I was at LAX for the first 10 days of the month. Collected a different car almost every day (had 8 in total), picking up around 8 - 8:30am every morning. Some days the place was packed out, but there were a couple of days when they were quite low on cars (Tuesday being the predictable nadir). I managed to get 8 different cars, none of which I had driven before. Some were just taken from the lot, as parked, (I am PC) but for others, I just asked and generally got what I wanted. Had quite a few conversations with the staff there, who in my experience are very friendly and helpful.
They told me that they think the business is changing. Although the patterns are the same, with a lot of cars going on out on Mon and coming back Thurs/Fri for business rentals and then a second peak on Fri evening for the weekend, there are fewer business rentals than there used to be (squeeze on business travel in a lot of big corporates). They were not as busy for Thanksgiving as they used to be. December is the lowest point of the year at LAX, in terms of demand, and also on the available fleet, they said. Older cars have been pulled and not many of the new ones that they will be getting have yet arrived. There are new cars coming: I was told that the list includes the Range Rover Velar, Land-Rover Discovery, a lot more Infiinti (haven't they got enough already), the Rogue Sport and that they will be getting some Altima SL models. The new Camry will also feature. As ever, my sources said that they would only believe it when they see these cars, as sometimes what has been promised does not ever show up on fleet. Also told that the Shelby Mustangs will be gone by January - the few that are left are high mileage and a bit tatty now.
I did ask how Ultimate Choice had bedded in. Initially, it seemed people just took the first car in the first space they found, but now there are lots of people who do walk up and down and are very selective in grabbing the "best" car they can find. The odd car, that no-one wants can sit around for 24 - 48 hours (apart from a Monday morning when more or less everything goes!), and I saw evidence of this with a few that took several days to shift. I know that what is parked up can be a bit hit and miss, but on the whole I think Ultimate Choice is a great program, as it does make it far easier to choose the car you want from what is available..... but if people think that they are get significant upgrades for free all the time (which is the impression you get from some posts in this and the other threads on UC), I think they need to reset their expectations to be you will mostly be choosing within what they have booked, with a nice upgrade being a bonus that you might get but not all the time.