Booking from Abroad: Getting the Pickup Time Zone Right
Updated 3 min read
If you're booking your Arlanda transfer from home, before you've even left for the airport, there's one detail that causes more confusion than anything else on the form: what time zone the pickup time is actually in. Get this wrong and you've booked a car for the wrong hour entirely, not just a few minutes off.
On this page
The rule, stated plainly
Every time you enter or see on a Förare booking is Stockholm local time — not your home time zone, not the airline's departure-city time on your ticket, not UTC. If you're booking from New York, London, Dubai or Sydney, the pickup time field expects the clock time in Stockholm, not the clock time where you're sitting when you fill in the form.
Where the mistake actually happens
It's easiest to slip up on a departure booking, where you're working backwards from a flight time that's often already shown in a different zone on your itinerary, or on an arrival where you're mentally converting your landing time from the time zone you took off from rather than the one you're landing in. The safest habit is to always think in Stockholm time specifically for this one form, and double-check the confirmation before you close the tab.
Why booking an arrival mostly protects you from this
If you give us your flight number on an arrival booking, we're tracking the actual landing time in Stockholm regardless of what pickup time you originally entered — a late or early landing moves the pickup automatically. This doesn't remove the need to get the date right, but it does mean a small time-of-day slip on an arrival is less likely to cause real trouble than the same slip on a departure, where the time you set is the time that's used.
Checking your confirmation properly
After booking, read the confirmation with the same care you'd give a boarding pass — the date and time shown there is what your driver works from, in Stockholm local time. If it doesn't match what you expected, contact support before pickup rather than after, using the guide on changing a booking if the date or time genuinely needs correcting.
A simple habit that avoids the whole problem
If you're prone to converting time zones in your head, it's worth just writing down the Stockholm time explicitly before you open the booking form — on paper, in a notes app, wherever — rather than doing the conversion on the fly while filling in the field. A five-second pause to double-check saves the much bigger hassle of correcting a booking, or worse, missing a pickup entirely because the hour was wrong.
What every Förare booking includes
The fixed price you see before booking is the price on your receipt — 6% VAT included, whole car, not per person.
- Flight tracked — pickup follows your live arrival
- 45 minutes free waiting, from your driver's confirmed arrival
- No terminal fee
- No surge pricing, ever
- Free cancellation up to 12 hours
Questions people ask before booking
What time zone does the booking form use?
Stockholm local time, always — regardless of where you are when you book or what time zone your ticket shows.
I'm booking a departure and my flight time is shown in a different time zone on my ticket — what do I enter?
Convert to Stockholm local time before entering the pickup time. Departure pickups don't move automatically the way arrivals do, so this is the one to double-check carefully.
Does this matter as much for an arrival booking?
Less so, because flight tracking follows your actual landing time in Stockholm and adjusts the pickup automatically. It still matters for getting the date right.
How do I check I've entered the right time?
Read your confirmation carefully after booking — it shows the pickup time your driver will actually work from, in Stockholm local time.
What if I realise I entered the wrong time zone after booking?
Contact support as soon as you notice, with your booking reference, and we'll correct the time before it causes a problem at pickup.
Book your Arlanda pickup
Enter the address and you will see the price for the whole car before anything is paid. No account needed.
- One fixed price for the whole car, 6% VAT included, shown before you pay.
- We follow the live arrival and move the pickup to the actual landing time.
- Cancel free of charge more than 12 hours before pickup, refunded in full.
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