Booking a transfer for someone else: a relative, a client or a guest; what details are needed, what data protection says and how the pickup is coordinated
Booking a transfer for someone else is common: a son or daughter arranging their parents' pickup, a company bringing in a client, a hotel receiving a guest. The booking needs the passenger's name, for the board and to identify them, and a phone number the driver can reach them on at pickup; the person booking provides their own details and the billing ones. When giving someone else's details, data protection rules apply: you need a reason to do so, you must inform the traveller and you must not give more than necessary. Minors without a guardian, older people and those who need an adapted vehicle require flagging it when booking and coordinating the pickup. The platform's specific policy on each case is on its help page.
Written by Ridelta - Taxi y VTC · reviewed on 27 October 2026
What passenger details are needed and why are they asked for?
A booking for someone else separates three roles that normally coincide: the person who books and is responsible for the contract, the person who travels and the person who pays. Of the traveller few details are needed, but they are essential: the name, because it is what the driver writes on the board and what lets them check they are picking up the right person and not someone else with a similar suitcase; a phone number, because in a terminal with several flights landing at once or at a hospital entrance, a call or a message settles in a minute what would otherwise be half an hour of searching; and the number of passengers and suitcases, so that the vehicle is the right one.
Of the person booking, their contact details are needed and, if they pay, the payment and billing ones. What should not be asked of anyone is what the service does not need: the passenger's identity document, date of birth or home address are of no use for a transfer, except in specific cases the platform must explain, such as a minor or a pickup with special requirements. If the booking carries the flight or train number, the driver follows the actual arrival, and if it carries a note about the passenger, such as that they do not speak the language or need help with luggage, the service goes better. Another piece in this centre details each item a booking asks for and the reason for it.
What does data protection say when you give someone else's details?
Giving a platform another person's name and phone number is processing their personal data, and in the European Union that is governed by the General Data Protection Regulation, supplemented in Spain by Organic Law 3/2018. The platform needs a legal basis to process them: the performance of the transport contract, which requires knowing whom to pick up and how to reach them, covers the essential details. The person booking has their own responsibility: to do so with a legitimate reason, usually because that person asked them to arrange the trip or because they are part of a family, work or accommodation relationship that explains it, and not to give details the service does not need.
The most important practical duty is to inform the traveller: they must know that their details have been given to a transfer platform, for what purpose and by whom, and they should receive the confirmation with the driver's name, the vehicle and the meeting point. The platform, for its part, must explain in its privacy policy what it does with the passenger's data, how long it keeps it and how to exercise the rights of access, rectification and erasure, including for someone who was not the one who booked. A minor's details deserve extra care, and health data, such as a disability, is given only if needed to adapt the service and with the person's knowledge.
Can a minor travel without their parent or guardian?
It is one of the most frequent questions and the answer has two layers. The legal one: in Spain parental authority rests with the parents or guardians, who decide with whom and how a minor travels, and a carrier who takes one without an adult assumes a duty of care during the trip that not every company accepts. The practical one: each platform sets in its terms whether it accepts unaccompanied minors, from what age, what written authorisation from the guardian it asks for and what contact details it requires at departure and arrival; the person booking must read them first and not assume a child can get in alone.
When it is accepted, the sensible way to organise it is for the adult booking to be the guardian or to act with their authorisation, to hand the minor over to the driver at the pickup point and for another identified adult to receive them at the destination, with both phone numbers on the booking. School and camp transfers are organised differently, with an escort and a contract with the institution, and have their own piece. A child seat is compulsory under traffic rules for minors who need one by height, and it must be requested when booking. If the platform does not accept the case, it will say so, and it is not wise to force it with a booking in the name of an adult who is not going to travel.
How is the pickup of an older person or someone with reduced mobility organised?
It is the most common case of booking for someone else: children who live far away arranging their parents' transfer to an appointment, a check-up or the station. What makes it work is coordination: an exact pickup address with the door number, the floor and whether there is a lift; one phone number for the passenger and another for the person booking, so that the driver can tell whoever answers that they have arrived; and a note with what is useful to know, such as that the person takes a while to come down, uses a walking frame or must be collected at the door of a specific hospital floor rather than the main entrance.
If the person travels in a wheelchair and cannot move to a seat, an adapted vehicle with a ramp or lift and anchorages is needed, booked as such and with more notice because there are fewer of them; if they can move to a seat, it is enough to say that the folded chair goes in the boot. In Spain the right of people with disabilities to travel by taxi and chauffeured vehicle is protected by accessibility legislation, and the platform must say which adapted vehicles it offers and in which areas. A pickup with waiting at the exit of an appointment is agreed beforehand, not improvised, and the included waiting and the cost of additional waiting are those the platform publishes.
How does a company or a hotel book for a guest and whose name goes on the invoice?
When the payer is a company or an accommodation provider, the booking has two recipients: the guest, who needs to know who is picking them up, where and how to recognise the driver, and the organisation, which needs the charge to go to its account and the invoice in its name, with its tax details, and not in the guest's name. In Spain the invoice is issued by the service provider to whoever contracts it, under the invoicing regulation, and passenger transport is taxed at the reduced VAT rate; if the company is in another country, it is worth requesting the invoice with its details before the service rather than after. A company account with several authorised users avoids each receptionist booking with their personal card.
For the guest, the detail that matters is that they do not have to pay or argue about anything: the price is fixed and charged to the organisation, and the confirmation they receive should state so, so that a driver does not ask them for the amount by mistake and they do not try to pay it. For the organisation, what matters is control: who can book, up to what limit, which cost centre carries each transfer and how the invoices are grouped each month. Hotels and companies that do this often contract it as a recurring service, with its own terms, and the platform's business and accommodation pages explain how that account is opened and what it includes.
Who receives the notifications and what happens if the passenger does not show up?
In a booking for someone else, notifications should ideally reach both: the traveller gets the confirmation with the meeting point, the driver's name and the vehicle, and the notice that the car has arrived; the person booking gets the same confirmation and any change, because they are responsible for the contract and usually the one watching the phone while the passenger is flying or in an appointment. If the platform allows only one contact, you have to decide which is more useful at the moment of pickup, which is almost always the passenger's, and leave the other in a note. And you must check that the passenger's phone works in the country where they are picked up.
If the passenger does not show up, the driver waits as long as the published terms set and tries to reach them on the booking's phone numbers; that is why having both is so important, because the person booking may know that the flight was diverted or the appointment ran over when the passenger cannot answer. Once the included waiting has passed without contact, the service counts as a no-show and the terms apply, which is each platform's own matter and is not quantified here. The way to avoid it is always the same: flight or train number on the booking, two working phone numbers, a clear meeting point explained to the passenger before leaving, and telling the dispatch office as soon as anything changes.
Frequently asked questions
Can I book and pay for a transfer someone else will take?
Yes. You provide your contact and payment details, and of the traveller the name, for the board, and a phone number so the driver can reach them. Tell them you have given their details and send them the confirmation.
Can my under-age child travel alone in a transfer?
It depends on each platform's terms: some do not accept it and others do from a certain age, with written authorisation from the guardian and one adult handing over and another receiving. Check the specific policy on the help page before booking.
How do I book a transfer for my parents to a medical appointment?
With the exact pickup address, their phone number and yours, a note with what the driver should know and, if an adapted vehicle is needed, booking it as such in advance. If there is waiting at the exit, it is agreed when booking.
Whose name goes on the invoice if my company pays?
In the name of whoever contracts and pays, with their tax details, not the passenger's. It is worth giving the billing details when booking; for frequent transfers, a company account settles it once and for all.
What happens if the person I booked for does not show up?
The driver waits as long as the published terms set and tries to reach them on the booking's phone numbers, including yours. What is charged afterwards is each platform's matter; check its help page.
Sources
- Reglamento (UE) 2016/679, Reglamento General de Protección de Datos: bases jurídicas del tratamiento, deber de información y derechos del interesado (consulted on 27 October 2026)
- Ley Orgánica 3/2018, de Protección de Datos Personales y garantía de los derechos digitales: tratamiento de datos de menores y ejercicio de derechos (consulted on 27 October 2026)
- Agencia Española de Protección de Datos: guías para ciudadanos y responsables sobre información y consentimiento (consulted on 27 October 2026)
- Real Decreto 1619/2012, reglamento por el que se regulan las obligaciones de facturación: destinatario y contenido de la factura (consulted on 27 October 2026)
How we write, where the figures come from and how we correct an error: editorial policy.
Data protection, minors and accessibility rules change and are interpreted case by case; this piece explains the general rule and what is advisable, and does not replace the platform's terms. The minimum age, the included waiting and what is charged if the passenger does not show up are on its help page.