Package holiday to Alcúdia or Cala d'Or with TUI or Jet2?
If your flight, hotel and transfer sit on one booking with a big operator like TUI or Jet2, their tour coaches from Palma de Mallorca Airport (PMI) T terminal are the standard play. The coach transfer cost is usually baked into the package price, while upgrades to private cars or smaller shuttles show up as extras during booking or at the resort.
How the tour-operator coaches work
Coaches leave T airport in waves tied to specific flights, not a fixed timetable, so a cluster of UK arrivals around 13:00 means a swarm of buses leaving around 13:30–14:00. Operators often split passengers into resort clusters, but a single coach can still stop at 5–10 hotels, which is why an Alcúdia run that is 50–60 minutes by taxi can stretch to almost 120 minutes by shared coach.
Step-by-step from plane to coach seat
- 1. Land at PMI T and clear passport control and baggage claim; on a full A321 this can take 20–40 minutes.
- 2. Follow your operator’s signs (TUI, Jet2, etc.) into the arrivals hall and look for the rep desks near the main exit doors.
- 3. Show your booking sheet; the rep will mark you off and tell you a coach number and bus bay, for example Bay 18 or Bay 22.
- 4. Walk outside to the numbered bays; allow 5–10 minutes as the coach park runs the length of the terminal.
- 5. Keep your luggage tags visible, as reps sometimes move people between coaches at the last minute to balance loads.
- 6. Stow bags under the bus, take a seat, and expect the coach to wait up to 20–30 minutes for stragglers from your inbound flight.
- 7. Once moving, plan for 60–120 minutes to far resorts like Alcúdia, Cala Millor, or Cala d'Or if you are late in the drop-off order.
What regulars do
Frequent package travelers say they always check the small print to see if they are on a shared coach or a private transfer, and will sometimes pay for a car on late-night arrivals after 22:00. They also ask the rep at the desk where their hotel roughly sits in the drop order, which lets them decide on the spot if a €90–€110 taxi to the north or east coast is worth it versus a two-hour coach.
Watch out for these snags
On busy Saturdays, several TripAdvisor posters describe the arrivals hall as a “scrum” with multiple operators packed into the same area and unclear signs to the correct bus bays. Buses used are often standard contracted coaches with neutral livery, so you might be on an unbranded white vehicle rather than a big blue TUI or red Jet2 coach, and late-night flights sometimes end up on combined routes that “seem to circle every resort” before your stop.
Comfort on 60–120 minute runs
These charter coaches normally have air-con and overhead reading lights but rarely have toilets, which several parents flagged as rough on kids after a 2.5–3 hour flight from the UK. Regulars recommend packing a bottle of water and snacks into hand luggage and doing a bathroom run in arrivals before walking out to the bus park, as there are usually no rest stops between PMI and resorts like Alcúdia or Cala Millor.
Final tip
If your inbound is heavily delayed by more than 2–3 hours and your original coach slot has already gone, expect either a long wait for the next transfer or to be told to grab a taxi at your own cost, so keep your operator’s 24-hour helpline number and a ballpark taxi fare (often €80–€120 for distant resorts) written down before you fly.