hhdl

I have my first reservation here coming up. With Executive status, it still says to go to the counter? I have reserved full-size.

RicerRabbit

No. You can just go to any vehicle parked in the Executive aisle

SinglePenguin

​​​​​
Last year when I rented from National for the first time with Executive status, the lady at LAX told me I had to go to the counter for my first reservation. Then after maybe some verification they told me I can go to the aisles and skip the counter in the future.

So yeah, maybe ask them for confirmation.

m907

LAX had the worst selection I have ever seen at a National location on Friday night.

When the lot is empty, I can excuse them for not having good options. Every aisle was full at LAX, but it was a sea of Nissan Altimas, Toyota Camrys, Chevy Malibus, and a handful of base trim small SUVs. There were nicer cars in the other parts of the lot but they weren't being put on the aisles. I don't think I even saw a sunroof or leather seats.

Customers kept walking up looking confused, I guess because the Alamo counters inside were closed, which left the staff occupied so I didn't have time to ask for anything nicer.

The selection was as bad or worse than Hertz. This makes two bad experiences with National LAX. The whole shuttle system is miserable too. I'm just going to avoid LAX when I can.

uxb

I am a very frequent renter at LAX and had just picked up a vehicle yesterday. Luxury category was supposed to net me an Audi A4 or BMW Series 3. There was nothing in EE except SUVs. Instead, the manager thought so low of me that he gave me a dirty BMW X1 with busted windshield and body damage. Worse, I couldn’t get out of the spot because there were so many cars. Gonna drop this one off at ONT to avoid the return nightmare at LAX.

highlanderfil

Just finished a two-part rental. Have Executive status with my Amex Plat, but so far have preferred Avis because of their ability to play model roulette on the app. But National is my employer’s preferred vendor, so I figured I wasn’t going to make some internal auditor’s day, so I’d pretend to be a nice corporate citizen just this once. Had a compact booked. Walked to the Exec aisle (Wednesday around noon) - nothing really interesting on show. Bunch of Nissan sedans, anodyne CUVs and a couple of Camrys and Hybrid Sport Accords. Was traveling with a colleague who got excited when she spotted a Forester (she owns one) and was probably going to grab that, but decided to walk over to the Emerald aisle, where I spotted a Mazda3 of a particular color and immediately knew this trip would be getting off to a great start because said color was a lovely bronze of the Turbo Carbon Edition. Not often does anything even loosely resembling a hot hatch manifest itself on a rental car lot and even though it was missing a cigarette adapter (seriously???), so I couldn’t plug in a dash cam, it was still loads more fun to drive than any of the alternatives. 9K miles on it, btw. I daily drive a Volkswagen GTI, so for me it was a perfect opportunity to check out one of the cars that I was considering eventually replacing it with, on what was essentially a long-term test drive paid for by someone else. Ultimately, I don’t think I’ll quite be doing that, since, despite the 3T being plenty fast, its handling is nowhere near as sharp as it is on even the softest of hot catches that is the GTI. But still, amazing to even have this as an option.

But, as I am often wont to do, I came back to exchange it for something else on Friday afternoon. The company-paid time was over anyway, and I thought I could get National to split the bill between my work card and my corporate one (which they said they would do upon return, then refused to). Walked around a lot, once again didn’t see anything super interesting and was just about to return to the Mazda when, off to the side next to a Maserati SUV, I spotted an Alfa Romeo Giulia Q4. Got switched into it with zero issues. Absolutely loved it. The throttle pedal could have been a touch more responsive, but once the turbo spools up, this thing hauls. Can’t even imagine how fast the Quadrifoglio must be. Much better on the twisties than the Mazda despite being a fair bit larger. This is a car I would definitely consider owning. 26K miles on this particular example and a few dings (and a garish red leather interior), but those are minor details. Oh, and it did have a cig plug 😂

Didn’t see anything more interesting than the aforementioned Accord Hybrids upon return, so not sure if I’m going to stick with National long-term (I can’t keep getting this lucky, surely), but this was definitely a good experience.

Auto Enthusiast

You reserved a compact and got access to the aisle? Presumably your company requires a compact reservation?

highlanderfil

Good catch. Just double-checked and it was Intermediate.

SinglePenguin

Exactly the same thought I had after renting a Giulia at LAX last summer. And I did pull the trigger.