Arrival at airport--what time pick up rental car?

[BellaBaby]

Hi everyone,

Just wondering what time should we book our pick up time for a rental car when we will arrive at the airport at 4:30pm? Right now it is booked for 4:30 but I don't want them to give our car away, since it takes time to get off the plane, walk over etc.


TIA!!

 

[bavaria]

It totally depends

• what airline
• what row are you in
• what rental car agency
• are you a preferred member with them
• did you check luggage
• do you have children

If I land at 430pm I list that time on my reservation. But I am usually in one of the very first rows of an aircraft, I walk very quickly, my luggage is priority tagged and is usually one of the first off, and I am Hertz Presidents Circle so my car is waiting for me in my spot.

I would say 60 minutes at the outside, if your situation is different from mine.

 

[BellaBaby]

Yes, it will probably take us some time since we have 3 small kids and checked luggage. We are flying Frontier, row 11, not preferrred members. It is Dollar rental car. If I change it to 5pm and we are say, half hour late will they give away the car, do you think? We are arriving on a Wed.

 

[bavaria]

Rental car agencies don't really give away 'the' car, unless you book something exotic etc or are renting at a very small location. They have a pool of cars and if you are not a preferred member assign you a car from the category you have booked. (or in the case of Alamo and National's preferred programs, you can go to the lot and pick a car from that category yourself) If that category is no longer available, they should upgrade you at no extra cost to you.

Most rental sites also have a space for you to enter your flight information, but I doubt that is used very often at agencies in locations the size of MCO.

 

[wdwfan1]

I usually reserve my car for about 30 minutes after expected landing. I have never had a problem with that.

 

[bavaria]

To give you another example, I rent almost weekly. ONCE in the past 3 years have I had a situation where there was not any car made available to me on arrival - at Hertz at Munich airport during World Cup. They didn't have any automatic cars (most rental cars in Germany are standard) and offered to downgrade me to a manual, or I had to wait for an automatic to be returned to the lot.

There is usually some sort of vehicle floating around on the lot; if they tell you to wait, you can certainly request an alternate vehicle. The only drawback is when you absolutely, positively must have a particular type of car (ie minivan, convertible, etc)

 

[BellaBaby]

Thanks to you both! I have a mini van reserved since our kids are 5, 3 and 1, they need space for the car seats/booster. Just want to make sure I get a mini van. We have reserved before with other agencies and I think they did ask for the flight info, so I didn't worry about it as much. I think I will change it to a half hour later.

Thanks again!!