I agree the downgrades to AF are not good.

In fact for a recent 2 day weekend rental from BUF, Avis wanted to charge $99/2 day weekend (and this is in the middle of winter!), then $66/weekend per recently set out 50% weekend rate.

Meanwhile via Hotwire, cars were available at ~$50/2 day all in. Hertz via their 50% off rate came out to about the same price as Hotwire--so Avis's rates are higher for less.

Since I was annoyed with AF, I decided to give Hertz a try.

Alas, my Hertz BUF rental was not without trouble:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/hertz...rding-buf.html