National - Disappointment: Can't Apply Coupon if Modifying Active Reservation

I *knew* I should have just booked the car longer than I needed it....

My flight from JAN tomorrow has been delayed from 6AM to 4PM. I picked up at 11:58AM on FRI, so I booked until 6AM on Sunday. I cna keep it, with my 2 days charge, until 11:50am on Sunday,. Now that I need to extend it by a few hours (till around 3pm) to make the best use of being in town, I find that 2 hours equals a full additional day's charge (talk about expensive, JAN is $21/h or $42/d).

Of course, I couldn't use the "third weekend day free (https://www.nationalcar.com/index.do?action=/hotDealsTemplate&msg=national-free-weekend-day)" coupon at booking, since I only initially chose 2 days. Now, when I add a couple of hours it shifts to a third day, but none of the agents will allow me to use the coupon.

If I'd planned to be delayed, I would have had the car for the additional time at no cost. Since I didn't, I get to have several hours of airport appreciation time.

Awesome.

If you want to spend some time in a shopping area, you could drop the car off early then catch one of the shuttles that runs to any of the hotels over by Dogwood in Flowood. There's a Holiday Inn Express, Candlewood Suites, Comfort Suites and Hampton Inn over in that area. I'm sure if you were honest with the shuttle driver and tipped well, they wouldn't mind.

http://g.co/maps/zm7ps

A cab will cost you $20.00 or so to get over to that area - it's $9.00 just to get out of the airport.

Keep in mind that a lot of shops won't open until 11:00am since it's Sunday.

This might not help you today, but your post highlights an important point for those who might come across this thread in the future. The basic rule on the weekend bookings is that you qualify for the weekend rates (and the $20 coupon/free day coupon applicability) on any rental that exceeds 48 hours. A Saturday overnight stay is required as well to become eligible for those rates/coupons as well. (ie, Thursday 10AM to Saturday 8PM would not earn the rates/coupons despite being longer than 48 hours).

Similarly, a Thursday 8PM to Saturday 8PM rental would not do the trick, but if you schedule the return for Sunday after midnight (say, 12:30AM), the coupon/special rates would kick in. After that, it costs exactly the same price, so long as you returned before 8PM Sunday. For this reason, on my own weekend rentals, I always schedule a Sunday evening return, giving myself the flexibility to take it back when it works for me.

For what it's worth, I have never seen the rate go UP when I return earlier on a Sunday than scheduled.