25k skymiles for LT rental - problem?
 

I got the following email this morning:

"Escaping the cold this winter? Budget helps warm you up by awarding 25,000 bonus SkyMiles on all Budget by the Month rentals in Florida.

This offer is valid on all car groups on rentals greater then (sic) 59 consecutive days at participating Budget airport locations in Florida through March 31, 2008. "

The bolding of "in Florida" and "59 consecutive days" is mine. Looked like a good deal and I may be needing it, so I clicked onto the website for the fine print. There I found:

"Blackouts include, but are not limited to: 2007 – November 2-14 in Little Rock, AR; November 7-11 in Phoenix, AZ; November 22-26 all locations; December 22-31 all locations. 2008 – January 4-10 in Las Vegas, NV; January 27-February 3 in Phoenix, AZ; January 31-February 5 in New Orleans, LA; February 6-17 in Tucson, AZ; February 8-10 in Honolulu, HI; February 14 – March 22 all ski locations; February 14-17 in New Orleans, LA; February 14-24 in AZ, FL and HI;"

Again, bolding and underline are mine. Okay, so you tell me if I'm missing something. You have to have 59 consecutive days. Let's say that I picked this up today. Since the blackout begins on Feb. 14th, there's no way to get 59 consecutive days if you start today, or any day before the blackout period begins. If you start after the blackout period in Feb., there's no way to get 59 days since you must complete the rental by March 31, or that's the way I read "offer expires on March 31." Am I reading it wrong? BTW, I did try several series of dates and three different airports just to see, and they all said the promo was not available on those dates. Am I reading this wrong, or is is just impossible to do this? I am not discounting possible user error, but has anyone else tried it?

Delta promotions are often worded terribly and I don't know what to tell you on this, but you might wish to look at the 5 days or longer Budget promotion with CO whereby each 5 day or longer rental snags you essentially 10,000 miles.

Could be even more lucrative than the DL promotion.

My guess -- and it's just a guess -- is that a rental that commences during a blackout period would not qualify for the 25,000 bonus miles, but if a rental commenced before the blackout period, the fact that a blackout period occurred in the midst of the rental would not disqualify you. My suggestion would be to E-mail SkyMiles and/or Budget and request clarification. If you get a reply, then you will at least have something in writing if a problem should develop down the road.