Alamo at Sanford (SFB)

[Hawk]

Hi Folks:

Has anyone picked up an Alamo rental at SFB? Is it much like MCO? How are the selections? Do you pick your own? Can you go right to the garage?

Thanks

Tim/Hawk

 

[nacho113]

You can do the online check-in for SFB. Print the paperwork and take it with you to the Alamo lot.
Just walk past the Alamo office and head to the size/aisle that you booked.
The airport is smaller so the vehicle selection is quite a bit smaller than at MCO, although Alamo does have the largest lot at SFB

 

[Hawk]

Thank you for that!

Tim/Hawk

 

[Starshine]

Just a word of warning, we did the online check in for Alamo at Sanford, went straight to the lot, picked the car and took the paperwork we had printer to the gate. The gate attendant said that we needed to go back to the counter to get additional paperwork. Not sure if it was just an anomaly or they have issues there.

 

[nacho113]

Just a word of warning, we did the online check in for Alamo at Sanford, went straight to the lot, picked the car and took the paperwork we had printer to the gate. The gate attendant said that we needed to go back to the counter to get additional paperwork. Not sure if it was just an anomaly or they have issues there.

Used Alamo at SFB 3 times in the last 2 years and never had an issue, last time was 3 weeks ago.
We just did the online check-in and went straight to the lot and picked a vehicle. Only issue at the gate was that the attendant tried to upsell us on the insurance but we just declined and were on our way.

 

[Starshine]

That's good to know nacho! Maybe it was someone new or there was something weird with our reservation.

 

[nacho113]

That's good to know nacho! Maybe it was someone new or there was something weird with our reservation.

We've seen issues with this ocassionally at MCO if the rental has a coupon included. SFB has always been pretty smooth for us.
Even if you have to go to the counter, SFB is such a small/quiet airport that you don't really have a line to contend with. They also have the largest lot of all the rental companies at SFB so the counter is usually well manned and the selection on the lot is really good (not quite as good as MCO but still really good).

That being said: Some friends of ours are in Orlando right now, they arrived in SFB mid day right after a large flight from the UK had just arrived (all with Alamo rentals booked as part of their vacation package it seemed). Our friends had done the online check-in but when they went to the aisle, the lot was literally empty. There are usually several lot attendants around but they were nowhere to be found either so they ended up going back to the counter. Turns out all the employees had gone to the offsite lot to bring cars to fill the lot again. They ended up being offered an upgrade to a Luxury vehicle or convertible from the FS they had booked. Jim jumped at the chance to drive a Camaro convertible, although I think his wife would have preferred the BMW they were offered. As they were pulling out of the lot, cars were starting to arrive to fill the aisles again.