jsmeeker

IMHO, getting an SUV when you reserve a car is no upgrade. I'd rather take a mini-van.

auh2o

I used to commute from SFO to an undisclosed mid-west city every week. At SFO I would buy a loaf of Boudain sourdough bread ($1.79) and every week the same woman would check me in (would intentinally not book using "Gold" service) and every week my mid-size car ended up being a Premium. And every week she got some fresh sourdough.

uncflyer16

I always seem to do well on operational upgrades (3 of the last 4)-- or at least the offer for an upgrade.

The last time- SAN Enterprise kept on pushing an SUV-- I kept on stating I'll stay with the midsize- Finally the guy admitted (after playing the Mr. Generousity role quite well) they didn't have a midsize clean- but they cleaned one quickly and I was on my way. I just don't like driving SUV's (unless they have a boat behind them)

RDU's Thrifty was the best- had a one notch upgrade to a car with 22 miles on it- they had it running with the a/c on by the time I got to their remote site.

The only thing I ever try to do is make the counter people laugh (I'd bet that's served me w/ a 50% upgrade rate-and made my own day a little more pleasant too). Never been upgraded to a Caddy- maybe the don't want to trust a joker with one of those.

greggwiggins

I've found operational upgrades to be fairly common when I rent cars; my best recent experience was arriving in Vancouver, British Columbia at about 8:30pm on a spring Friday, discovering that no compacts were on hand at the agency and being given my choice of a Jeep or a PT Cruiser.

Library Dragon

Oh no, I drive a mini-van as my regular vehicle. The SUV was perfect for Arizona. Lots of rugged sightseeing that I wouldn't have done in an economy car.