Originally Posted by dwbf11

I think we are now getting into the semantics of what qualifies as an "upgrade." If you look at the verbiage of the program, it's clear that you have to book mid-size or "higher" to qualify for access. But they don't really define what "higher" means. In the past, it used to be full/premium/luxury. This is also borne out by how the (old) website used to work; book a mid, full, or premium size vehicle and it used to say "aisle eligible." And if you had a luxury reservation, they'd usually give you pick of the lot as that was technically the highest reservable class. The new site doesn't do that anymore. A manager at an airport location once explained to me that it was EHI's interpretation that those 3 classes were what they were supposed to allow people to choose from the Aisle for; the rest, they were supposed to do Emerald Reserve/specific class selections. This is because the station would get dinged on its metrics if someone with an SUV reservation took a full-size, or whatever; the same principle is why many Executive members will not be allowed to take a vehicle with >20K miles; it's a ding on the metrics, even if that's what the member wanted.

As to your specific question, many people prefer SUVs (larger, more luggage space, etc.) so often times they are billed as upgrades over a standard mid or full-size vehicle. But in the hierarchy of rental classes, they are not in the direct line of mid-size.