Picking up on April 4th vs April 5th this year is very detrimental to our rate. We had a wonderful rate of $300 all-in for a weekly mini-van, but need to adjust the rate to add a few more hours (our flight changed) and will increase our rate by over $700 (more than $1,000 all in). We were so excited to have a better flight out but the car rental change during the holiday period is killing me. I have a back-up ressie with a mid-size SUV if we can't adjust our mini-van rental before pick-up (which looks to be very likely at the moment).
I agree with PP (change around 30 minutes/an hour each end). If all else fails, if it were me I'd plan on feeding the kids a meal at the airport and having 'reading time' (at the airport) for an hour or so on each end of the trip. (No way would I pay $700 for a few hours extra.)Picking up on April 4th vs April 5th this year is very detrimental to our rate. We had a wonderful rate of $300 all-in for a weekly mini-van, but need to adjust the rate to add a few more hours (our flight changed) and will increase our rate by over $700 (more than $1,000 all in). We were so excited to have a better flight out but the car rental change during the holiday period is killing me. I have a back-up ressie with a mid-size SUV if we can't adjust our mini-van rental before pick-up (which looks to be very likely at the moment).
Booked a full size April 5-15, $217. All taxes in.
I have stated this before, sorry to repeat myself. But when your flights change, and you go to check your car rental with the new times, and the price skyrockets, CALL the car rental agency. I just had to do this for my arrival on April 23. I am now arriving 2+ hours earlier. I had a mid SUV for $199 all in, using Costco codes, booked months ago. They did the time adjustment and only added on $17. When I looked online, it was over $500 for that vehicle.
This is the 2nd time I had to call Alamo to change my car rental by several hours, and both times they were able to salvage my prior low booking rate. (I was not concerned about paying $17 more for a few more hours, $216 for an SUV is acceptable for a week).
What code/coupon?Alamo rates for Easter are down today. Got my 4/2-4/7 down to $153 from 393!
Also, I see a lot of posts on changing times. I rarely use times that I actually show up and have never had a problem. I always make sure that my depart time on the last day is earlier than my arrive time on the first day to avoid an extra fee. Have never called, changed, etc and have never had a problem.