The rental car wars continue, at least for those of you who travel beaucoup!
A growing trend for the past 10 years at major airports is the car rental center. Dallas (DFW) has had one for years, and Seattle (SEA) has one about 10 minutes away via shuttle. Some think they are a curse of travel, making it longer and more challenging to get to your car or gate; however, I believe the center is the great equalizer, making an E-Z Rent-A-Car nearly as good as Hertz or Avis. It used to be location, location, location. Hertz and Avis had the best location, and then there were the rest. Now it does not matter.
The battle now is where are your cars within the center? I rented from National Car Rental, voted the best by Global Traveler readers, but I had a very difficult time getting to the level where National Car Rental’s vehicles were located. It was late, and the maintenance crew was working on the escalator to the National level, so with my roller bag and two bags (read my last blog about carry-on luggage), I had to climb the stairs. There was an elevator, but it did not go to the National level. Not good.
So now the battle is what level you are on!
— Fran Gallagher, publisher and CEO
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