A student year at Kent has a rhythm of arrivals and departures: the move in at the end of September, a flight home for Christmas, back in January, away at Easter, and out of halls in June. Student airport transfers for the University of Kent fit into that rhythm, from the airport to your room on the first day and back again at the end of each term.
School and university transfers are among the journeys Express Travel Kent offers: pre-booked trips for pupils and students between home, school, college or university and the airport. This guide covers how they work for the campus, and for families in Blean, Rough Common and Tyler Hill with children travelling to or from school.
The 2026/27 year in journeys
These are the university's published dates for undergraduates and taught postgraduates. Your own course may vary, so check with your school before booking flights.
- Arrivals Weekend: Saturday 26 and Sunday 27 September 2026; Welcome Week from 28 September.
- Autumn term: 5 October to 11 December 2026.
- University closed: 23 December 2026 to 3 January 2027.
- January Arrivals Weekend: 9 and 10 January 2027 (international exchange students on 7 January).
- Spring term: 11 January to 19 March 2027.
- Summer term: 12 April to 18 June 2027; postgraduates' late summer term from 5 July to 12 September 2027.
Arrivals Weekend, step by step
Before you travel: finish the accommodation e-induction, book an arrival slot at the end of it, and download your Arrivals Pass to your phone or print it. You can change your arrival date in the accommodation portal up to 48 hours before; after that, email the accommodation team.
On the day, Traffic Marshalls direct vehicles around the campus and unloading is limited to 20 minutes, so have the cases ready to come out together. Keys or fobs are collected at your accommodation reception. Food and parcel deliveries are turned away during Arrivals, so plan the first shop for later.
If your flight lands late and reception has closed, the arrivals guide says to contact Campus Security, who give you your keys against the Pass; check-in is completed the next day.
Welcome events run from the week after Arrivals Weekend, hosted by Kent Union, the ResLife team and academic departments, so arriving on the weekend itself means you do not miss the first of them.
When parents book the student airport transfer
Many first-year bookings are made by a parent, often from another country. Book online and the fixed fare for the college or court appears before you pay; cards, Apple Pay, Google Pay, Klarna and Revolut are accepted, and the code ExpressTravelKent gives 10% off. Put the student's name, mobile number and flight number in the booking.
On an airport collection the flight is tracked, the driver waits in the arrivals hall with a name board and helps with the luggage, and free waiting runs for 45 minutes after an international landing. If a parent is travelling too, the university's guest B&B rooms at Tyler Court C are open all year, with check-in from 15:00.
Child seats are available on request for younger brothers and sisters coming along; give the child's age when you book.
Pupils and school journeys from the villages
School transfers are not only for undergraduates. Families in Blean, Rough Common and Tyler Hill book the same service for pupils travelling between home, school and the airport at the start and end of term, or for an exchange trip. Each journey is pre-booked, with the fare fixed for the car before you pay.
Tell us the pickup address, the school or airport, the date and time, and who is travelling. If timings depend on a school's own term dates, book as soon as they are published and amend if they move; cancelling more than 24 hours before pickup is free.
Packing for the car as well as the plane
Airline allowances decide what you bring; the car decides how many of you can travel together. A saloon takes up to 4 passengers with 2 large cases, an estate up to 4 with 3 to 4, and an MPV up to 6 with 4 or more.
The university's moving-in advice is worth reading before you pack: some rooms are up several flights of stairs, bed sizes vary so check before buying bedding, and candles, mini-fridges, cube adaptors and pets are not allowed in halls. A delivery service for room essentials, if ordered in time, keeps the cases lighter.
End of term: sharing one car
When friends are flying from the same airport at around the same time, one bigger car often makes more sense than two small ones, because the fare is for the vehicle, not per person. List every pickup in the booking, court by court; stops added on the day can be charged.
Have everything downstairs at the agreed time: free waiting at the address is 10 minutes. The fare does not change for an early start, a late night, a weekend or traffic on the way.
Common Questions
Questions travellers ask
Yes; change it as soon as you know. Cancelling more than 24 hours before pickup costs nothing, between 6 and 24 hours up to half the fare, and under 6 hours the full fare may be charged.
To the accommodation you name. Darwin and Tyler Court are reached from Giles Lane, Keynes, Turing and Woolf from University Road, and Park Wood from Park Wood Road; give your court's postcode from the campus map.
The typical times published for Canterbury are 2 hours to 2 hours 30 minutes from Heathrow and 1 hour 15 minutes to 1 hour 45 minutes from Gatwick.
Yes. The fare is for the car, so sharing splits it. Put both pickups in the booking, because stops added on the day can be charged, and choose a car with room for everyone's cases.
Yes, the station can be your pickup point, for example before a long-distance trip home. It is about 25 minutes' walk from the campus.
Sources for this guide (12)
- School transfers: pre-booked journeys for pupils and students between home, school, college or university and the airport (owners' service list, 1 November 2026)
- Term and closure dates 2026/27; Arrivals Weekend; Welcome Week; late summer term student.kent.ac.uk/studies/university-term-and-closure-dates
- January 2027 arrivals; e-induction, slot, Arrivals Pass; keys at reception; no deliveries; stairs; bed sizes; prohibited items; essentials delivery kent.ac.uk/accommodation/arrivals/moving-in
- Arrival date can be changed in the portal up to 48 hours before, then by email; welcome events from that week hosted by Kent Union, ResLife and departments blogs.kent.ac.uk/accommodation/september-starters-application-and-arrival-advice
- Traffic Marshalls and 20-minute unloading; routes by Giles Lane, University Road and Park Wood Road; court postcodes on the campus map kent.ac.uk/transport/how-to-get-here/arrivals-weekend/canterbury-unloading-navigation
- Late arrivals contact Campus Security kent.ac.uk/welcome/arrivals-guide/arrivals-canterbury
- Guest B&B at Tyler Court C, all year, check-in from 15:00 kent.ac.uk/conferences-and-events/accommodation/guest-b-and-b-accommodation
- Canterbury West about 25 minutes' walk from campus kent.ac.uk/locations/canterbury/directions
- Typical Canterbury times to Heathrow and Gatwick expresstravelkent.co.uk/blog/airport-transfers-from-canterbury
- Free waiting, cancellation, extras, child seats on request expresstravelkent.co.uk/terms-and-conditions
- Fixed fare and payment methods; 10% code expresstravelkent.co.uk/book-now
- Vehicle capacities expresstravelkent.co.uk/our-fleet
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