Air Miles Car rental

[Pinkgurlshubby]

Anyone use air miles to buy budget rental certificate? 950 points for a hundred dollar certificate at budget. Trying to get an answer if MCO or Port Canaveral accepts them

 

[encinc]

I've used one at MCO. The only drawback I found is that you can't combine the certificate with a promo code other than the Airmiles code. I'd originally booked with a Costco code, but in order to use the Airmiles certificate, the agent had to change the code to the Airmiles one. In this case, the price difference was small, so the certificate still had close to full value, but I'm nervous about using one again in case the same thing happens and the cost with the Airmiles code is higher.

 

[Pinkgurlshubby]

I've used one at MCO. The only drawback I found is that you can't combine the certificate with a promo code other than the Airmiles code. I'd originally booked with a Costco code, but in order to use the Airmiles certificate, the agent had to change the code to the Airmiles one. In this case, the price difference was small, so the certificate still had close to full value, but I'm nervous about using one again in case the same thing happens and the cost with the Airmiles code is higher.

Good to know. I'm was more curious, just trying to organize every expense before we go. Just figured this would be a cool way to get the rental figured out. In this case we have the miles anyways so using the points is not a big deal to us. Now if it was going to cost us twice the points for the same rental then I'd just wouldn't use them.

 

[caisland]

We used 2 certificates on 3 occasions for Alamo at MCO.
You need to record certificates at time of booking online or they will make a big deal at the counter

 

[Pinkgurlshubby]

Many thanks for the info. We decided to go with the Costco rate, it also allowed us to prepay so that's one less headache

 

[mastersd]

You can get a certificate for 950 airmiles which translates to $100.00 (from your post) or you can call airmiles and book it with points. I have done that three times and it has been awesome! It has been much more economical! If you got to mousesavers.com you can get a membership with National for free. You then can pick any class of car from the lot. It would have cost us $385 for a minivan (miami) in August for 5 days but it was 1200 airmiles and 42.00 taxes and fees. November 25- Dec 4 it is 1882 airmiles and 83.00 taxes and fees for a full from budget--no upgrade yet! I have used Alamo, National and Budget it is my best value for my airmiles, cars and movie coupons!

 

[Pinkgurlshubby]

Oh sure I see this AFTER I already booked and prepaid with Costco LOL
No worries I'll save my miles for next year then. Thanks for this advice

 

[Sprockie]

I just researched this myself. I had always bought Alamo gift certificates, but it seems that Budget is more flexible. You can redeem for Budget gift certificates (unlimited on the reservation as opposed to Alamo where there is a limit of 3) and can also use them to pay taxes (can't with Alamo).
I also learned that you can make your reservation through Costco, use all the discount codes you can wangle, then pay for it at the Budget counter with Budget certificates from airmiles.

 

[Pinkgurlshubby]

OK they ask for you can add more than one coupon too? Didn't know that either. Do they ask for your Costco card at the counter? I thought that wa weird, just on Costco site I booked it. Wasn't much of a price difference, 5 or 10 dollars, can't remember now but no time did the site ask for my membership number nor did it say it will be required when I pick the car up.
Just wondering

 

[Carina]

FYI If using an Airmiles Voucher BUY EXTRA INSURANCE

Our $100 Alamo Airmiles voucher cost us nearly $400 OOP because we did not get extra insurance and we were hit in the hotel parking lot the last day of our trip ( we did not see it happen of course)

it was a pretty big ding

We thought our Credit Card would cover it but they only cover car rentals paid 100% with the card and our voucher invalidated it.


We also thought my car insurance would cover it - as I had asked about coverage before I went - but Alamo changed my husband to the primary driver at the counter - we didn't even realize they had done it - and he is not on my insurance. Alamo ended up taking away a big portion of the money owed because of their error in changing the primary driver ( they could see the reservation had listed me as primary driver)

 

[Pinkgurlshubby]

Oye tough lesson to learn
I get every it of insurance I can buy. We were at the Budget counter in Port Canaveral and the agent asked us just to confirm we didn't make a mistake on the website because all the insurance we got was more than the car rental itself.

 

[CdnCarrie]

We always buy the MPI (Manitoba Public Insurance) car rental insurance for all car rentals. They cover the car and not the driver so we're covered in all circumstances.

 

[Redline1]

Just so that I understand correctly...
If I already booked a car with Budget through Costco, can I still use 950 airmiles towards a $100 rebate certificate and present this at the counter for an additional rebate? I have not pre-paid the rental.

 

[Sprockie]

Just so that I understand correctly...
If I already booked a car with Budget through Costco, can I still use 950 airmiles towards a $100 rebate certificate and present this at the counter for an additional rebate? I have not pre-paid the rental.

From what the CSR told me at Budget, that is exactly true. I started a chat with a CSR on the Budget website and asked her precisely that question and she responded and I printed it off. You might want to do the same for peace of mind and bring it with you. This is exactly what I plan on doing.

 

[Pinkgurlshubby]

That's interesting. Someone above had mentioned to that saying the codes are different. In our case we are using the car for one way MCO to PC and it's only about five dollars so I am not going to worry about it plus I prepaid already but I'd like to see how it works out for you all.