Downgraded: Continental exit row seats
Starting March 17, exit row seats will cost you extra money, unless you’re a Continental OnePass elite member. (United elites get it for free eventually, too, but not yet.) No big surprise, given the industry as a whole. But as David Jonas argues, this is actually a meaningful shift by Continental, whose management had been more resistant than other airlines’ leadership to charge fees for things that were previously free.

Downgraded: Luggage scanning at Denver
For a few days, thousands of checked bags were not scanned by TSA at Denver. No further comment.

Upgraded: All-you-can-drive toll payments for Bay Area rental cars
If you’re renting a car in the Bay Area from Dollar or Thrifty, you’ll be able to buy a “Pass 24″ add-on for $9.95 per day or $39.95 per week (5-7 days) that includes unlimited use of all tolls in the region. The service is run by Rent-a-Toll. I guess it’s a deal if you’re crossing a lot of bridges. Just be sure to use the FasTrak lanes.

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It’s a holiday promotion — you must pickup by December 31, 2009 — and you’ll still be out of luck if you’re under 21. But if you’re in the surcharge age group of 21 to 24 years old, this could be welcome promo for the holidays.

Related:
- If you’re under 25, how do you rent a car without huge surcharges?
- Before and After: Hertz to start photographing your rental car
- Lousy domestic US car rental rates? Check the European providers

Upgraded: Japanese car rentals
Travelers renting a car in Japan can now reserve a wireless enabled netbook for about $10 per day. The company, Oryx, includes the cost of the wireless service.

Downgraded: Blaming the victim
A Stamford, Connecticut franchisee operating under the Marriott name stupidly and offensively blamed one of its customers, saying she “‘failed to exercise due care’ before she was raped at gunpoint in front of her children in a hotel parking garage.” Stay classy, Stamford Marriott! Now, the Marriott mothership is distancing itself from the words (and legal strategy) of its franchisee.

Upgraded: JetBlue-Lufthansa partnership
It took a while — I blogged about the possibility of an alliance partnership back in December 2007 — but JetBlue and Lufthansa are finally talking about codesharing. The consequences will be interesting. I’m particularly interested to see if Lufthansa will be selling JetBlue segments on tickets to destinations served as well by Star Alliance members United and US Airways.

Downgraded: SkyEurope
SkyEurope, a European (duh) discount airline, has ceased all operations. This was the airline that at one point offered to pay its customers to fly with them. R.I.P.

Downgraded: Enterprise Rent-a-Car
Rental cars typically don’t have a great reputation, and this doesn’t help: Enterprise saved money on its rental fleet by requesting that GM delete safety features — features that were otherwise standard. The savings per vehicle: $175. 66,000 Chevrolet Impalas without side curtain airbags were rented out, and then subsequently sold as used vehicles.

The photo system is part of a broader plan to use technology to increase efficiency and improve customer service, [Hertz Chairman and CEO] Frissora said. The equipment produces a high-resolution, digital photograph of the rental car, and will compare before and after pictures for differences, Frissora said. Hertz employees currently walk around the vehicle and mark any damage on a form, which the customer signs.

“There will be no discussion because the document would clearly show any incremental damage,” Frissora said. “This keeps customers from being placed in a confrontational position and saves time.”

The Park Ridge, New Jersey-based company’s customers would sign a waiver acknowledging the process and be billed for any damage, Frissora said. Hertz is testing the technology at a location at an airport in the northeastern U.S., he said.

“There will be no discussion” seems a little brusque, but I get the point. Why debate the condition of the car when there’s photographic evidence?

Here’s hoping that the camera won’t lie. E-mailing a copy to the customer — both at the start and the finish of the rental — might be a low-cost way to ensure that the company is being an honest broker.

Dishonest rental locations have commonly tried to milk extra bucks out of customers by billing them for previously-existing damage to the vehicle. (For the paranoid, it’s always been a good idea to take photos of your rental car before you drive it off the lot, though I admit it’s something I’ve never done…)

But interestingly, the company suggests that it’s the one who’s going to come out ahead. Hertz says it’s been letting too many dents and dings slide, for a loss of $170 million, and that the photo system will catch these dings, leading to greater earnings.

Which worries me. Yes, the system SHOULD be win-win, by keeping both the agency and the customer honest. But $170 million is a lot of dings and scratches. Will the system start calling birdpoop dents?

Photos or no photos, don’t let your guard down.

As noted last week, I rented a car in San Francisco from AutoEurope after finding significantly lower rates with them than through the normal US channels. The process worked, but the pickup wasn’t a breeze. The voucher wasn’t the issue. The rate wasn’t a problem. But it was the worst car rental experience I’ve had, bar none, because of the interminable wait for both counter service and a car. (And that includes the hours I spent waiting at a Budget counter at midnight at LAX back in 2005.)

One item of background: When you rent with AutoEurope, it’s much like booking with Hotwire or Priceline. You get the rate quote, including taxes, up front. You prepay. And you don’t know who the provider is until you purchase. BUT: You know the exact address of the rental location (which, thanks to Google, lets you figure out who the company is) and it’s refundable up to 48 hours in advance. As theothersimon said in comments, book away, then cancel if you don’t like what you get. Better than the other opaque providers, if you ask me. My reservation came up with Dollar, which has never been my preferred provider, but the price was right. Alas.

Commenters on the original post pointed out the potential pitfalls of this rental. They nailed it. So credit where it’s due: the readers of this site, for calling it before it happened.

To wit:

JeffB noted that reservations on Expedia’s UK site contained the provision that the renter of a vehicle would be required to purchase one tank of fuel at the rental agency’s rate. My rental was with AutoEurope, but this was indeed the case: The voucher that I printed contained a similar provision, requiring the prepurchase of a full tank of gas, within the fine print. And the rate for gasoline was about 15 cents higher per gallon than filling it up yourself at the closest gas station.

As JeffB noted, base-rate savings may not pan out if you only rent for a single day, or for short trips, if you have to pay for a tank of gas. In my case, it was still a good deal, despite the fuel premium. We burned through an entire tank, and then some, during the trip, for over 650 miles. The indicator in the dashboard warned that there were only 5 miles’ worth of fuel in the tank when we returned it. I overpaid less than $3 for gas, but came out ahead since we saved nearly $200 on the rental itself. Hyahh!

So fuel wasn’t a big deal. A bigger issue for us was time. Chris noted that the downtown pickup locations in San Francisco were overwhelmed with customers. We experienced the same thing. It took two hours and twenty minutes to get a car.

As mentioned, our voucher was for Dollar, at the O’Farrell St. location. I met up with my wife, who was already in San Francisco for several days, on Tuesday night, and we were heading up the coast on Wednesday. Luckily, we weren’t renting with National: Their location a few doors down had people lined up out the door. Between National, Alamo, Thrifty, and Dollar, all on the same block, it was a mess. (Primarily with travelers from Europe, most with vouchers in hand, I might add…)

The central problem was car availability. The cause: Dollar’s willingness to accept reservations for times when they consistently had no cars available. To be clear: This has nothing to do with the booking channel — direct with Dollar, via AutoEurope, or elsewhere — and everything with the way Dollar does business.

As the front-desk agent and the location manager explained to me, downtown rentals in San Francisco (and presumably in other downtown locations) are hardest to get when they’re close to hotel checkout time. Travelers want to check out and grab a car ASAP — or grab a car just before checkout and then swing around to load the trunk.

If you thought you might try your luck renting that car first thing in the morning, before the hotel guests wake up, you’re out of luck: Rental companies like Dollar don’t have the inventory then. They’re bringing cars into downtown locations from the airport lots. But that depends on travelers dropping the cars off at the airport first… and how many cars are being dropped off at 7 am?

I admit I’ve typically rented at airports or in less-touristy downtown locations, so this feels like a rookie mistake to me. For example, via e-mail, reader Mark suggests:

Regarding SFO car rentals, I just came from there. The trick is to take a short cab ride to San Bruno (about $12-15) and go to the Avis location at the Tanforan mall, I think it’s called. A lot cheaper and easier than going downtown. Plus, they upgraded my car free and gave my fiance and me second driver for free, too. It was a great experience.

Bottom line: Even after reaching the front of the seemingly interminable line, there was no car available without waiting some more. And when it finally seemed that I had a car, their primitive walkie-talkie car assignment system led to a double-booking of the same vehicle. Another customer drove off in “my” car, literally seconds earlier. I felt like Seinfeld. (“You know how to take the reservation, you don’t know how to HOLD the reservation.”)

The manager of the facility indicated that this was a problem with the Dollar/Thrifty corporate reservation system, which allowed cars to be reserved at hours when it was obvious there would be no cars. Such as noon on a Wednesday.

The lesson, verified by the Dollar agents: If you’re picking up a car in a downtown location near big hotels, plan on picking up after 1:30pm, when hotel checkout is over.

It worked out in the end, eventually — upgraded to a higher class (far more comfortable, albeit with higher gas guzzlage).

So, I learned some lessons here. Don’t rent in urban American downtown locations near major hotels until after checkout time. Give preference to off-airport sites with fewer big hotels nearby. Be aware of fuel fees for vouchered reservations. And don’t trust Dollar Rent-a-Car to actually hold a reservation at a time you’ve specified.

A few days ago, I started looking for car rental rates out of San Francisco, and even though I knew that rates were going up, I was still taken aback by the prices. $68 a day (plus taxes) for an economy car?! Ouch.

Even Hotwire’s opaque booking options weren’t much lower. $64 was the lowest they found. Priceline wasn’t taking my bids of up to $30 a day (plus taxes/fees).

I just ran the search again right now. None of the majors are showing any availability at all in San Francisco. A smaller vendor, Fox Rent-a-Car, wants $169.20 a day. Budget has cars at Oakland Airport, for over $189. Low supply, meet high prices.

What I’ve booked is at a much lower rate: $42.50/day, including all taxes, for a four-day rental. How?

I went global.

After my initial shock wore off, I checked prices on international sites, including the UK version of Expedia; Zuji, Singapore’s version of Travelocity; Britain’s easycar, and AutoEurope.

In the end, I made a prepaid booking through AutoEurope. I printed a prepaid rental voucher, and I’ll be picking the car up at a location in downtown San Francisco.

Companies like AutoEurope and EasyCar don’t tell you the name of the company you’re renting with up front, much like Hotwire or Priceline. The amount of information you receive varies, until you finalize your purchase. In the case of AutoEurope, I don’t see why they really bother keeping it opaque. They give you the precise pickup address, but not the name of the provider. That’s nothing a little Googling won’t narrow down…

One caveat with booking an domestic vehicle on a site based in another country: Your credit card can be hit with foreign currency fees, even if you’re booking in US dollars. This varies by bank, so be forewarned. AutoEurope has offices in the US, and my card was charged — in USD — from the Portland, Maine office. So no foreign transaction or currency exchange fees.

But still, I’m a tad nervous about this working out. After all, with supply this tight, and my rate this comparatively low, I wouldn’t put it past the rental company to “lose” my reservation. The fact that it’s prepaid may help, but until I’m behind the wheel, I’m not taking anything for granted. Pickup is Wednesday. Wish me luck.

If you’re looking for a one-way rental out of Florida in the coming days, Thrifty is renting mid-size cars for $1 a day. The company must have an overhang of inventory, and is looking to reposition some vehicles out of the Sunshine state.

Pick-up is only from airport locations in Ft Lauderdale (FLL), Ft Myers (RSW), Miami (MIA), Orlando (MCO), Tampa (TPA), West Palm Beach (PBI), or Jacksonville (JAX).

Dropoff MUST be at Chicago Midway (MDW), Chicago O’Hare (ORD), Cincinatti (CVG), Columbus (CMH), Dayton (DAY), Kansas City (MCI), Louisville (SDF), Philadelphia (PHL), or Jacksonville (JAX).

Wait, Jacksonville appears on both lists!? That’s what the rules say.

Yes, they’ll slap you with dozens of fees, such as airport concession fees, etc., but it could still be a deal if you combine a one-way rental with a one-way return flight. Or maybe you just want that one-way rental. Perhaps you’re a snowbird who’s late to leave Florida for the now-warm embrace of a northern summer.

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Upgraded: Air
A bright side of the downturn: The recession means less travel. Which means less pollution. (Duh.) 8% lower carbon emissions by the industry as a whole, in fact.

Upgraded: The Race Card
Without any additional comment… video of Steven Colbert on the Visa Black Card:

Enterprise Rent-A-Car has sued the city of Chicago for trying to tax car rentals outside city limits, including far-reaching suburbs.

The St. Louis-based car rental giant filed the suit last week in Kane County after Chicago’s Department of Revenue decided that all car rentals in the Chicago suburbs are subject to the city’s 8 percent “transaction” or leasing tax.

To be excused from the tax, Chicago is requiring rental companies to photocopy customers’ driver’s licenses and obtain a sworn affidavit that they won’t be spending more than half of their time driving in Chicago with their rented car.

Sworn affidavit? That’s just ridiculous. And, may I add, unenforceable.

The city has a history of extra-jurisdictional taxation. When I lived in Chicago, I bought a car at a suburban dealership (in Schaumburg, just west of O’Hare, for those keeping score.) And much to my dismay, I had to pay the higher Chicago sales tax rate, instead of the lower Schaumburg rate, because the tax was based on the zip code of registration, not the location of the seller.

The move to tax rental cars is most likely targeting those suburbs near O’Hare Airport. Drivers there would be nailed with both airport fees and Chicago tax rates if they rented at the airport, and the city wants that revenue. Much like the Washington Airports Authority is trying to nail hotel shuttles with fees, this is a case of the city shifting the goalposts when the rules aren’t working out in its favor.

I don’t think Chicago’s taxation policy will stand up in court. It’s not only logically questionable to have a city taxing services in another city, but it’s an undue burden on both drivers and the rental car companies who have to collect the fees. I think Enterprise will win this case.

In the mean time, watch out for Chicago taxes outside of Chicago. And if you see such a fee on your rental agreement, then your bottom line is simple: Sign the affidavit. Then drive in Chicago with impunity.

Agencies are reporting more and more hybrids on their lots. But this growth story is being countered by reader reports that they weren’t able to actually rent the hybrid they reserved. Reader Steve reported that his reservation for a hybrid (at Hertz) was substituted for a different class when he showed up at the airports (two separate airports in California).

Then Tyler Colman of Dr. Vino, when renting from Fox Rent A Car at Oakland Airport, was told that hybrids were being cut back at the company “because the transmissions kept dying at 30,000 miles.” Hmm. Seems fishy.

I asked for comment from Fox Rent-a-Car, to see if this was actually a company-wide decision, or if this was just a big talker at the front desk. I still await their response.

Transmissions or not, the deck is stacked against hybrids in rental fleets, given the way rental cars are actually purchased. Sean’s post sums it up well:

Why are there so few hybrid rentals? I posed that question to Neil Abrams, president of the rental car consulting and research firm Abrams Consulting. He explained that rental car companies do not have an advantage with volume pricing buying power. Hybrids are so popular that car dealerships can get bigger margins selling directly to retail customers instead of rental car companies. Meanwhile, automakers are willing to offload lots of standard engine cars and below-market prices to rental car companies— to clear their inventories. So a rental car company can buy (to pick a random example) a Mercury Sable for, say, roughly $12,000. They can rent it for a year. Then they can re-sell it as a used car, and make money off the resale. This is far more profitable to them than buying a hybrid car, which might cost $20,000. They’ll have to charge far higher daily rates to customers to try to recoup the cost. But in an era of under-$2-a-gallon gas, not enough customers may rent the hybrids at the premium prices.

Indeed. And that’s more likely the better explanation for hybrid shortages at California airports. In this climate, it’s frankly surprising that any rental car company is adding hybrids to the fleet, period.

Enterprise’s expansion of the hybrid supply is unlikely an act of altruism. Perhaps they’re making a bet on the future direction of fuel prices. Let’s just hope the transmissions hold up.

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