I_Can_Fly_US_Airways

I don't really feel for Chairman's Members this is going to affect anything. You'll arrive at the airport, and find your vehicle waiting for you parked out front as they usually are.

I guess if you don't like your car*, you just walk back to the Preferred Booth and they will give you whatever you like. Never had an issue selecting a car BTW...

*most recently, its been either BMW or and Infiniti.

Jorgen

The real genius of this (apart from stealing customers back from National) is in the "Upgrade" option. When I travel for leisure I'm usually theoretically willing to pay a bit extra to get something a bit cooler, but I rarely do.

I won't book a "Cool Car" because they charge crazy-high amounts for them -- they have to because they're giving up a bunch of flexibility in their inventory by guaranteeing me a particular model. On the other hand I rarely book something as nebulous as "premium" or "luxury" because knowing my luck I'll inevitably just wind up with a Town Car instead of a BMW.

But if they start really pushing the idea of painless on-the-spot paid upgrades to defined cars I think they can sell a bunch of 'em while still maintaining flexibility in their fleet. Got some spare Infinitis? Great, stick 'em on the upgrade lot with "$20 a day extra" in the windscreen. They'll be raking in the extra bucks in no time.

cerealmarketer

Indeed but possibly to the detriment of Chairmans and President's Club members. Am used to being able to walk back to the counter and negotiate an upgrade, often to a specialty, in instances where the first car wasn't a double upgrade. Worry it will now be more 'by the book' and they will be less likely to pre-assign PC and Chairmans something above Luxury class.

In other words, playing the 'tens of dollars' game we see at United.

This becomes less of an issue once the Town Cars are out of the fleet and things like an Inifiniti are a standard Luxury car.

nightracerx

I totally agree.

chrisdeaner

I'm Avis First and never got the advance email about this. However, upon arrival at SEA this morning I got an email letting me know my car was ready with the exact type and spot:

The select and go plus the upgrade rows were on the way to my car and they had a pretty standard collection in the select & go plus some decent upgrades on the other side. Still not sure how the upgrades work with Avis First, assuming if I get an upgrade it'll be given to me as my initial assignment but I couldn't just choose something from the upgrade row and not be charged.

nightracerx

What class of car did you book to get the Ford Fusion? Also what standard collections are we talking about at the select & go area? A bunch of Chevy Malibus and Impalas I guess?

nova08

This is sort of how the Avis at BDL already operates (minus the new choose an upgraded car on a whim). You take the shuttle to the facility and the driver takes the names of the preferred members. By the time he gets to the lot basically everyone has an assigned spot/car (Form and keys in the car). No human interaction. If you want a different car you have to go inside (Annoying for me because rarely do I receive much of an upgrade as a President's club member). I did notice yesterday that they had all of the "Cool cars" lined up next to each other. I forget if they always do that.

hangingchad

Any thoughts on this article? I'm PC and wondering how this will effect me...

http://milecards.com/4479/does-new-a...club-upgrades/

Critic

You pretty much described the standard experience at any Avis station not terminal-adjacent or inside a consolidated rental car facility.

nova08

Yea the more I read the thread I figured out that it sounds like many stations operate in this manner. This is my first experience renting from a facility that does not require human interaction.

cerealmarketer

It certainly echoes some of the concerns. We'll see how it is in practice.

Was in SFO this week, but didn't see Select n Go in action. In fact the entire lot was dry because of the US Open. Half the names on the Preferred board had no car assigned.

They offered a minivan, I balked, then a Camry. Being late at night I went out to see for myself. There was a BMW X3 parked across from it, and didn't see it assigned to anyone on the board. So negotiated an exchange to that.

jalves

I'll be renting at MCO on Thursday (6/21) and am wondering if the Select & Go Service is active there yet.

Critic

According to Avis.com, MCO doesn't go online for Select & Go until next month.

https://www.avis.com/car-rental/cont...o-US_en-033067

bworrell

This new program helped me out in Seattle yesterday.

Arrived at assigned spot to find a Crown Vic in my spot (yuck). Walked over to the exchange section and grabbed a Ford Edge instead.

I had to laugh, however, at the "upgrades" -- $45 extra/day for a Challenger? Many of the upgrades are commonly found at National's executive section for no extra charge.

jalves

Thanks. I guess I misread (or mis-remembered) the original announcement and thought it was this month.