Okay, we had a totally different experience with Thrifty, but now you all are making me think maybe we just hit them on a bad day?
We had to wait quite a while for a shuttle - I don't know exactly, but at least 20 minutes or more, and 5 busses from someone else (can't remember who, but they were the line next to us) came in that same time. We thought the shuttle was a lot longer than 5 minutes, but that could have been because we'd been up a long time, and traveling for a long time, and my kids had had it. We also had a pretty long wait at check-in, and a very aggressive agent. It was pretty annoying because it was very hard to get him to just honor our internet reservation, although he did in the end.
We've reserved a car from them again because it's so much cheaper, but my husband says no way. I'm still waiting to see if other prices come down.
If you all can tell me that was not the norm, I'd be pleased, because it would save us a chunk of change. I still haven't decided though, if it's worth the hassle - I love the idea of just walking out on the EA and driving away...