Today we waited (with a throng of others) for over an hour to get to the rental desk at Budget Car Rental at LAX. This is from when we stepped off the shuttle to when we first spoke to someone at the rental desk. From the time we got off the shuttle to our leaving the lot took 95 minutes. While there are about 15 agent stations at the counter, only 5 were staffed at 1 pm, though by 2 pm they were up to 8.

I asked one Budget employee why the long wait and she said "It's summer". You know, maybe it's my aging memory, but I could just swear there was another summer just about a year ago. Same deal too-hot weather, lots of folks on vacation.

Seriously, if this was a small town airport, I could understand being understaffed. But it is real surprise that one of the big 3 is playing smallball like this at a major international airport.