Originally Posted by
rittenhousesq
That may officially be true, but I got my free gold membership through UA at the beginning of this year, and have rented from Hertz fairly frequently, mostly through airport locations, and only once did I receive the car class I reserved. Every other time, I have received a significant upgrade.
Upgrades are all over the map, it depends a lot on how the fleet mix on the lot is at a given time. Non #1 customers will sometimes get free upgrades, other times, 5 star members won't get one.