Avis car return at TLS
 

Am off to Marseille this weekend for the England & South Africa quarter final matches and have hired a car as flights into and out or Marseille were ridiculous prices. We're driving down from Lyon late Friday and will drop the car off first thing Monday at TLS.

Have made a schoolboy error and not really thought this one through, flight leaves TLS at 0655 and the Avis desk opens at 0630 according to the website.

Does anyone here have any knowledge of TLS, if so where is the dropoff point for cars is it on, or offsite?

Given BAs partnership with AVIS and the early departure 7 days a week, i'm sure i'm not the only one to have come up against this?

I'll only have had luggage so will hopefully make it through security and to the gate in 25mins - managed it at MAD T4S so fingers crossed.

It's kind of offsite, but a only a 5 min walk back to the airport. All the car hire return is in one area. We've done the early flight back, and I'm sure we were able to drop the car earlier than that - or if there is more than one of you, perhaps someone could go to check in while someone drops off the car?

The other biggie at TLS is that at that time of the morning, the only petrol station near the airport takes French cards only - we got caught very badly with this :( Fill up before you get to the airport!

Agree with all this - had exactly the same issues at TLS early morning - fill your car up well before you get to the airport there is nowhere obvious nearby. We ended up finding a petrol station in a Carrefour (Tesco-type place) but it was a good 10 mins drive away. Luckily we had plenty of time on our hands.

As Jenbel says, the return lot is sort of on site but a good 5 minutes walk to the terminal (don't remember a bus). If the office is closed you can usually just put the keys through the letter box IME.

We've done the MRS - TLS trip before, you'll love it, especially if you enjoy your food :p

Yes, the Carrefour at that time of the morning only has automated pumps, and with three of us trying on a range of cards, none of them were accepted. Apparently as a security measure, it will only accept French cards. Once staff arrive, you can use British cards in it, but not before - so the early morning departure, you can't get any fuel unless you have a French card :(

I've experienced the same problem with automatic petrol stations near TLS not taking UK cards, but on a recent (July) trip I discovered that the first petrol station beyond the airport (stay on the dual carriageway after the airport exit) accepted my UK Visa card. It's then no problem to go to the next exit, turn around and get back to the airport. No guarantee this will work for you - as our US friends like to say, your mileage may vary!

As for Avis itself - why not call them and ask, I imagine this issue comes up frequently.

Moving this to Avis - will give it the combined expertise of both boards :)

Sound advice, thats for the heads up ^ Will be sure to fill up before the airport.

Sounds good, am definitely a foodie, any recommendations? Am with my younger cousin and my best mate, nothing too fancy but am open to suggestions....