MilesMonster

Arrived on a Friday night of Labor Day weekend and found an odd arrangement of cars (from memory):

Emerald Aisle:
3 Chevy Impala
2 Chevy Malibu
1 Ford Flex
1 Dodge Avenger
1 Lincoln Town Car


Executive Selection:
1 Buick Enclave
2 Chevy Impala
1 Toyota Camry
1 Mercury Grand Marquis


I reserved a LUX, so I wondered if the Town Car was meant for me. I grabbed the Enclave instead.

Y..

I admit I haven't rented from National in a while and not out of Dayton (where I'm at). I have a rental in June for a standard car (and I've been an EC member for years) I'm understanding that they have an Emerald Aisle at this location now? (I rented from there about 2 years ago and they didn't as they assigned me the car). So it works just as all other EA's work I'm guessing?

My dilemma is I rented a standard size and I'm concerned about luggage space. We will have 3 good sized suitcases with us and I know they will fit into a full size car trunk and now a standard concerns me but I got a great rate and hate to make a change now.

Thanks for all help.

DAL-767

Remember...rent a mid-size and then pick the car you need...from the yugo to the minivan.

DJ_Iceman

Funny, I just picked up from DAY a few hours ago. They do indeed have a standard EA/ES setup like most larger airports. I was initially disappointed to find the rows mostly empty, with just some average Monte Carlos and Chargers to pick from, when the attendant noticed I was traveling alone and directed me to a Saab 9-3 convertible (that was on the regular EA no less!).

ralfp

Last Friday night (Dec. 9): EA & ES pretty much the same.

• Impalas (many)
• Monte Carlos (a few), Edit: This should probably be Malibus
• Altima (I had driven the exact same one a few weeks earlier).
• Chrysler 200 (I think).

ES: same as above, except for two new (500 miles on each) Jeep Compasses.

Complete blah....

I checked a few cars for working XM with no luck. I picked a Compass (I have no idea why). On my way out I noticed a Mazda 3 (I think, maybe it was a 6) in the EA.

The sole car in the "Premium" section was a Grand Marquis. It also had a Crown Vic on my return.

DAYflier

I rent out of DAY on a pretty frequent basis. Generally I agree with what's been said here, but would add that the ES usually provides a feast of well-optioned SUVs (Explorers, CX-9s, Grand Cherokees, Durangos, Enclaves). More than occasionally, there will be Lincoln MKSes/Caddy STSes available in the ES area.

Like ralfp observed, it can also be famine. I begrudgingly picked out a 12k mile I-4 LaCrosse yesterday as it was the best vehicle in ES. It smells like a cherry-flavored chemical toilet.

There is a "Cool Cars" row but they've tightened up giving those out without a substantial upcharge. Other than a seemingly ever-present VW CC and Dodge Charger, it seems like higher optioned EA sedans are parked with the "cool" cars.

The good thing about this location is that they'll pretty freely let you pick out something from Alamo, even if its a vehicle in the National "cool cars" row. Finally, standard emerald club members should not be bashful about asking a lot attendant for access to the ES vehicles. More often than not, they'll tell you to help yourself.

I am heading up tonight to rent a car for a friend, so I'll report back if I see anything different.

PlateMan

Pick up at noon on Thursday 19-Jan .. a snowy day.

EA had an Altima, some Malibus, an Equinox, Jeep Wrangler and a Santa Fe, which I took.

ES had mostly Malibus and one charger

The Santa Fe is a 2011 with 17,000 miles and full XM service. Not bad, especially helpful in the snow today. Car stunk on pickup, like they poured every chemical in there, but smell dissipated throughout the day.

ralfp

Good to know. I'll try it next time (in two days) if the pickings dictate it.

Was there the next day. Took a 300 from the ES. Not bad, but not great.

The ES seems to be an extension of the EA in DAY. It's rare that the ES has better cars than the EA. The main benefit is a larger, not better, selection.

ralfp

Today was a pretty good day (Thurs. around noon).

What I remember (ignoring the normal garbage, e.g. Impalas)

ES:
Yukon
Durango

EA:
Acadia
Tiguan
Altima
Charger
(the last two I'm not sure about)

I didn't look at the Alamo selection. Took the Tiguan (3300 miles, working sat. radio).

I've never seen an STS or MKS in either aisle. I wish the CC was "ever-present" (just don't read my scathing review of the CC).

nevansm

Rented here this week. Lots of Impalabus, a few minivans, chargers and small SUV's. I took a GMC Terrain with 10k miles on it with leather and sunroof.

ralfp

I guess they know me pretty well at DAY. I showed up at 12:30am Friday night (Sat. morning) and the lady from the booth (I really should remember her name) walks up to me and says she's picked out a car for me. I was , but she gave me a new 2013 Taurus Limited, which is what I would have picked had it been in the EA. ^

I think she wanted to go home and remembered that my normal routine is to check for working satellite radio (this can take a few minutes).

PRflyer26

Have anyone been here recently? What have you seen? I have a one-way to JFK coming up in 3 weeks and wanted to know what to expect when I get there. Thanks in advance.

Y..

I was very pleased to see this thread still somewhat alive. I will be renting from DAY here in about 3 weeks on a Friday night around 8pm. I will try to remember to come back and post what was on the EA.

ralfp

DAY had a nice selection today (Friday); perhaps it was because I arrived at 845p vs. the normal 1130p. I guess they don't restock the aisle later at night.

Some that I recall:

ES:
300 (3 of them)
MKZ (I took this)
Some smaller SUVs and the standard stuff (Malibus, etc.)

Premium:
Avalon
Maxima

I didn't really pay much attention; I quickly took the MKZ, as it's new to me and had working sat. radio.

An odd thing about the MKZ: all of the bar codes, including the one on the keychain, were dark grey to the point of being unreadable.

jafza412

I rented from Dayton on Monday and saw a decent selection of cars around 12:30pm.

EA:
Rogue (what i took)
Lacrosse
Challenger x2
a few other run of the mill sedans

Executive:
Infiniti JX SUV (status match didn't clear in time, argh!)
Mustang
Silverado or Ram
Pathfinder
Corolla S (??)