What is on National's Emerald Aisle? *2011*

[keishashadow]

July 23rd checked both the em & ex aisle, no vans, suvs (mini or otherwise) or crossovers to be seen. Asked attendant in the ex aisle, he said he hasn't seen many make it to either aisle this summer.

Em had lots of dodge avengers (which we own).

Ex ful of chargers (fun to drive but we don't care for the small front window) went with a cherry red impala with leather seats that was loaded with options and had a big trunk that handled all our cruise gear.

 

[OrangeCountyCommuter]

MCO and National in general seem to be reducing the number of SUVs and Mini vans on aisles overall. MCO has really clamped down on "self upgrades" If you are an EA customer and "help yourself" to the Executive Aisle when you get to the check out area you will be told the "new" price. (Which will be higher then the old price) I have had to back up a couple of times while folks put their self upgrades back. They have even hidden the Luxury cars because the Executive Aisle members were helping themselves off of Luxury.

I fly a lot to LAX for example. The last few trips there have been SUVs on the Executive but not Emerald and the guy hanging around has not been motivated to assist....

If you need a 7 passenger vehicle and don't reserve it you are running a large risk IMHO. I have seen several fits thrown at the MCO garage with no good result

 

[n2mm]

MCO and National in general seem to be reducing the number of SUVs and Mini vans on aisles overall. MCO has really clamped down on "self upgrades" If you are an EA customer and "help yourself" to the Executive Aisle when you get to the check out area you will be told the "new" price. (Which will be higher then the old price) I have had to back up a couple of times while folks put their self upgrades back. They have even hidden the Luxury cars because the Executive Aisle members were helping themselves off of Luxury.

I fly a lot to LAX for example. The last few trips there have been SUVs on the Executive but not Emerald and the guy hanging around has not been motivated to assist....

If you need a 7 passenger vehicle and don't reserve it you are running a large risk IMHO. I have seen several fits thrown at the MCO garage with no good result

Add me to your list that had to do this during our last trip (May). We had to back up for the person in front of us to return their SUV and re-select from the correct aisle.

 

[corster]

For anyone that's been there recently, what cars are on the aisle, if you noticed?

Chargers, Impalas, Malibus, Fusions?

 

[OrangeCountyCommuter]

I checked B this morning as I was leaving (8 AM on a Wed)

Only cars on both Aisle and Executive.

Aisle has Malibu, Impala,. Camry .... not sure what else
Excutive had some Sonatas not much there.

The stock was LOW

 

[cinmell]

I have a mid sized SUV reserved as an EA member in two weeks. Have there been many Escapes or similar available?

 

[HoltDisney07]

I thought I read that the National fleet and Alamo fleet were one in the same, correct? If so what kinda premiums are out there?

Just want to see what our options may be as we are trying to figure out if we should save $150 and go with a premium or keep our minivan rental. We have 1 carseat and two boosters to fit across the back seat. Dh is traveling via ME so no worries on fitting all our luggage.

 

[Disneyfanatic108]

Reports on the aisle have been pretty discouraging. We used the isle twice and were able to get a minivan both times. these two trips were in October, so a less busy time. I am seeing that during slower times and pickups on Tuesday and Wednesday are a better chance of scoring the minivan. Those that rent a lot is this true? Are weekdays better especially in the mornings around 11:30am? I know that it is a crap shoot in the end, but trying to ease my mind. Those of you going in Sept and Oct Please please get the reports in.

 

[OrangeCountyCommuter]

Note that I checked on a Wed morning. No SUVs or minivans

 

[mkymouse4ever]

We got in 8/10 @1130pm. 10 cars on both aisles. Large dodges and chevy's. We took from non ex even thou we could of taken exc. We took a new sonata with 1600 miles black. Very nice and big trunck

 

[NanaDarling]

Bump

 

[NanaDarling]

Anyone back?

 

[jerseygirl81]

I decided to look for every contract code I could for our Nov rental from National. After plugging in every code it turns out the code I originally booked with is still the best rate for my dates. I'm using contract ID#3715444 from car & drivers magazine which anyone can use and it also includes an add'l driver. They also have a code #3715761 from car & drivers mag.which includes LDW, underage fee & an add'l driver. I just thought I would share the codes incase they worked for someone else. Linda

 

[mousey]

Arrived today at 7:30pm on the B side. Between the emerald and executive aisle there were about 6 town & country vans, several dodge durango's (we took one with 3,000 miles and siris radio), some ford escapes, one Kia suv, several toyota camrys, accuras, several ford flex which looked like a crossover, several dodge journey's and a lot of different mid and full size cars.
Great deal for 115.62 for a week total.

 

[corster]

I decided to look for every contract code I could for our Nov rental from National. After plugging in every code it turns out the code I originally booked with is still the best rate for my dates. I'm using contract ID#3715444 from car & drivers magazine which anyone can use and it also includes an add'l driver. They also have a code #3715761 from car & drivers mag.which includes LDW, underage fee & an add'l driver. I just thought I would share the codes incase they worked for someone else. Linda

Just FYI, i have been informed by an employee at ERAC that those two codes for car and driver magazine are likely going to be phased out in the near future. The replacement codes are XVC1092 and XVC1093 respectively. The new ones also work with Enterprise (PIN: CAR) and give the same prices and benefits as the two older C&D codes (no issue using the older codes as long as they're around, but might not be a bad idea to mark down the newer codes too)

 

[n2mm]

We arrived Friday 8/12 @ 6:45PM Side A. Both aisles were filled, but only with vehicles. Looked like mid-size, full size and premium cars from one end of the aisles to the other. No minivans, SUV, or anything different. We were going to trek over to side B, when the attendant came up to us and asked to help. We told him we were going to the other side to see what was there and he asked what we might be looking for. We told him we were hoping for an SUV and he told us to wait and checked with the supervisor who came over and offered us any SUV on the SUV aisle. I was hestitant and kept telling my DH I didn't want to pay for an upgrade, but the supervisor told me they would honor my Executive aisle price and to give the kiosk attendant his name as approval. So we ended up with a Suburban for $145 for the week. We have been EA members for 10 years and most of them as Executive members. This is not the norm, so I consider myself lucky that this happened, but never really expected it. When we dropped off yesterday at noon, Side A had only vehicles again on both aisles. We did not see any minivans or SUVs, but we did not walk the entire length of the aisles, mostly just a quick look. When we picked up originally the supervisor told us they were in the "negative" in terms of minivans.

 

[cinmell]

We arrived Friday 8/12 @ 6:45PM Side A. Both aisles were filled, but only with vehicles. Looked like mid-size, full size and premium cars from one end of the aisles to the other. No minivans, SUV, or anything different. We were going to trek over to side B, when the attendant came up to us and asked to help. We told him we were going to the other side to see what was there and he asked what we might be looking for. We told him we were hoping for an SUV and he told us to wait and checked with the supervisor who came over and offered us any SUV on the SUV aisle. I was hestitant and kept telling my DH I didn't want to pay for an upgrade, but the supervisor told me they would honor my Executive aisle price and to give the kiosk attendant his name as approval. So we ended up with a Suburban for $145 for the week. We have been EA members for 10 years and most of them as Executive members. This is not the norm, so I consider myself lucky that this happened, but never really expected it. When we dropped off yesterday at noon, Side A had only vehicles again on both aisles. We did not see any minivans or SUVs, but we did not walk the entire length of the aisles, mostly just a quick look. When we picked up originally the supervisor told us they were in the "negative" in terms of minivans.

The bolded line concerns me. We have a mid sized SUV reserved for this Tuesday and it seems that people have been reporting that there have not been any SUVs on the EA. If there aren't any mid sized SUVs, are they going to try to stick us with a full size?

 

[Disneyfanatic108]

If you specifically reserved a midsize SUV, there should be an isle with just midsize suvs. If there aren't any on emerald isle, it does not mean there are not any on the regular isle.

 

[mousey]

Last night all car types looked pretty stocked. I don't think you will have any problems getting your suv. The durango is really nice with that rear backing system. I wouldn't worry, National has always been top notch in customer service. They will accomodate your reservation. I was so happy the aisles were so well stocked.

 

[corster]

The bolded line concerns me. We have a mid sized SUV reserved for this Tuesday and it seems that people have been reporting that there have not been any SUVs on the EA. If there aren't any mid sized SUVs, are they going to try to stick us with a full size?

If you reserved a SUV, don't go to the regular Emerald Aisle. Go straight to the SUV aisle.