Renting a car with BA
Nov 7, 2018, 9:13 am
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: London/NYC
Programs: BA GFL/GGL/CCR, SPG Plat for Life, HHDiamond, xG Aegean, Avis President's Circle
Posts: 26
Renting a car with BA
I used to rent Avis cars through Avis and British Airways regularly. I always assumed the rental was handled by BA Hols.
As of recent, you get automatically redirected from Avis and British Airways to www.ba-carhire.com
The booking confirmation comes from Budget with a BA logo proudly spread on the page.
The BA systems have no record of the booking.
The booking reminder comes from Avis, with my Avis President's Circle embellishments, despite the booking being a mere statusless Budget booking.
When accessing my President's Circle profile, there is no record of the booking on it.
Due to last week's BA data breach (in my case resulting in involuntary credit card cancellations), I was unable to pick up a Budget car paid for through www.ba-carhire.com.
I rang the GGL desk; they were unable to assist with the last minute cancellation as it was not a BA Hols booking. Referred back to Budget.
When using the "Contact Budget" email link on their website, I got redirected to [email protected]
So far no reply.
Last night, with the replacement credit cards in my wallet, I was due to pick up a car booked through www.ba-carhire.com.
The confirmation email too came from Budget with a BA logo. The reminder came from the President's Club etc. etc.
The Avis/Budget desk at XXX airport in France was unable to find the booking despite my showing the staff all available proofs of the booking.
Different systems were searched in vain; I ended up renting at a ridiculous rack rate due to time pressure.
While the Budget/Avis dichotomy must have been discussed at length in a relevant forum before, does any of the BA Forum members understand the relationship between British Airways and the www.avisba.com/www.ba-carhire.com?
The liberal use of the BA credentials on the Avis/Budget communication is somewhat misleading.
Yet, unlike the car bookings made directly on www.ba.com, BA does not even recognise those bookings in their system.
Am I wrong to find this bait-and-switch technique puzzling? Should Avis/Budget even be allowed to use BA's insignia (beyond the field concerning loyalty points collection)?
A small final note: the GGL team in both instances were nothing but wonderful. There just wasn't anything that they could do for me.
I'd be most grateful for any thoughts.
MG
As of recent, you get automatically redirected from Avis and British Airways to www.ba-carhire.com
The booking confirmation comes from Budget with a BA logo proudly spread on the page.
The BA systems have no record of the booking.
The booking reminder comes from Avis, with my Avis President's Circle embellishments, despite the booking being a mere statusless Budget booking.
When accessing my President's Circle profile, there is no record of the booking on it.
Due to last week's BA data breach (in my case resulting in involuntary credit card cancellations), I was unable to pick up a Budget car paid for through www.ba-carhire.com.
I rang the GGL desk; they were unable to assist with the last minute cancellation as it was not a BA Hols booking. Referred back to Budget.
When using the "Contact Budget" email link on their website, I got redirected to [email protected]
So far no reply.
Last night, with the replacement credit cards in my wallet, I was due to pick up a car booked through www.ba-carhire.com.
The confirmation email too came from Budget with a BA logo. The reminder came from the President's Club etc. etc.
The Avis/Budget desk at XXX airport in France was unable to find the booking despite my showing the staff all available proofs of the booking.
Different systems were searched in vain; I ended up renting at a ridiculous rack rate due to time pressure.
While the Budget/Avis dichotomy must have been discussed at length in a relevant forum before, does any of the BA Forum members understand the relationship between British Airways and the www.avisba.com/www.ba-carhire.com?
The liberal use of the BA credentials on the Avis/Budget communication is somewhat misleading.
Yet, unlike the car bookings made directly on www.ba.com, BA does not even recognise those bookings in their system.
Am I wrong to find this bait-and-switch technique puzzling? Should Avis/Budget even be allowed to use BA's insignia (beyond the field concerning loyalty points collection)?
A small final note: the GGL team in both instances were nothing but wonderful. There just wasn't anything that they could do for me.
I'd be most grateful for any thoughts.
MG
Nov 7, 2018, 9:27 am
#2
Join Date: Oct 2018
Programs: BAEC Gold, IHG Platinum, ALL Gold, Bonvoy Gold Elite, HHonors Gold
Posts: 384
Yikes! That sounds like exactly the sort of practical exercise in Murphy's law that makes my skin crawl.
Makes me rethink my upcoming car hire reservation through carhire-ba.com; I'm not 100% confident they actually registered my Avis Preferred number either.
Makes me rethink my upcoming car hire reservation through carhire-ba.com; I'm not 100% confident they actually registered my Avis Preferred number either.
Nov 7, 2018, 9:38 am
#3
Join Date: Dec 2014
Location: London
Programs: BAEC Silver, HH Diamond, Avis President's Club
Posts: 1,219
Out of interest, what's the advantage/reasoning for booking through BA? I just always book directly through Avis (if it's not a flight+car package), the Avios always deposit successfully and I don't need the extra driver because I get that through Avis Preferred anyway. It just seems like extra risk for no benefit.
Nov 7, 2018, 9:49 am
#4
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Mar 2010
Location: JER
Programs: BA Gold/OWE, several MUCCI, and assorted Pensions!
Posts: 32,140
Almost invariably booked via Avis/BA in the USA, adding my Avis Preferred code, never had any issues, and extra Avios always posted promptly.
MGUK ... where was the rental? That may be pertinent.
MGUK ... where was the rental? That may be pertinent.
Nov 7, 2018, 10:13 am
#5
Original Poster
Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: London/NYC
Programs: BA GFL/GGL/CCR, SPG Plat for Life, HHDiamond, xG Aegean, Avis President's Circle
Posts: 26
MGUK ... where was the rental? That may be pertinent.[/QUOTE]
The phantom rental was at NCE, FR. Both the Avis Prwferred and the regular Avis/Budget deals were useless.
Nov 7, 2018, 10:13 am
#6
Join Date: Sep 2018
Posts: 6
Nov 7, 2018, 10:18 am
#7
Original Poster
Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: London/NYC
Programs: BA GFL/GGL/CCR, SPG Plat for Life, HHDiamond, xG Aegean, Avis President's Circle
Posts: 26
[QUOTE=Foltan;30404181]Out of interest, what's the advantage/reasoning for booking through BA?
I thought it was a shortcut to the same service offered by www.ba.com (instead of going through the landing page, the BAEC login, the car rental page etc. on www.be.com).
At times I compared the rates on both sites and they differed.i never had a reason to question why that was the case until now and went along with the best rate.
I thought it was a shortcut to the same service offered by www.ba.com (instead of going through the landing page, the BAEC login, the car rental page etc. on www.be.com).
At times I compared the rates on both sites and they differed.i never had a reason to question why that was the case until now and went along with the best rate.
Nov 7, 2018, 10:20 am
#8
Original Poster
Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: London/NYC
Programs: BA GFL/GGL/CCR, SPG Plat for Life, HHDiamond, xG Aegean, Avis President's Circle
Posts: 26
Nov 7, 2018, 10:44 am
#10
Join Date: Nov 2010
Location: Milton Keynes
Programs: BA Blue
Posts: 373
Out of interest, what's the advantage/reasoning for booking through BA? I just always book directly through Avis (if it's not a flight+car package), the Avios always deposit successfully and I don't need the extra driver because I get that through Avis Preferred anyway. It just seems like extra risk for no benefit.
Edit: I should point out that this is for USA vacations of 10-18 days!
Last edited by chrismk; Nov 7, 2018 at 12:48 pm Reason: Identify duration and region
Nov 7, 2018, 11:17 am
#11
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Mar 2010
Location: JER
Programs: BA Gold/OWE, several MUCCI, and assorted Pensions!
Posts: 32,140
Originally Posted by MGUK
The phantom rental was at NCE, FR. Both the Avis Prwferred and the regular Avis/Budget deskswere useless.
Nov 7, 2018, 11:53 am
#12
Join Date: Dec 2017
Location: HAJ
Programs: BA Bronze, AVIS Preferred Plus
Posts: 53
I used to rent Avis cars through Avis and British Airways regularly. I always assumed the rental was handled by BA Hols.
As of recent, you get automatically redirected from Avis and British Airways to www.ba-carhire.com
The booking confirmation comes from Budget with a BA logo proudly spread on the page.
The BA systems have no record of the booking.
As of recent, you get automatically redirected from Avis and British Airways to www.ba-carhire.com
The booking confirmation comes from Budget with a BA logo proudly spread on the page.
The BA systems have no record of the booking.
I don't know why everyone is complaining about avis europe. I did rent quite a few cars in germany and never had any issue. I always got my ba bronze benifits and always got the car i wanted. Eventhough at some franchise stations they had no access to my preferred account, my rental always showed up in my account a few days later.
Nov 7, 2018, 1:18 pm
#13
Join Date: Feb 2016
Location: LHR
Programs: BAEC Gold, SkyTeam Elite Plus, Sixt Gold
Posts: 418
