Maximising miles with Hertz
#1
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Original Poster
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Mostly UK
Programs: Mucci Extraordinaire, Hilton Diamond, BA Gold (ex BD)
Posts: 11,203
Maximising miles with Hertz
Many of us didn't like the change of car rental partner for Hertz to Europcar, but even after the switch to Europcar you could still book Hertz through the online shopping portal and earn 4 miles per pound.
Now Europcar has been ditched the only way to earn diamond club miles on car hire is to book Hertz through the bmi shopping portal.
BA only has one car rental partner, Avis, but I've had better experiences with Hertz.
Turns out Iberia Plus has a much better list of car hire partners and this includes Hertz among others. The avios earned with Iberia is based on a per day value rather than a flat rate per booking.
You can freely transfer avios between BA and IB accounts and from July you can transfer miles between BA and BD. So if you use Hertz, sign up with IB plus, add your IB number to your Hertz profile then when you book your car hire go through bmi online shopping portal. Then you'll get miles with both IB and BD which can all be transferred into one account.
I'm posting this on the BD forum as the BA forum already covers the additional car hire partners on Iberia Plus.
Now Europcar has been ditched the only way to earn diamond club miles on car hire is to book Hertz through the bmi shopping portal.
BA only has one car rental partner, Avis, but I've had better experiences with Hertz.
Turns out Iberia Plus has a much better list of car hire partners and this includes Hertz among others. The avios earned with Iberia is based on a per day value rather than a flat rate per booking.
You can freely transfer avios between BA and IB accounts and from July you can transfer miles between BA and BD. So if you use Hertz, sign up with IB plus, add your IB number to your Hertz profile then when you book your car hire go through bmi online shopping portal. Then you'll get miles with both IB and BD which can all be transferred into one account.
I'm posting this on the BD forum as the BA forum already covers the additional car hire partners on Iberia Plus.
#2
Join Date: May 2008
Location: Northern Italian Lakes
Programs: BA, *A, Hertz Goldstar, Mucci wannabee, Waitrose, safari Oleg
Posts: 1,545
Be aware that if you want to accrue points in the new Hertz Gold Five Star program, there is a requirement that you do not credit miles within the actual booking to any airline program. You have to use ZE1 instead of airline membership number on the actual booking. So far as I can tell you can still have no airline membership number on the actual booking yet use an incentivised other method to book. I'd make sure to check the booking anyway in case a default airline membership number has not crept in if you want to keep the ZE1 code in place of airline number for this reason.
So you may need to decide between the Hertz program which gives you extra free days of car hire, and airline miles - at least as the miles program you enter within the booking is concerned.
So you may need to decide between the Hertz program which gives you extra free days of car hire, and airline miles - at least as the miles program you enter within the booking is concerned.
Last edited by h15t0r1an; Jun 24, 2012 at 9:05 am
#3
Join Date: Jun 2002
Location: London, UK
Programs: BA Gold(OWE), QF LTG, MR Plat, IHG Spire, Hertz PC
Posts: 8,156
Be aware that if you want to accrue points in the new Hertz Gold Five Star program, there is a requirement that you do not credit miles within the actual booking to any airline program. You have to use ZE1 instead of airline membership number on the actual booking. So far as I can tell you can still have no airline membership number on the actual booking yet use an incentivised other method to book. I'd make sure to check the booking anyway in case a default airline membership number has not crept in if you want to keep the ZE1 code in place of airline number for this reason.
So you may need to decide between the Hertz program which gives you extra free days of car hire, and airline miles - at least as the miles program you enter within the booking is concerned.
So you may need to decide between the Hertz program which gives you extra free days of car hire, and airline miles - at least as the miles program you enter within the booking is concerned.
Yes, you have a choice as to whether to use The Hertz or airline account to get points (for redeeming cars or flights), but accruing points to airlines does not preclude one from earning status within the Hertz programme.
#4
Join Date: May 2008
Location: Northern Italian Lakes
Programs: BA, *A, Hertz Goldstar, Mucci wannabee, Waitrose, safari Oleg
Posts: 1,545
Please note that the newish "Hertz Gold Plus Rewards" program is in addition to normal procedures for membership. It just gives considerably better benefits (free days or weeks). However, as in the rules quote above you must use the ZE1 code as accrual for this specific program is not compatible if you leave an airline code or other program number in the airline membership number box on the booking.
I'm sure that if you use your travel agent, or another booking engine (which I imagine might still be a BD booking engine provided it does not automatically insert an airline membership number into the booking itself instead of just "ZE1") then this will still get whatever incentive is provided by that other program. But if you indicate an airline membership or put anything other than "ZE1" into the content of the booking then you will not be able to accrue under the Hertz Gold Plus Rewards program.
Perhaps you'd like to visit the Hertz website and check it out? You may be missing something. I'm just about to book my first hire car for a whole week free of charge under the program and I haven't been accruing for long at all. For me it was definitely worth foregoing the airline miles. I still keep my status in Hertz, and I get free rentals as well. YMMV.
Last edited by h15t0r1an; Jun 24, 2012 at 10:24 pm
#5
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Feb 2004
Location: London
Programs: BA, VS, HH, IHG, MB, MR
Posts: 26,860
Not sure what the US programme is like, but the UK Hertz programme is pretty rubbish. Yes, I got the fat sign up bonus and thus can now do a free weekend rental after only paying for a weekend rental, but going forward the 100 Hertz points per day don't cut it if you are only doing daily rentals and can otherwise get 500 miles per day instead.
One benefit of the Hertz programme is that you earn points on rates which do not normally earn miles, eg IBM Friends & Family which is often used by Amex Plat cardholders as it strips out the insurance.
One benefit of the Hertz programme is that you earn points on rates which do not normally earn miles, eg IBM Friends & Family which is often used by Amex Plat cardholders as it strips out the insurance.
Last edited by Raffles; Jun 25, 2012 at 12:51 am