rental car question

[MacFam4]

I've never rented a car at an airport before, so when I book my car online, what times for pick up and drop off should I put? We land at MCO at 1:55pm. We depart MCO at 11:55 am. I know they need to know a general time, but are we penalized in some way if we arrive later for pick up (like our flight is delayed), and what if we arrive a couple of hours earlier to drop the car off?

 

[skelooch]

You can only go by what your scheduled flight times are, you shouldn't be penalized if your pick up and drop off times vary a little.
For your times I would use pick up 2:30pm, and drop off at 10:00am

 

[NotUrsula]

Generally if you have checked baggage you should count on taking close to 60 minutes from the time the plane pulls into the gate to when you drive the car through the booth, assuming that you don't stop to eat. On returns I like to put in one hour before flight time -- that way if you do run a bit late you won't end up paying hourly charges.

You will get the best price if you keep the clock on even 24-hour intervals; extra hours are billed hourly rather than daily. Normally a couple of hours less than 24 won't affect the rate; the only exception is if you don't make the minimum keep for a weekend or weekly rate. In your case I would specify pickup at 2:30 pm, and put your flight number into your reservation.