Anyone back from renting at NEW Emerald Aisle?

[leebee]

There's been a running discussion on whether the EA at MCO will have anything larger (or nicer!) than intermediates now that we have the *new* Emerald Club. Anyone have anything to report? I'm still optimistic about EA remaining the same!!

 

[Cora]

We used it this past week. All the cars were intermediates in the Emerald Aisle. The bigger cars were in the Emerald Executive Aisle (I think that 's what it was called.). We were lucky, we had taken an Alero but noticed that an Trailblazer had been parked in the aisle. We asked the guy monitoring the row and he said our mistake is your good luck...take it.

Thank god we did we wound up needing a wheelchair for our son for the week and I couldn't imagine using a regular car.
Cora

 

[jiminy14]

My husband just returned today from a business trip to Orlando and used EA. He said that he saw Aleros, Stratus, Aztecs, Impalas, Regals, and PT Cruisers. He took a PT Cruiser since he had always wanted to drive one. Was not impressed, definitely not for a family on vacation. He said that there were no mini vans or convertibles on the aisle.

 

[lawgs]

cora

that was exactly what i thought might happen, in the change over there will be some workers who place cars in the wrong aisle

did the worker you talk to change the "mirror tag" ( since i think this is the way they can tell whether the car was suppost to be on the aisle or not )???

thanks for your report back

 

[Cora]

lawgs
No they did not change the mirror tag and we had no problem checking out. No comment was made they honored my reservation.
Cora

 

[lawgs]

thanks for your reply cora

the reason i asked ....

once we found a concorde parked on the aisle so we took it,
when we got to the check out, she said we would have to pay an upgrade price since the car was not suppost to be on the aisle

when i asked how she knew it was not suppost to be there, she said the "mirror tag" was coded in some way to tell the clerks in the booth where the car should have been...she said the car was not suppost to be in the emerald aisle

methinks you had some "disney magic pixie dust" around you

that is good though at least some are going to be able to get an upgrade in the future if mistakes are made by workers

smilawgs

 

[FoodLover]

I also posted this on the Transportation board, in the ongoing Emerald Aisle thread.

We arrived 4/22 at about 4:45 pm in Terminal A.

As we approached the EA, a staff member asked to see my Emerald Club card, took it to a desk and made a note. I found this somewhat annoying since I've always been able to head straight out to the car and get out of there. However, it only held me up by about 3-4 minutes.

She gave me back my card and informed me that I could take cars only from the RIGHT side of the Aisle.

I looked around and noticed the LEFT side was now marked Executive -- and that side had all the larger vehicles, such as SUVs and full size cars, plus all of the PT Cruisers.

The right side was all Intermediates. There was one small SUV (a Chevy Tracker) and the rest were sedans. I took a Pontiac Grand Am, which was about the biggest car available.

If this continues, I'm really not seeing the value of EA.

 

[emilymad]

What makes the distinction of Executive? I have my National membership through my work so I wonder if I would be eligable for this. Does anyone know how I would be able to find out?

 

[HOHJA]

I remember reading somewhere that the Executive level is adminsitered much like several of the airline clubs operate - volume. Meaning, the more that YOU, and not the company, use the vendor, the greater the perks.

I've liked the National EI for the reason that I could almost count on a upgrade (to a Full size) as well as the choice of my rental.

Price will now a determining factor. FYI...Alamo (national's sister corganizaton) has shown much lower rates lately as well.

HOHJA

 

[GAIL HAYDEN]

Originally posted by emilymad
What makes the distinction of Executive? I have my National membership through my work so I wonder if I would be eligable for this. Does anyone know how I would be able to find out?

Yes, the information is on the web site, under Emerald Club.

 

[leebee]

Eeewww, this doesn't make me happy...maybe I'll go back to Hertz ($130/wk, full size, all taxes incl. with AAA). I'm not sure it's worth renting at National anymore, without the hope of a bigger vehicle for the money. So what's the point of EA? Why not just go over to EmReserve? Get what you reserve, pay for what you reserve, while skipping the waiting lines. Have to re-think my reservation.

 

[beattyfamily]

I was afraid these new changes would not be good for those who use National Rental for vacations...

If it is the case that the EA will only have Intermediates then they should just do away with the EA and have Emerald Reserve and Emerald Executive Aisle. What's the point on the EA now? Just call it the Intermediate Aisle and be down with it!

I've never had luck with the EA and it appears I never will.

 

[ushkina]

We just got back from using Emerald Aisle - we picked Pontiac Grand Am that we loved, I saw quite a few of them in the aisle.

 

[DebbieB]

I got an Impala (full size) about 3 weeks ago, after the change. We arrived on a Sunday evening, the pickings were slim. On the Executive side, they had 2 Rendeavous and that was it. On the EA they had a van, a p/u, 2 grand ams, a small jeep suv and the Impala I took. Although more rare now, others have reported getting upgrades since the change. Check this thread:

http://disboards.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=196742&perpage=15&pagenumber=40