Time from flight arrival to rental car counter?

[CapeCod53]

Trying to pick a time to rent rental car, don't want to hang around MCO longer than have to, but understand you can't pick up a car earlier than requested. Is the flight arrival time the time the plane lands or the time you reach the gate? We will be 3 adults so I cd go directly to rental car while the others get the luggage & then go pick them up. Is 45 minutes a good amount of time or do we need less? Right now I'm booked with Emerald Reserve for a mini-van. Thanks

 

[lost*in*cyberspace]

but understand you can't pick up a car earlier than requested.

What makes you think this? If a car is available, you will get one.

If you proceed directly from the gate on landing to the rental car area, you need about 10 minutes (if the agency is at the airport), not 45 minutes.

 

[Horace Horsecollar]

Is the flight arrival time the time the plane lands or the time you reach the gate?

The scheduled arrival time is the "official" time that the plane is supposed to arrive at the gate. There's usually a "fudge factor" of 15 to 30 minutes built in, so that if your flight actually leaves your home airport exactly on time, and the weather is favorable, you'll arrive early.

The US Government considers counts a flight as "on time" if it operated less than 15 minutes later than the scheduled time. Fewer than 80% of flights are on time. On some routes, especially those involving busy airports, the percentage is much lower.

So you can't really predict when you'll arrive. The scheduled arrival time is an approximation at best.

The rental car companies know this. I just use my scheduled arrival time as my rental car reservation time. Sometimes I'm early; sometimes I'm late; sometimes I'm very late.

I agree that it only takes about ten minutes to get off the plane and get to the rental car counters (or to the rental car shuttle for off-airport companies such as Hertz) at Orlando International. But if you have checked luggage, you'll need to allow 10-30 minutes to retrieve your luggage at baggage claim.