is what is worth reading on the help page before booking.
The number of passengers and bags decides the vehicle. A saloon carries a certain number of people and a certain volume of luggage; a people carrier or a van of up to nine seats, another; a folding wheelchair, a pushchair, skis or a boxed bicycle take up space that has to be planned for. If the form does not ask, what arrives may not do, and then the alternative is leaving luggage behind or asking for another car at the last minute. It is also the detail that decides whether child seats are needed, which the law requires for minors below the height set by the traffic regulation, and whether the vehicle has to be accessible. It is information about the service, not about the person, and that is why a booking asks for it without hesitation.
What contact, tax and payment details are needed, and which are not?
The passenger's name and phone number are the details that let the service happen: the driver uses them to find the person at the pickup point, say where the car is or sort out a hitch, and at airports the name is what appears on the board they are met with. The email address receives the confirmation with the service details and, later, the invoice. When the person booking is not the one travelling, the form asks for both contacts, and the piece on booking for someone else explains how to share that information so nothing is missing. Tax details — name or company name, tax number and address — are only needed if a full invoice is requested; a simplified one does not need them, as the piece on VAT and invoicing details.
The means of payment is requested to secure the booking and charge for the service under the terms the platform publishes; what the customer should expect is a payment through a provider that meets the card industry's security standards, so that the full number does not end up with whoever manages the booking or with the driver. What a transfer booking should not ask for is what is of no use in providing it: the identity card or passport number, the date of birth, a copy of the document, a photograph, state of health or the reason for the trip. Accommodation is indeed obliged to register its guests; passenger transport is not. If a form demands those details for an ordinary transfer, the reasonable thing is to ask what for, and if there is no clear answer, to book elsewhere.
What does data protection law say about a booking?
The European Union's General Data Protection Regulation and Organic Law 3/2018, which implements it in Spain, set the principles that apply to any booking: minimisation, that is, asking only for the data that are adequate and necessary for the stated purpose; purpose limitation, which prevents a phone number given for a transfer being used in campaigns the customer has not agreed to; accuracy; and storage limitation. The legal basis for most of a booking's data is the performance of the contract: without an address, a time and a contact there is no possible service. Others are processed under a legal obligation, such as those required by invoicing or by the service register that transport law imposes on anyone providing chauffeured vehicle hire.
The customer has the right to know, before giving their data, who the controller is, what the data are used for, who they are passed to, how long they are kept and how to exercise their rights of access, rectification, erasure, objection, restriction and portability. That information must be in the privacy policy linked from the form, and a platform that hides it or writes it vaguely is already saying something. Consent is only needed for what is not necessary for the service, such as receiving offers, and it has to be a separate box, not ticked in advance. If something is not respected, the complaint goes first to the controller and then to the Spanish Data Protection Agency, which is the supervisory authority in Spain.
Who sees the data, what happens to them after the trip and how is a mistake corrected?
Not everyone involved in a transfer needs the same data. The driver needs the passenger's name, a contact phone number, the pickup and destination addresses, the time, the number of people and bags, the flight or train if there is one and the remarks useful for the service, such as a child seat or a specific entrance. They do not need the tax details, the email or the means of payment, and the right thing is for those not to be shown to them. Whoever manages the booking sees the whole, because they issue the confirmation and the invoice. A hotel or a company booking for a third party sees what it provided and what it needs for its own administration, not the traveller's payment information if they paid for themselves.
After the trip, the data do not disappear at once because there are obligations that prevent it: tax and commercial law requires invoices and supporting documents to be kept for the periods it itself sets, and transport law requires the record of each pre-booked service to be kept for the time it establishes. Once those periods have passed, the data must be deleted or anonymised, and the customer may at any time ask for access to what is kept or for its deletion, which will be granted wherever it does not clash with a legal obligation. If a booking detail is wrong — a phone number, a letter in the name, an address —, the best thing is to correct it as soon as possible through the channel the platform indicates in its confirmation and on its help page. A change of address or time may recalculate the price; correcting a name or a phone number costs nothing and stops the driver waiting for a person who does not exist.
Frequently asked questions
Do I have to give my ID card or passport to book a transfer?
No. Passenger transport does not require identifying the passenger with a document; a name and a phone number are enough for the driver to find you. The document number only makes sense if you ask for it on a full invoice.
Does the driver see my payment details or my email?
They should not. The driver needs your name, a phone number, the addresses, the time, the passengers, the luggage and the flight if there is one; payment and invoicing are handled by whoever issues the booking.
Can I book without giving the flight number?
Yes, but then the pickup is arranged on the time you give and not on the flight's real arrival. If you give it, the driver can adjust to the arrival; what happens with the wait is in the terms published in the help section.
What do I do if I typed the phone number or the address wrong?
Correct it as soon as possible through the channel your confirmation or the help page indicates. A phone number or a name is changed at no cost; an address or a time may recalculate the price, which you will see before accepting.
How long are my data kept after the trip?
As long as tax, commercial and transport obligations require, which the privacy policy details; afterwards they must be deleted or anonymised. You can ask for access or deletion at any time.
Sources
- Reglamento (UE) 2016/679, General de Protección de Datos: principios de minimización y limitación de la finalidad (artículo 5), bases jurídicas (artículo 6) y derechos de los interesados (consulted on 27 October 2026)
- Ley Orgánica 3/2018, de Protección de Datos Personales y garantía de los derechos digitales (consulted on 27 October 2026)
- Agencia Española de Protección de Datos · derechos de las personas, información que debe dar el responsable y reclamaciones (consulted on 27 October 2026)
- Ley 16/1987, de Ordenación de los Transportes Terrestres: contratación previa y registro de los servicios de arrendamiento de vehículos con conductor (consulted on 27 October 2026)
How we write, where the figures come from and how we correct an error: editorial policy.
This piece explains the general principle of minimisation and the framework of the General Data Protection Regulation in Spain; it is not legal advice. The specific details each form asks for, the retention periods and the channels for correcting them are set by each platform in its privacy policy and on its help page, and the rules may change; the sources are dated.