What time for car rental pick up?

[prairiesarah]

So I am new to renting cars and am wondering what time you put for pick up on your car rental reservation. We get into MCO at 5:28pm. Do I put 5:30? 6pm? 6:30? It will just be DH and I and I think I will do the online check in with Alamo before we leave home.

 

[brownhaired_girl]

I would choose 6:00. It will take you that long to get off the plane and get to the garage. I might try putting the times in to see if there is any difference in prices.

 

[Dr.Mickey]

I think most companies are pretty flexible on your arrival time. They know renters are at the mercy of the airlines. I've been early by an hour and late by 6 hours and it wasn't even a slight problem.

But they are VERY strict about the return time.

Also, if your pickup and drop off times are very different (one is morning vs afternoon), you can get some unusual proration a for a partial day. In fact anything more than a few hours usually counts as a full day.

I wouldn't sweat the difference in your times. I always pick my airline arrival time in case the flight is early. Does anybody else have a different experience?

 

[Shelly F - Ohio]

You can put in 5:30. Alamo will hold a reservation till midnight.

 

[prairiesarah]

Thanks so much for your responses. I guess the second part to this I need to ask then is how early do you return your car when you go back to the airport? Our flight out is at 2:10pm so I assume there will be less flights and line ups than in the morning, but still busy as it is over Christmas (27th). Put in drop off at 11:30am. How long does drop off take? Do we have to go to the counter or anything or just drop off to someone in the garage? Sorry, complete newbie here!

 

[Dr.Mickey]

Drop off is easy. No counter. You pull in to one of several intake lines in the Rental part of the MCO garage. An Alamo rep will meet you at the car, check your gas gage and ask you to leave the keys on the dash. I've never taken more than 5 minutes to get clear. Then take your bags and head to the terminal.

Now, the big question is how long to check in to your flight and get through security screening. I usually try to drop off my car exactly 2 hrs before my flight but you may need more on December 27th.

 

[Dr.Mickey]

One more thing. Fill out everything you can online for Alamo. Then check in online a few days before your trip. On my past trip, they offered a "Skip The Counter" option. Do this!!! The check in line at the counter can be really REALLY slow. This was the easiest rental I've ever done. Just go straight from the plane to the Alamo section, pick a car from the line and check out at the booth on the way out. Very easy.