This is what FT is for :) Thank you!!! Booked and ticketed and doing the hotel now. I'll have to explain to her school that she'll miss a couple of days, but we'll work on homework ;)

Same here at TYS. :mad:

But what made matters worse is that there were a ton of mid-sized cars sitting right there, any of which I would have gladly taken. When I went to the phantom toll booth to ask to get a key to one of those they told me "no, those are for people who reserved them."

I felt like I was in a Seinfeld sketch. Did my reservation mean nothing? I'm a f*ing AVIS FIRST. I'M FIRST GOSH DARNIT. FIRRRRRRRRRST*. Apparently being Avis First means being last to get my car.

In other news, I got thoroughly screwed by DL today in ATL. :td::td::td:

In even more other news, I owe CO Insider a case of beer. :D

Greetings from the rattiest hotel room 45 minutes outside of Knoxville. :rolleyes:




*For those of you that know me, hopefully you know I'd never yell something like that out loud. :o

Just keep her away from Mr. Vitton - you do not want to start any bad habits! :D

Seriously, what teacher could complain about a parent taking their daughter to the top museums in the world? I think that is worth far more than a couple days of missed school.

Get to the Do/Meet/Thing and pay off in person. ^

Same. I have too many bookings with schedule/equipment changes constantly happening to add flights to my FM at time of booking. I generally try to get the new flights entered immediately after a flight (in a PC, with a drink, if connecting... or back at the hotel/home).

Anytime. ^ Travel should be started early. I had a very lucky upbringing, and I know it.

Agreed. It really isn't conceivable to me. Bring the homework. (I never did, but if that's a condition of the trip, cool.) I also saw the flipside of that: I didn't make some promised grades one year and my mother called CO while I was sitting at her desk to cancel my trip to SEA which she had booked had I made the grade. Still haven't gotten there. :rolleyes:

I haven't used AVIS much in the past few years. Hertz was downright horrid, and the infamous code drove me into the arms of National. With National, you can expect a pleasantly mediocre experience every time. It's never stellar, but it isn't horrible, either. As an Elite, you can snag a Premium car (Buick Lucerne or Volvo S60, usually) at Full-Size rates. The only downside is that (usually) the Executive aisle is stocked with full-size cars only (sometimes a wild-car may be thrown in). That means you have to interface with one of their agents at some stations to grab a premium car. Their counter-staff are (IME) only marginally competent. Oh well, at least they aren't rude/psychotic/unhinged like many of the Hertz personnel I ran into when I was dumb enough to rent from them.

Just work on the letter of the week while you are walking around paris. Paris Paris /p/, /p/, /p/.

When I got out to the National section in the BTR rental car garage, there were several non-compacts sitting there — a brand new Outlook, a couple of luxury cars, and a few minivans. I would have gladly taken any of the above rather than wait 45 minutes for some guy to pull a car from their lot and bring it around. But of course they weren't going to just upgrade me for free. Certainly not when they were quite willing to send me out with a Chevy Aveo at a full size rate. :mad:

What doesn't make sense is why this repeatedly happens to me here, and every time, there are cars on their lot that aren't in the garage, yet their area of the garage is less than half full.

During the long wait, the lady at the counter said "The guy bringing it around is very slow. He's always slow." WELL, maybe he needs to either learn to be more efficient, or he needs to be in another job.

Anyway, tomorrow evening I'll write my complaint letter. I don't complain very often to airlines, hotels, etc., but when I do, it's well deserved. And after three consecutive trips of dealing with this mess, I think I've been more than patient with the National franchise here.

I have no choice. If I want to get reimbursed for work, I have to book through AVIS using our corporate code. :rolleyes:

I generally have no problem with them. I minimize human contact, get a car that's in generally good shape and get out of there. Sometimes I get free iTunes, now I get some worthless email code. I've never been hassled about anything, and if the car has a problem with it, they knock an appropriate amount off the rental rate.

I just discovered a timer dial in my room and I can't figure out what it times. I'm suddenly very unnerved.

This is a pretty good assessment of National. Honestly, they've been slipping. In 2005-2006, I had a car with leather and XM almost every week — not having one was like my upgrade not clearing on CO. It didn't happen that often, and when it did, the consolation prize wasn't usually too bad.

Over the last year or so I've watched the selection in the Executive Aisle slip considerably, and I've had to deal with more of this business of not having cars available (I waited around on the lot for 15 minutes at MSY in early September for them to find any car). I'm also seeing a lot more base model cars, and odd-ball trim levels. For example, the Imapala LTZ they found for me tonight has leather, a sunroof, and a base stereo with only four speakers and no XM. It doesn't even have the enhanced FM information display that most GM radios have. Usually the Impalas I've had at this trim level have an upgraded Bose speaker system, XM, and a 6 CD changer. And most consumers, if they were buying an Impala (although I question why anyone actually would buy that car) at this trim level would probably insist on the higher end stereo; certainly not the base level stereo. Yet National seems to have scrounged up a bunch of Impalas with that very base level stereo.

I don't know what the reason is, but the selection at National has been declining, and the service levels at smaller locations where you have to go to the counter is also declining.

I'd be tempted to go back to Avis, but National's free days have spoiled me. And so far Avis still hasn't become competitive when it comes to earning rewards for very frequent business rentals.

Please welcome the newest OP member - photog72 jr! I signed her up a couple days ago, and forgot to post here. A huge milestone. Her first flight outside of mom's belly will be IAH-BOS in a couple of weeks. Though, I think she'll be a non-rev pax in mom's lap.

Way to go, photog72! Get her started on that Million Miler status as early as possible.

Congratulations!!! ^


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Oh no. I just noticed using Y-UP search on FareCompare that it's
$2K for ICN-LAX on TG in C. Presumably, that would route ICN-BKK-KIX-LAX-KIX-BKK-ICN ~4.2 cpm, counting BD Gold Bonus. I should probably go to bed before I get into trouble.

Good idea.