In TER now, will update on our experiences of the Azores which has been excellent so far in detail when back as a few have been asking, but just wanted to give a heads up to those on BAH flight and car bookings or standalone Avis/Budget reservations.
There is no Avis/Budget in the Azores, they use Ilha Verde Car Rental. Nowhere in my booking email can I see anything about this. This is not like the common franchise arrangements where it's actually a third party but the experience is Avis with Preferred and everything integrated with Avis Systems.
Didn't collect the car until a couple of days after arriving at PDL so not sure what the situation was like after the BA service had arrived but it took 90 minutes to get a car on Monday. No Avis Preferred queue, no Preferred Benefits - as Presidents Club got a 6 year old Nissan Micra in terrible condition and nearly 100,000km on the clock.
After waiting over an hour (despite only 3 customers in front) they couldn't find the Avis reservation which involved a lengthy phone call to resolve. The Avis reservation was a pay later at £132 (around EUR160) but they are saying it's EUR290. After arguing this on return and the agent again trying to speak to Ilha Verde reservations we left with this unresolved. I was assured that I would only be charged the Avis amount but I doubt it very much and will be raising a complaint with Avis either way about the overall experience.
On returning there was also a huge queue at the desk,with passengers from overnight US flights complaining they had been waiting over 2 hours, the situation compounded by people at the front of the queue having to wait for cars to be washed and prepped before they could get keys.
Overall they are a bit of a disaster, on both collection and return. At PDL the issue seemed isolated to Ilha Verde with huge queues while the other desks were empty in the terminal. Used Angrauto at TER which was much better, and a significant better quality car.
If you can make alternative arrangements (I know not an option for BAH and possibly difficult for standalone given the general lack of availability of cars everywhere) it may be a good idea. If not come prepared for a long wait and check your total amount if not prepaid.