worldclubber

It's not only rush hour traffic today, it is the evening before a national holiday and (for most people) a very long weekend. Last year, this particular weekend saw the longest traffic jams and heaviest traffic of the whole year. Bad luck!

tridentnyc

Wow! Thanks everyone for all the great input! Sorry for the delay responding as I was traveling from JNX-ATH and then some sightseeing with Mrs. Tridentnyc in Athens.

I LOVE both ideas of the Porsche rental (yes I am a car guy...have a "chipped" Audi A7, Eibach springs, Pirelli rubber and love German engineering!) and running into Frankfurt to check out the town for a few hours sounds great too!

JohnRain, was the 99€ deal only a Mon-Fri deal? My flights in and out of FRA are on this coming Saturday, 27/05. Do you have a link the deal you did? Didn't see it in your trip report. Looks like the new "After Work" promo Jaenks posted is sadly only Mon-Fri.

I'm assuming if I can manage a rental I'd be driving it roughly from 10:00am - 12:00 noon or so. Can anyone comment on Saturday morning traffic around this time, I'm guessing it would be light(ish)?

Lastly, I will have two fully packed carry on's and a couple of backpacks, what do I do with my bags during the rental period? Assuming a 911 can't handle even that amount of luggage!

Love the input, thanks everybody, keep it coming!

tridentnyc

JohnRain,

Can you tell me when you did the Porsche rental? I see your trip report was posted on April 24th, 2017...was the actual trip/rental around that time? I ask because I can't seem to find the promo anymore on any link I pull up and the Platinum Amex Concierge is having a hard time as well. They think it may have been discontinued and Avis doesn't show as a rental car partner on Lufthansa's site anymore either, only Hertz, Europcar and Sixt now. Any help you could provide would be great as now you have me jonesing to do this!
Thanks!

klausa

Here's the link to the special F 911 offer: https://www.lufthansa.com/online/myp...l=en&cid=18002

JohnRain

tridentnyc, I rented the 911 in early April and the promo is most probably still live (it has been for years). Unfortunately most Avis agents have no clue it even exists and the online reservation page often doesn't work. I used my Amex concierge to get things done and if yours can't, then he hasn't tried hard enough. The promo also works on weekends and Saturday morning should be light in terms of traffic indeed. As for the "two fully packed carry on's and a couple of backpacks", well, that's going to be a problem. Either you check some of them or you stuff them in the trunk and on the two small rear seats (that's what I did).

One last point: if your Amex concierge doesn't come through, you can always tell the FCL A lounge agent that you want to rent the 911 and he will take care of the details while you're having breakfast. (That's how I did it last year).

worldclubber

Unfortunately, the link does not work, neither does the link on the LH First and Private Jet site.

Calling the LH First Class Services should probably solve the problem.

JohnRain

It's really hard to understand why Avis is doing such a poor job with this (great) promotion.
-Avis agents have no clue about this promotion
-Link for online reservation doesn't work most of the time
-Avis tried to make me pay for a crack in the windshield that was already there
-The current 1500 bonus miles you're getting on top of the standard 500 miles per booking are only credited once you contact them and specifically refer to the promotion

I've booked the Porsche Experience twice and I'll book it again, but the impression the chaotic booking process left on me has only strenghtened my loyalty to another car rental company.

RTW1

What's so difficult.... go to the Avis site and book?

tridentnyc

Because when I go to the site and put in four pages of info, I get an error message on the last page saying that their reservation system is currently unavailable, to please call. When I call, no one at Avis know ... I'm talking about even when I mention the promotion by name.

Amex Platinum found it and directed me to the same broken webpage, LH First Class service (U.S.) was less than useless, uninterested in helping. Tried calling the Avis Germany number for the promotion and it just rings and rings, no answer. If you have a better idea I'm all ears as I'd like to try and book before I leave ATH tomorrow morning.

Thanks!

RTW1

This one works for me: https://eixnbeweb03.rent-at-avis.com...Y&RAN=,6789256

But there needs to be availability and you need to book at least 24hrs in advance.

SFO777

I would take JohnRain's excellent advice and "... tell the FCL A lounge agent that you want to rent the 911 and he will take care of the details while you're having breakfast. (That's how I did it last year)..."

If everyone else is having such a difficult time booking this, odds are pretty good that a 911 will be available.

tridentnyc

But did you try doing a dummy booking entering all your info including a credit card number and then submit on the last page? I just tried your link and it gives me the same error message.

tridentnyc

I've been trying to book for about three days now, more than 24 hrs. Still get the same error message on the last page even when I push the rental out 72 hours or more.

tridentnyc

SFO777,

Yeah, what I've been planning on doing as I do think it's solid advice I've just been whining like some little brat about having to check my bags without a prior rental confirmation. All is good, will enjoy five hours of lounge goodness if 911 falls through.

LOVE your trip reports btw...seriously good stuff!

circky

I was having the same frustrating experience last week in trying to reserve in advance/call in with no luck. I arrived at the FCT and requested a car rental, and 15 minutes later, a 911 was waiting for me. The only annoying things about the experience that encountered was the long line up at the Avis car rental and there were no preconfigured routes on the GPS system like they advertise.