It seems that every month, the car rental companies are lowering the amount of miles that are earned for rentals. One of the best deals used to be 750 CO One-Pass miles/rental with National, now it is like 50miles/day.... One of the last holdouts that I knew of was Dollar giving 500 miles/rental. Well, that is no more (at least as of 7/1/99 with Continental).

So, I put it to you, my fellow freq. flyers. Are there any car rental companies that are still giving 500 miles per rental with any freq. flyer program (not just Continental)? If you know of some, please state whether a flight is required in conjunction with the rental.

British Airways Executive Club...through 06/30/99:
Rent twice from Avis at any worldwide location and earn 4,500 bonus British Airways Executive Club miles before June 30

Don't know of any others right now, but I've had some offers sent to me and I'll if I find one after checking I'll post it for you.

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aloha!
www.hotshirts.com

After posting my message, I found out the following information and thought that I would share this with you all (just hope that it isn't outdated info on the web or that it is about to change like everybody elses).. Still looking for other ones as well:

NorthWest Airlines: http://www.nwa.com/freqfly/earn/carre.shtml
Earn 500 miles for leisure rentals with Alamo or National in conjunction with a flight. Earn 500 with Dollar leisure rentals without a flight. Also, earn 500 miles for Budget if rental 2 days or longer in conjunction with a flight.

note: USAirways gives 250 miles with rentals from Alamo and National.
see: http://www.usairways.com/dividend/earn/rentcar.htm

I am a regular car renter, but seldom fly. Until the end of last year, I would get 500 miles per rental on USAir at National, regardless of flying on the same day. Since the 1st of the year, USAir requires a flight within 24 hours of the rental for credit.

Because of this change, I began to seek out better millage programs from rental companies. There are still a few good ones, but not many.

I joined Canadian Plus FF program becuase they offer 500 miles per rental at National with no flight need. While I live in the US, their membership in the OneWorld alliance should make those miles useful.

As a general rule, domestic US carriers offer either 50 miles a day or 1 or 2 miles per dollar spent on car rentals. Northwest and USair offer more miles 250 or 500, but in almost all cases require a flight on the airline within 24 hours of rental. USAir's web site gives the following caveat to rental car mileage. "All car rentals require a US Airways or partner airline flight within 24 hours. "

The deals for miles on rentals with not flight, at this point, seem to be on the foriegn carriers such as British Air and Canadian Air.

British, for example, offers 500 miles on leisure rentals (non contract discount) with a number of Rental agencies (Hertz, Avis, Alamo, Others?).

As mentioned, Canadian offers 500 miles with National and also with Alamo. Not sure of other agencies.

Another alternative worth considering is getting Marriott rewards points with Hertz. They offer 1000 Marriott points with each leisure rental. If you collect 30,000 points they can be exchanged for 10,000 miles on most domestic US carriers (10,000=2000miles and 20,000=5000miles). This results in 333 1/3 miles for each rental with greater back end flexibility of where the miles go. In addition, the miles can be transfered to the big US airlines.

I would encourage you to check out the web pages of your preffered car rental and airline programs. They should be helpful in find the right path to earning the most miles in the place you want them. Hope this was helpful.

good hunting.

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Two wrongs may not make a right, but three lefts do.

[This message has been edited by BLADE (edited 06-07-99).]

I think that in order to get a the regular 500/rental, you need to give the FF program's corporate discount number when you make the res, otherwise you only get 50 miles per day.

I also use Hertz and request Marriott Rewards points. One word of warning if you go this route. Hertz is terrible at posting Marriott points. I never had I problem with them posting airline miles; but out of about 20 rentals claiming Rewards points I've only had two post without me having to write, send rental receipt copies, call etc. Also, unless you need the miles in an airline account, I think the 1,000 marriott points is more valuable, the 1 mile for 3 points in not a great value in my opinion.

Agreed FFLASV. They rarely if ever come and take forever even after you fax the details too! When the Marriott program with Hertz changed last year 1/98, my first qualifying rental was in Munich in 2/98 and when I called a YEAR later they said "it's in the works!" A few months ago I finally did get it with that initial bonus!

With British Airways you do not need a conjunctive flight with Avis. For other car partners (like Hertz) you need a conjunctive flight. I think Alamo is no longer a BA partner.

Rules vary regarding the effect of discounts and FF miles. Most offer 100 for non-corporate discounts, and 50 for Corporate discount rentals.

Avis customer service have told me directly that there is no flight requirment for US members of excutive club renting cars in the US. That said, miles from my only Avis rental this year with my BA number have yet to post on the BA Exec Club website.

FWIW, the 2 times I have rented from Hertz (not my preffered agency) my Marriott Reward Points posted about 6 weeks later.

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Two wrongs may not make a right, but three lefts do.

pgupta011: No. Cool, huh?

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aloha!
www.hotshirts.com

Budget has changed the mileage with AA and United to 50 miles per day, but it is still 500 miles with some airlines. As noted above, with Northwest it is 500 miles for rentals 2 days or more, and it requires a flight in conjunction. With Alaska airlines it is 500 miles per day and no flight in conjunction is required.