What sort of company does this?
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Apr 2000
Location: LAX and LHR. UA lifetime Gold 1.9MM 1K , DL Gold Medallion, HHonors Gold, Marriott Gold, Avis President's Club
Posts: 3,592
What sort of company does this?
So I have a booking for 2 days and 10 hours at a cost of $148.
My flights are messed up, and I am rerouted on another airline, meaning I actually arrive four and a half hours earlier than I thought — i.e. 8pm instead of 12:30am.
How much would it cost to amend the reservation? The new charge would be $274! That's an extra $126 for just a few additional hours, or an extra 85%.
OK, if I cancel the reservation and start over? The same price: $274.
How can anyone justify this sort of thing? No wonder I don't use Avis much these days.
My flights are messed up, and I am rerouted on another airline, meaning I actually arrive four and a half hours earlier than I thought — i.e. 8pm instead of 12:30am.
How much would it cost to amend the reservation? The new charge would be $274! That's an extra $126 for just a few additional hours, or an extra 85%.
OK, if I cancel the reservation and start over? The same price: $274.
How can anyone justify this sort of thing? No wonder I don't use Avis much these days.
#2
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: May 2006
Location: SEA or BGR, Lower Earth Orbit
Programs: UA 1K
Posts: 17,217
Could you provide rental days? And more specific times? It could have been a weekend rate or discounted rate that you may have qualified for that don't any longer.
#3
Join Date: Jul 2011
Location: North America
Posts: 2,265
Don't make any changes. Just arrive early and pick up your car. You're already paying for 3 days so it won't add any extra cost. Let the clerk know you'll return the car early (ie: by 8pm) accordingly which you will as you only needed it for 2 1/2 days which is counted as 3 full days regardless.
#4
Suspended
Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: Atherton, CA
Programs: UA 1K, AA EXP; Owner, Green Bay Packers
Posts: 21,690
It's not unusual to have rates go up as you get closer to the trip. Try Priceline, etc. if you are sure there will be no further schedule changes, or just other companies.
I have run into situations where a res after midnight was a lot cheaper than one before, and had to wait for 30 min to save the $.
As for showing up early, I'd recommend a second "safety reservation" somewhere in case the staff are overly rule conscious.
I have run into situations where a res after midnight was a lot cheaper than one before, and had to wait for 30 min to save the $.
As for showing up early, I'd recommend a second "safety reservation" somewhere in case the staff are overly rule conscious.
#5
Original Poster
Join Date: Apr 2000
Location: LAX and LHR. UA lifetime Gold 1.9MM 1K , DL Gold Medallion, HHonors Gold, Marriott Gold, Avis President's Club
Posts: 3,592
Was going to be 00:30 on Thursday morning, bringing car back 10:00am Saturday morning. Changed it to 8:00pm Wednesday evening, same return on Sat morning. Daily rate skyrocketed as a result.
#6
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: home = LAX
Posts: 25,932
Anyway, what you can do is reserve the car for the earliest time you expect to possibly arrive (with change of flight), but put your actual flight info in. Then, if your flight changes, notify them of the new flight number, but don't change the reservation. Bingo. If you arrive on the originally scheduled flight, your car will be ready. If you arrive early (especially if you aren't able to notify them hours in advance), you may have to deal with the counter for a few minutes (in case your car wasn't prepared yet because they were waiting for your later flight), but your rate will not change.
They key to all this is that arrival flight info in the reservation is what's used to prepeare you car (if you specify the arrival flight, that is), while the pickup time is used for the billing. And the other key is that changing arrival flight info (but nothing else) in your reservation costs nothing, while changing anything else in your reservation causes it to be repriced.