We're back from Chicago and here is what I observed. First of all, this was our first time using Nat'l...I've always used
Alamo. I was able to pull another coupon from the travel club website to join Emerald Club for free and went ahead and did so in O'Hare. So I still had to go to counter. But I did observe others just picking up their car and bypassing counter. Also, we got there right at 11am and had to wait for an hour before the "Weekend" rate officially began. At the time there were only a handful of midsize/fullsize cars...nothing special. My hubby did observe a Blazer and wanted to take the tag out to hang on to it, but I didn't encourage him to do so since we still had to wait so long before 12noon and didn't want to tick anyone off that wanted that car. He said there was something or other with leather interior, but it reeked of smoke. The rest were somewhat dirty or not anything special. We settled for a pretty red Gran Prix, which I think is an intermediate anyway. This was on a Thursday. However, when we returned the car today at around 10:30am, the EA was FULLLL. So if you're arriving at O'Hare on a Sunday at midday, I'm sure you would have a wide variety to choose from. The return was quick and easy and their total came out to exactly the same as my quote. All in all, for free, no complaints. But I really don't think the "aisle" is what the EC was supposed to be about. I think it's to make rental process quick and convenient to the business traveler. Otherwise, why would they let these cars get to the aisle in such a mess for the bread and butter customer (business traveler) to choose??
Oh, BTW, there was one complaint (well, actually 2 if you include the bonehead that thought he should still get the weekend rate at 11am even though his ressie showed he was picking up at 2pm. The manager even pointed out to him that we also had weekend rates and were having to wait til 12noon to pickup.) Anyway, one fellow came in very upset and said that the EA car he chose was the worst he ever had. He picked out another and that was that. He was fine. Made a mental note to myself never to work in travel-related business.
