I have a lot of fun reading the different comments on the Frequent Flyer programs, but have not seen any discussions on the rental car change of mileage credit by the majors.

Personally, I choose a rental car company based on the airline I fly. I have a Hertz # 1 Gold and National Emerald Isle, but have not used Hertz at all this year since they reduced their mileage credit.

I seems to me that years ago there was a top level of rental car companies, Hertz, National, Avis and Budget, with Alamo, Thrifty, etc below them.

Up until recently everyone was the same, now because of the change in the mileage policy of the big four and the recent tie in with Thrifty and American, I'm back on the second level again.

I, in common with a lot of frequent travellers rent cars over a 100 times a year, does no-one at Hertz know (or care) about the business they are losing?

A number of years ago, both Hertz and Avis pulled out of the airline FF progrmas
altogether. They claimed it was costing them too much money to buy all those miles from the airlines.

I know I wasn't the only one renting from Dollar, Thrifty and other competitors that still offered miles. It seemed like just a few months before Hertz and Avis were giving miles once again.

It will be interesting to see what happens this time.

Neal

You might also want to check out what is being said in the Car Rental Miles area also within the Buzz! Seems like everyone is feeling the pinch from these changes.

Hertz has introduced its new Hertz #1 Awards program and Budget has revamped its program. The Hertz program seems appealing as you can use the points for free rentals, gifts, or can transfer them to a frequent flyer program. If they move to award miles on a dollar basis, then the points earned in this program will have more utility than straight frequent flyer miles. If Hertz continues to award a flat 250 miles for rentals in conjunction with some flights, then short-term rentals are still better off taking the miles rather than the Hertz points.

Regarding redemption of Hertz #1 Awards, does anyone have any information about what locations/dates qualify for the peak rental award (1200 points) as opposed to the standard (600 points) award?

I checked Hertz's Web site and they state that you should check your #1 Awards statement for more details. It also sounds like it is not necessarily by location, but geared more towards dates? I have a call into someone at Hertz asking for more details and expect an answer in the next few days. I will then let you all know what I find out.

Hertz tells me that peak dates haven't been finalized yet, but since redemption kicks off June 1, they should be forthcoming very soon. The way I understand it, off-peak dates are most days of the year, and peak dates will function in a similar way to airline 'blackout dates'. On these blackout dates (or 'peak dates'; they're the same thing), a rental will simply cost 1200 points instead of the usual 600 points.

My company restricts our car company rental to one company. We were using Avis, but then switched to Budget because we got a better deal, then switched back to Avis because I guess some people found Budget inconvenient compared to Avis.

Anyway, while we were with Budget, I thought there reward program was great, even when Avis was still giving us 500 miles/rental. After two rentals you get an upgrade, and after four rentals, you get a free day rental. I did find it difficult to get the upgrades, BUT in one case I was on a trip in Orange County California and got upgraded from a midsize to a convertible ... that made it all worth while!!!

The free rental certificates were a little screwy from what I remember, but they worked fine for me and I thought they were well worth it.