Belinik

Good chance they will ask you to perform "reverse of shame/back-up-of-shame"(return the car), up charge to the correct category may be possible. Or if you may get very lucky you might get away with it.... The gate agent knows which row is it from and as soon as you tell him/her your name you are nailed. It is the question of do they care.

Coastercameron

You may. Some locations enforce the self upgrading rules more strictly than others. Check with an attendant first if you want to avoid getting charged. Not to mention, that would be the right thing to do.

Ritz

Without over analyzing, and cutting out all of the BS - which location will you be renting from? I may some insight (as stated previously, some locations are far more liberal than others).

ContinentalAirlines

I will be renting from the EWR Newark location.

mvarghese84

Can I use a free rental day at an international location? Specifically, I am Exec and have two free rental days. I would like to use them to rent a car for two days in France in October. Is this possible? Ive been trying on the website but it gives me an error when I try to reserve (the error is not descriptive).

3Cforme

U.S. and Canada only.

northsideguy

If you want cars from the ES aisle, then earn that right like the rest of us have. Do you know under the terms and conditions of the Emerald Club Rule 19? It states the following:

"19. National Car Rental may disqualify any Member for any reason including such Member's unacceptable driving record. Such disqualification is effective when it is entered into National Car Rental's computer system."

It states for any reason. Now disqualification for taking a car out of the ES may be harsh to some, but those are the rules. Just as the rules protect regular renters from taking the cars reserved for you in the Emerald Aisle, the rules are there to protect cars reserved for Executive Members.

How would you feel if you were to see regular renters grabbing the good cars out of the Emerald Aisle and leaving you with a poor selection? Are the better cars in the EE section? Yes. Like I stated, if you want those cars than rent at least 12x a year and you will be an Executive. Rent 25x or more and you can be an Executive Elite.

The purpose of FT is to help other travelers, not to encourage travelers to violated rules and regulations of the travel industry. JMTC.

jackal

Calm down. National isn't going to invoke Rule 19 on someone for taking a car out of the ES. The very worst that will happen is they get charged an upgrade or turned back at the exit gate.

And no need to be super-protective of the ES. The ES is stocked with cars they have excess of, so if someone pulls something from the ES, the staff can just replenish it with a similar model from the FCAR/PCAR/IFAR/whatever stalls.

Would I generally recommend someone who is not Exec take a car out of the ES? Probably not, but someone doing so is NOT "encourag[ing] travelers to violate rules and regulations of the travel industry." Renting on a suspended driver's icense or using a fraudulently-obtained credit card--those are things we shouldn't encourage someone to do (and those are also things that would get Rule 19 invoked by National). Pulling a larger car that someone's willing to pay for? That's actually probably what National wants someone to do, as then they get to charge the customer for an upgrade.

plagwate

I respectfully disagree. If the ES becomes a free-for-all for anyone who wants a self-upgrade, all that legitimate ES customers will ever find is a sea of unwanted Malibus and Impalas. The early birds will have taken all of the desirable cars.

northsideguy

So by your thinking, then anyone can take a car out of the EA when they rented a sub compact. So why even bother to have an EA or ES section. Should I just take a car out of the VIP section? The answer is No! I haven't earn that right, and it's against the rules of the program. I travel quite often on the last arriving flight of the night. The ES section is bare and sometimes even empty. Then I have to waste time to find someone to get a car. At that time of night, the ES is not being refilled by the staff.

That's the problem with too many of these posts. A few of these posters go out of their way to circumvent the rules, but when the airlines, hotels, car rentals.... enforces the rules, the same posters cry foul. I have always stated, I will help those travelers who are in need of help, but I will not help those who want to purposely want to break the rules. You may disagree, but those are my thoughts, which probably get this post removed from this board.

jackal

Why on earth would that be the case?

Coastercameron

I'm surprised it hasn't been suggested yet that you will end up on the DNR list for trying to take a car out of the ES! And if you do get that precious Impala LTZ out of the ES on your EA reservation, you had better not get in an accident! You think insurance will cover that self-upgraded yacht!?! FAGETABOUTIT!!! You will be paying off that lease to General Motors till the DAY you die!!

So, think about that before you self upgrade! It is also probably illegal and will certainly lead to years in the slammer!

(Just in case some people don't have good sarcasm detectors, this post is 100% a joke)

mvarghese84

This might be a dumb question so I apologize in advance.

What is the highest class of car one can reserve from National? The idea being that if you reserve the highest class of car possible you could technically have the pick of the entire lot if you arent satisfied with the availability of that class.

And a specific question; if I reserve a luxury can I swap to a convertible at no additional charge if the luxury availability is slim?

newfbc

Re Self Upgrading by pilfering ES - go for it! Just like next time you're on a flight and find an empty seat in Business or First.. sit in it, no one will care!

Ron.

Coastercameron

The highest reservable class varies by location. Some locations it is premium, some it is luxury, some it is Fullsize elite. As to swapping for a convertible, if you rent a higher class it might improve your odds, but that type of upgrade would be highly dependent on location (geographical location), season, and availability.. There aren't all that many convertibles in the fleet relatively speaking.