Leaving for a flight: reserve a ride to Philadelphia airport from New Castle County

Counting back from your flight

Start with the drive itself. At a quiet hour it takes from 22 minutes out of Claymont (19703) to 56 minutes out of Bear (19701), and an airport transfer from Pike Creek to PHL falls in between at about 46. Treat those numbers as the floor. Rush hours on I-95 between Wilmington and the airport add time on top of them, so a pickup during a rush needs a wider margin than the same ride late in the evening.

Next, look at your flight booking for the hour it asks you to be at the airport, and work backward: that hour, minus the drive, minus room for traffic. Write the pickup time you settle on into the request. The office will check availability for that exact time with local car companies, and its written reply names the company that has a car free and the fare it charges.

I-95 North, exit 10, PA-291 East

Whichever ZIP you leave from, the ride ends up on I-95 North. Some addresses reach the highway directly. Others first run on roads such as DE-92, I-495, DE-141, DE-7 or US-13, depending on the ZIP. Each ZIP page gives the road miles and quiet-hour minutes for its own area.

From there the route is the same for everyone. I-95 crosses into Pennsylvania, and the car leaves at exit 10 for PA-291 East. That road carries it to the airport, where it comes onto Departures Road. Every terminal sits along Departures Road, so the last part of the drive is simply a matter of reaching the right stretch of it.

Your terminal decides where the car stops

Departures Road passes the terminals in a fixed order: A-West, A-East, B, C, D, E and F. The diagram on this page draws them in that sequence. Your flight booking names the terminal you leave from. Write it on the request, so the driver heads for that part of the curb and you step out close to your own doors.

At the curb the car stops only to unload. Bags come out of the back, everyone steps onto the pavement, and the car pulls away again. Check-in, bag drop and the security line are all beyond those doors, so count them into the time you set aside when you pick the hour of pickup.

Details a departure request needs

The office passes your details to the car company as you write them, so clear answers spare a second round of questions. An optional box under the phone field lets the office and the company that takes the ride call or text you about that ride only; replying STOP ends texts. Without that box, replies come by email, and the driver may call only on the day of the ride. The common questions page covers airport transfer quote requests taken 24/7 from the first field onward. For a ride out, fill in these items:

• the pickup address with its ZIP, which sets the from-figure
• the date and the pickup time
• the terminal named on your flight booking
• how many people are going: a sedan takes up to 3, an SUV up to 6
• child seats by number and kind: rear-facing, forward-facing or booster
• the box for a vehicle with a ramp or lift, if one is needed