Your post doesn't quite make sense as written. You can't earn both Rapid Rewards and Club Carlson on the same rental.

So do you mean they charged it for you both on one rental that went to Rapid Rewards (that's normal) and a different rental that went to Club Carlson (that's not as common)?

It depends on the station or the phase of the moon or who knows what whether they charge this or not. I've done Avis rentals where I credited an airline and they forgot to charge it, but still gave me regular miles and even bonus miles.

In the past it was supposed always happen on domestic airlines, but not necessarily foreign airilnes, and not for hotel programs, because it had to do with something specific to domestic FFPs. But I've seen more recent language at Hertz that just claimed general "costs of transferring points/miles" as the excuse for the charge. Maybe Avis recently changed it something more nebulous like that too? :confused:

But doesn't such a question really belong in the Avis forum???

IIRC the fee is no more than $3, which is well worth 7500 CC points.

The fee is common throughout all the major car rental agencies. It's not particularly fair or reasonable, it could be argued. But it's now standard industry practice.

Unfortunately this is de rigueur, with the special kind of fairness* that all rental car companies charge it everywhere. The reason: They can. I never don't get charged, but what I've had vary was whether the company, or outlet, charges the daily fee - as they are allowed - or they charge the cap amount without regard to how many days the car is rented.


* There's another peculiar way I look at it, and I suppose others do, too: This is a small amount in light of the much bigger "...Recovery" fees that may double a bill, without any clear purpose. At least this one is explicit and tied to an identifiable service.

Yes, you're right I should post in the Avis forum but just wanted to let everyone know about this.

When I put my rapid rewards number in there was a $40 fee. When I put in my Club Carlson number the fee was around $20. Twenty dollars for 7500 points is not bad but I was just confused by what the extra charge was for (and slightly annoyed).

:eek: That's about an order of magnitude above what I've ever seen or heard of.

Whaaaa? I agree with previous post; $2.50 or $3 is common. You are right, this is insane.

Are you able to share the details of your booking so we can try to re-create it, or could you attempt a similar booking again to ensure that there were no other factors that caused the fee?

Still not clear. Was there an itemized fee of $20 or $40, or did the rate simply go up? If itemized, what exactly did it say??? :confused:

And do you mean it went up when you put in your RR# in the Frequent Program Field, or when you used the AWD that Southwest or Club Carlson provided or a coupon code that Southwest or Club Carlson provided? :confused:

It's certainly the case that the AWD that comes with a promo may raise your rate compared to your default AWD. But that's not the same thing as adding a fee! And it has to do with the promo, not with earning the "normal" points or miles.

At Avis, you don't have to use the AWD from the promo to use the coupon. I've used Southwest AWDs for AA promos, AA AWDs for Club Carlson promos, etc, etc. whatever gave me the lowest rate. As long as its an AWD from another airline or hotel program, I've never had problems with the coupon for the bonus working at Avis.

Ace detective sdsearch, you've delved a lot further than I have. I was about to suggest that the OP underline the reservation/receipt line item and the $$ across the page with an 8 1/2 x 11 sheet to see if the item and amount are on the same line. $20 or $40 seem more likely to line up with a beloved "XXX Recovery Fee" -- e.g., License, Airport, Convention, Junk etc.

Here is a dummy reservation without my Club Carlson number.

http://i.imgur.com/P0vOjrq.png?1

Here is an actual reservation where I put in my Club Carlson number.

http://i.imgur.com/HWE2yW1.png?1

See the difference? The frequent travel program fee is $23.25.
When I put in my rapid rewards number the charge was
around $40. It's ridiculous.

The fee is added on when you fill in the frequent traveler program field.

When you're making a prepaid reservation, perhaps. You never mentioned before that all this was happening on prepaid reservations.

This is a key difference in a prepaid reservation. The fees on a prepaid reservation are computed by Avis central (I would think). But the fees on a "pay later" reservation are computed by the particular Avis facility.

I don't know how many other people here use prepaid reservations. It could be this only happens with prepaid reservations?

I have never done a prepaid reservation on the Avis site in my life. Avis rates often decrease about two weeks out or so, and with non-prepaid rates I can always update then, be with prepaid rates I'm stuck even if the rate later goes lower. Also, if I have to change the rental, say because my flight gets cancelled, it can be very hard with a prepaid.

Just as a data point, CC points posted 10 days after my Avis rental completed without me having to do anything.

From personal experience I can say this is not true. I changed my most recent Avis reservations three times, and each time it was to lower the price. You are not refunded the difference between the new fare and the prepaid fare until a few days after the rental completes, but when you do change the reservation to secure the lower price you do get refunded the difference in full.

Based upon past experience yours was definitely not a rental in Asia.