National - Car rental from Stamford, CT National

Rented last Friday, no EA/ES aisle. They only give what's reserved regardless of status. The place has some checkout issues as the internet is received from the Sheraton hotel. Took 30 minutes to get in and out. We received a Nissan Altima for a full size booking, the agent offered a Camaro for $30 more bucks but was not going to fit my crew I was traveling with. They had one car for each sized class.

No, Stamford wouldn't be an EA/ES location. There's a list of the EA/ES at ~60 U.S./Canadian airports.

Getting the car class reserved is de rigueur. National's exec 'upgrade' benefit allows one to reserve class X in the standard car categories and pay for class x-1. Premium priced as full size is often the sweet spot.

Nissan Altimas have been classed as Full size for a while. Avis has them as Full, too.

Use big airport locations for spectrum of choice. Saving airport fees/taxes is nice, and sometimes off-airport is a real convenience, but there are trade-offs.

Not just airport taxes, but often there is a difference in price, unless you are on a fixed rate corporate contract plan. As the previous poster mentioned, be prepared for tradeoffs.