That's correct. Not a frequent renter, certainly wouldn't qualify on my own. Another benefit to me from the Plat card.

What I'm looking for is to pick one of the three - the one that will give the most benefits from the status level offered by the Plat card - and stick to it if possible. It sounds like National is the way to go, for the ability to access the Executive area for midsize price reservation. Do you find that there is consistently a good selection of cars fullsize and up incl SUV? And you're saying you can use the contract ID plus coupon codes to pay less for the midsize reservation too. Do I understand correctly?

And next to National then Hertz. But avoid Avis. I had no idea these opinions existed. Does Avis remain competitive just because of their bigger network then?

Anyway, back to renting at National: so you suggest I look for better contract id's than Amex's? How do you find coupon codes? How do you stack contract id's and coupon codes when reserving online? Do you do most of your reserving online or do you call?