Rental Car Returns at SNA

[Geemo]

Usually we go with a cab or shuttle to and from SNA. I'm hoping to get a rental car during our next trip.

Thrifty has a good rate for a mini van with the extra insurance and fees included.
Plus I like Thrifty is in the terminal at SNA.

I have a couple of questions....
1. I'm wondering how long it would take to get the car when we arrive?
Monday evening on a 6:15PM flight.

2. How long will it take to return the car at the end of our visit?
Saturday evening we have a 6:55PM flight.

I want to make sure I don't cut it too short on returning the car.
I'll be sure to have the gas tank topped off.

After all, we like to stay at Disneyland until the very last second.

TIA

Geemo

 

[bcla]

We cut it really close with Enterprise. Got there about an hour before our flight and still had enough time to go to United lost and found. No shuttle or train and the terminal takes five minutes to walk to. Man I love SNA.

I would of course say don't cut it too close, but it is built for easy rental returns.

 

[DharmaLou]

The rental car places are literally in the parking ramp next to the terminal. Granted we rented from Hertz and took Southwest, so it was a hike from dropoff to check-in, but it's not like you have to take a bus from the terminal to the rental car location or anything like that. You just walk there. All the companies have check-in desks right in the terminal not far from baggage claim.

 

[mrswh]

We usually leave the GCH 2 hrs before our flight (a few minutes more if we need to get gas on the way) and have plenty of time. SNA just isn't big enough to get that crowded. Even on the Sunday after Thanksgiving, we breezed through check-in and security.

 

[bumbershoot]

We use National, and so far we have been fine just gassing up at a station before getting on the highway, FWIW. (did the same thing for LAX last night and since we were still at Full when we got there they were fine with it)

That was for the gassing up part of your post.

SNA is very close and easy for returns. That said,we strive to be walking in to the airport two hours before our flight, so our goal would be to be in the car driving out onto the street a solid 3 hours per-flight. I say "would be" because the one time we have done the SNA return DH absolutely refused to believe that it was so close, and I believe we arrived over 3 hours before. We were sitting at the airport for sooooo long. It did give us time to drink all of our leftover water before going through security, and to reorganize our bags before checking them. Looking at the bright side!