Last weekend, the LSU Tigers took down the Clemson Tigers in Death Valley Jr. It was a hard fought game but, for one group of LSU fans (and readers of this site), they almost didn’t make it in time for kickoff.
No Cars Available on Labor Day Weekend
The group, which had traveled in from New Orleans, arrived at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL) just after midnight on Saturday. They headed over to the rental car center and the National Car Rental counter.
According to the reader, there was nobody at the National counter when they arrived. After asking an attendant at the counter next door (I assume Enterprise or Alamo) he was told that she was responsible for all three companies and that “per management” no cars were available and that he should try back that morning.
He, and a few other travelers that found themselves in the same situation, hopped in line at another rental car only to be informed that they only had cars available for people with reservations (at least they were holding some). While this shouldn’t be a common practice, Seinfeld highlighted this situation back in the early 90s, it seems like things still haven’t changed.
With Clemson over two hours away, and his hotel reservation in Braselton an hour from the airport, he was stuck with only one option, take an Uber from the airport to the hotel and try and figure out a plan from there. After a $100 Uber ride they arrived at the hotel and he managed to snag a reservation from a nearby Enterprise.
When he arrived to retrieve the car he was informed that the system shouldn’t have allowed for a same-day reservation but, while they didn’t have the full size that he booked, they managed to find him an “Economy” option. Since beggars can’t be choosers, they happily took the bright blue Mitsubishi and headed off to the game.
While this story had a happy ending (winning the game probably helped a bit), that isn’t always the case. Rental car companies do this more often than you’d expect and, unfortunately, there is very little recourse.
This Happens More Than You Think
While we’ve seen many stories about airlines overbooking flights, those are typically resolved with voluntary denied boardings (VDBs) which results in compensation for the passenger or passengers that have agreed to take a later flight.
Unfortunately, when it comes to rental cars, there isn’t much recourse. If the company overestimates the number of vehicles available and there are none available upon arrival, they’ll just offer to cancel your reservation and let you go on your way.
While having rental car company status may help you get priority in a situation where few cars are available, in the scenario described above you’re unfortunately SOL. Fortunately, this reader managed to make the best of a bad situation but ended up spending hundreds of dollars out of pocket in order to salvage his trip. Good luck getting that back from the car rental company.
Summary
A group traveling over Labor Day weekend to the LSU vs. Clemson game in South Carolina landed in Atlanta to find no rental cars available despite having a reservation. Unfortunately, in situations like this, there is little to no recourse available from the company as they typically just offer to cancel your reservation.
Fortunately for them, they managed to salvage their trip, though it cost hundreds of dollars in out of pocket expenses and hours of additional work. Plus, the real Tigers pulling off a win in Death Valley Jr. likely helped soften the blow. Have you ever been in a situation where a rental car company couldn’t honor your reservation?