JohnnyP

Not sure if this is out there or not, but I thought I would report my recent experiences at RDU. My last two visits, I have found RDU to have a very generous EA.

Last two times I was through, I've had choices of SUVs, Minivans, Impalas, and the typical lot of Grand Ams and Chevy's. I grabbed the only G6 and was out the door in a jif.

Friendly staff, too. But I guess that's just the South for you!

dd992emo

JP, agree. I was there last June and the EA and ExA had a great selection. The airport sucks, but National is great there!

wahooflyer

Good to know that there's still an EA and ES at a relatively small airport like RDU.

Many similar-sized airports have been reduced to counter service only.

JohnnyP

Update: Selection was not so tight this week. Only two plain vanilla G6's on the Aisle when I arrived (i.e. no XM, sunroof, leather seats, etc.). The rest were Chevy Malibus and Malibu Maxx'es -- ick.

If I remember correctly, mostly Impalas on the Executive selection with a couple Buicks in the mix.

haricharan

any recent reports of selections on Emerald Aisle and Emerald Reserve at RDU? trying to decide between avis and national...if selection at national isn't good, then i'll prob end going with avis. thanks in advance.

ZeppoX

I rent 8 to 10 times per year out of RDU as a local, about half for business road trips and about half for personal weekenders. What I observe is that there has been a 180-degree change in the pattern of Aisle availability by day of the week. Before gas prices went up, mid-week the pickins would be slim, and on weekends the Aisle would be packed as if they were using it as storage space.

Now, at peak business-traveler times it is rare to see a fuel-efficient vehicle in the aisle and instead you see Blazers, Impalas, and the occasional mini-Jeep. On the weekends, the SUVs and minivans appear to all be at the beach.

However, for some reason this location is loaded with mid-size SUVs, so odds are pretty good that you can get something on the order of a Chevy TrailBlazer, Chevy Equinox or GMC equivalent.

Of note: I've had consistent luck asking nicely when what I wanted was not on the Aisle. The Executive Selection is adjacent to the Aisle, and so far they always have let me browse the whole area. On my most recent rental, I wanted to "test-drive" the mini Jeep and someone beat me to the only one on the Aisle. No problem, they said, take that one, pointing to one in Executive Selection. I think the thing is that if a vehicle is "qualified" to be in the Aisle, they have no way of knowing at the checkout booth whether the staff parked it in Aisle or Exec Selection.

Hmbrglar

Any updates on the EA and EXA Aisle at RDU. I just left Avis and was matched to Exec Elite - so I am wondering what to expect. I have never rented with National before, so any advice is appreciated. Every week for the next 4 months I will be renting at RDU.

Hmbrglar

Picked up from the EE on Monday late afternoon. EE had 4 Suburbans, 2 Yukon's, an Expedition (or something similar), 3 Cherokee type cars and a few impalas. The guy at the checkout gate said they ran out of cars, so they brought out the big boys.
I am currently driving a 2009 Yukon with 2700 miles on it for the price of a midsize

sts603

ES mid-Thursday morning had Impalas, Chargers, Toyotas (didn't check), several mini-vans and a Saturn Outlook. I took the later.

ElmhurstNick

ES Friday night 11:30pm: tons of base Impalas, some Altimas, a Camry or two, and a couple of Kia SUVs. I took a Kia Sportage as we could use the fold-down room for golf clubs. It had 29k on it, and a mix of nice and annoying features.

Hmbrglar

Wirelessly posted (marty bb: BlackBerry8320/4.5.0.81 Profile/MIDP-2.0 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/100)

Picked up this morning and the EE had 4 suburbans, an expedition, a sequoia, and 5 equinox, plus the usual "full size" cars. Took a leather equinox with 3K miles, but no Sat radio

drzoidberg

Were these the 2010 Equinoxes? Thanks for the update Hmbrglar, might be visiting RDU in the near future.

Hmbrglar

Yes these were the 2010 Equinox's. Pretty nice.ride overall. I will be back at RDU again next week and will post what I find.

drzoidberg

I'm renting from RDU next weekend- any idea what they'll have on their Premium lot, if they even have a premium lot?

drzoidberg

About 9 am Friday morning. The RDU location is a large open lot, accessible by a rental car shuttle bus from the main terminals.

EA: Chrysler Sebrings, various Kias

ES: Nissan Rogue, every possible color of Chevy Impala and Chevy Malibu, 2010 Chevy Equinox, Honda Accord, Dodge Chargers.

Premium: Toyota Avalon, 2009 Ford Taurus

SUV: Buick Enclave, various Yukons, etc..

And can you believe this? The office guy tried to "tempt" me with a Kia Amanti, claiming it was Premium. That's the most flagrant case of class creep.