Any thoughts on the Best Miles/Points earning option with Avis?

Most of the airlines (UA, AS, DL) are about 50 miles/day, which is pitiful for short-term rentals.

AC is not bad, with 500 miles/rental, but it requires a flight in conjunction with rental, and I've been avoiding AC metal lately.

HHonors is tempting at 250 points/rental. Anyone have a better strategy?

Many international airlines offer 250/500 miles per rental if you can use points in their program. I have been using BA, which also offers bonus miles at 2nd, 4th and 6th leisure rental.

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Have passport, will travel...
CLD, LAX, LHR, CDG, et.al.

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AC is not bad, with 500 miles/rental, but it requires a flight in conjunction with rental, and I've been avoiding AC metal lately.

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Aeroplan does not require that the flight be AC metal. It can be a partner carrier like UA or any other Star or partner carrier.

AVIS Does require flight in US for AC credit but not elsewhere. You might get away with it anyway.

From Aeroplan website:

"Mileage Earned
500 Aeroplan Miles.

Eligibility
Earn 500 Aeroplan Miles per eligible car rental transaction with any participating partner location. Quote your Aeroplan number when making reservations and present your Aeroplan membership card at time of rental.

An eligible car rental transaction is defined as one car rental per day, per city, for all consecutive days a car is rented, whether or not you renew the rental during those consecutive days.

In Canada, you can only accumulate Aeroplan Miles at participating airport locations. In the United States, rental must be in conjunction with an Air Canada or any Aeroplan partner flight and must be made within 24 hours of flight arrival or departure. "

Lufthansa Miles and mOre gives also 500 miles
whatever the duration is. You do not eed to be in connection with a flight.

The only (major) drawback is the fact that your miles are only in your account for 2 years.

So, my preference goes to Skymiles, Mileage plus or Us Airways, even if there are less miles... http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

Hyatt is 300 Gold Passport points.

If you're happy with 50 miles/day, I'd go with taking Starwood Preferred Guest points, which can be converted to airline miles at the same rate, but have much more flexibility for topping off accounts.

Myself, I take British Airways miles now, though I used to take Hyatt Gold Passport points.

Just joined BA Exec Club, as that seems the best option. Thanks for the tips!

Based on this thread, I've signed up for BA miles and my AVIS online account shows 250 miles per rental. Although this is better than the 50 miles per day I was getting with US carriers, I thought I read about a 500 miles per rental deal with BA somewhere. Without an associated flight, is 250 miles per rental the best deal?

From the Hilton website:

Earn 500 partner bonus points on all qualifying rentals now through December 31, 2002 at all participating Avis locations worldwide. Just present your HHonors account number when making your car rental reservation or at the Avis counter.

Compared to the 50 airline miles (and I don't have BA or much in Hyatt) I think I'll take the Hilton points. Not much, but not bad!

(P.S. - what a great site! I haven't rented a car in a while, and am bound to Avis per Co. policy, so this is exactly the thread I was looking for!)

FWIW.....You get 700 miles/rental with Qantas. I do this because I'm saving for the Qantas Concorde award...you can also use your Hilton double-dip `miles with Qantas for 1500 per stay.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by outoftown:
Based on this thread, I've signed up for BA miles and my AVIS online account shows 250 miles per rental. Although this is better than the 50 miles per day I was getting with US carriers, I thought I read about a 500 miles per rental deal with BA somewhere. Without an associated flight, is 250 miles per rental the best deal?</font>

I think some contract rates only get 250 miles per rental ... which must include your contract rate ...

The BA option is my long-standing favorite.

What is the Qantas discount code?
FWIW, when getting a quote, use ALL your codes. Sometimes a code will be lower than others, then another time those other codes will be lower. Really hit or miss.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by Duckman:
Just joined BA Exec Club, as that seems the best option.</font>

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by Beckles:
If you're happy with 50 miles/day, I'd go with taking Starwood Preferred Guest points, which can be converted to airline miles at the same rate, but have much more flexibility for topping off accounts.

Myself, I take British Airways miles now, though I used to take Hyatt Gold Passport points.</font>

I think that the points (no pun intended http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif ) found "between the lines" (oops, another pun http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif ) (collective pun entirely unintended, but appreciated http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif ) in the discussion of this topic include the reality that the value of whatever points or miles are earned in conjunction w/ car rentals are relative, & arguably depend on the manner in which one plans to spend them (or otherwise view their perceived optimized value, in the context of one's travel &/or car rental habits, & one's preferred points &/or mileage redemption options).


50 Starpoints per day may not sound like much to some, but...
...for those who prefer to utilize the redemption option of a 20,000 Starpoint transfer & conversion into miles, which is accompanied by a 5,000 Starpoints-to-miles bonus, the effective mileage earning rate w/ this option (for car rentals) is 62.5 miles per day, which is obviously greater than 50 miles per day, & the rentals associated w/ this partner option are not accompanied by an FF tax.
...in addition, for those whose car rental "pattern" enables them to benefit from the occasional Starpoint bonuses associated w/ Avis rentals, these points further increase the average per-day earning rate for this partner option.


I think one simply needs to best match the partner option(s) of choice (who says you need to stick to one, right?) that best optimize the earning potential as a function of the following variables (if not others, as well):

1) one's car rental "pattern"--does one tend to have many rentals of short duration? long duration? few rentals of short duration? few rentals of long duration? (etc.)

For some of these, it would perhaps be readily identifiable re: whether a "per rental"- or "per day"-based earning option has the greater earning potential.

2) what are the preferred redemption options re: the frequent travel-related programs w/ which one has accounts?

3) which of the preferred redemption options involved possibly require "an assist" to reach a given threshold, or perhaps otherwise involve more difficult or possibly infrequent points- or mileage-earning (for one's given travel & spending patterns, etc.)?

4) what are the preferred redemption options which have the perceived best value in terms of $ &/or intangibles?


I don't think it can be said that there is one "best" partner option.

I think it all comes down to a weighing of several factors, & ones which can change w/ time.


Simple example, for the sake of discussion:
Car Renter who rents 10 times per year, for 3 days each rental--& has several FF accounts, belongs to several hotel FS programs, & is open to earning miles or points in accounts for which they currently have none. Let's also say that our traveller wants to optimize $ value for the given points or miles earned from car rentals. Let's also say that our traveller takes a vacation in Canada each year, & likes to stay at a relatively "posh" hotel--but prefers to minimize the overall expenditure on hotel expenses--in terms of both points & $--& for several reasons, including the almighty what-do-I-have-to-show-for-paying-these-taxes?

If one chose an option of earning 500 miles per rental, one could earn (not counting any partner promos) a total of 5000 miles for the year, for 10 rentals.

If one chose an option of earning 250 HHonors points per rental, one could earn (not counting any partner promos) a total of 2500 HHonors points for the year, for 10 rentals.

If one chose an option of earning 50 Starpoints per day, one could earn (not counting any partner promos) a total of 1500 Starpoints, for 10 rentals. The 1500 Starpoints represent a potential 1875 miles if converted to a FF account as part of a 20k block of Starpoints.

So, 5000 miles, 2500 HHonors points, 1500 Starpoints, or 1875 miles.

The 5000 miles could possibly garner an FC upgrade if the traveller pays full fare. Depending on which FF account the 5000 miles are in, one could have the option of converting them to 10000 HHonors points, which would result in an effective earnings rate of 1000 HHonors points per rental for the 10 rentals.

The 2500 HHonors points are not worth much by themselves, but if used to reach a threshold, etc., there could be additional value associated w/ such.

The 1875 miles-converted-from-Starpoints are a flexible option for the traveller, to possibly use later for topping off any of ~30 possible FF-partner-w/-Starwood accounts that might need it, sometime down the road.

The 1500 Starpoints could be used for a 50% off rack rate award for up to 5 nights @ a nice Starwood hotel in Canada, potentially saving hundreds of dollars--including room rate charges, as well as the associated taxes.

In this case, I'd go for the Starpoints, even though to some, the 50-per-day earnings rate may not seem worth much in & of itself.


It all depends...




[This message has been edited by ILTE_Miles (edited 09-12-2002).]

Virgin Atlantic. They offer 1,000 miles per rental, no flight required. And they just began a partner rel'shp with Delta (among others already in place like America West, SAS, Singapore and Hawaiian) so you can redeem for other programs.

Only problem is that sometimes they can be very slow about posting miles - it can take some effort.

Do you actually have to fly Virgin at some point for revenue? Or can you join, accumulate, and transfer or cash in without giving Virgin any money?

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by beachfan:
Do you actually have to fly Virgin at some point for revenue? Or can you join, accumulate, and transfer or cash in without giving Virgin any money?</font>

No flight necessary - you can earn and cash them in without ever flying.

I got my first 6,000 miles (6 rentals) just by filling in my Flying Club membership number when I reserved the car, but they haven't posted any since. I submitted them as missing miles through Avis about six weeks ago, but nada - I sent them copies of the rentals agreements about two weeks ago and followed up with them this morning.

I have a feeling that the slowness may be on the part of Avis, since my three Hertz rentals (also 1,000 miles each) posted immediately after submitting them as missing.

Qantas members get 700 points per rental outside Australia or 3 points per A$ spent inside Australia. Just dropped from 1000 points per rental and 5 points per A$ respectively as of 1st September 2002.

quote:

Earn 250 HHonors bonus points whenever you rent from National in conjunction with your qualifying stay at any HHonors hotel. Just present your National Car Rental agreement or keys when you check-in at the hotel.


Now, with either National, Avis or Thrifty, it says "250 points per rental", so say I make 6 stays in 6 different HHonors hotels in a week, is it 250pts x 6 = 1,500 pts? or is it just a flat 250 points? Pls advice.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by thissucks:
Now, with either National, Avis or Thrifty, it says "250 points per rental", so say I make 6 stays in 6 different HHonors hotels in a week, is it 250pts x 6 = 1,500 pts? or is it just a flat 250 points? Pls advice.</font>

There is a difference between AVIS and the rest of the pack (National and Thrifty).

With AVIS, your HH points are in lieu of airline miles, and HH points are issued per rental.

With National and Thrifty, you can earn both airline miles from the rental company, plus bonus HH points from Hilton. 250 HH points are issued per stay, not per rental.

good deal eugene. 'preciate the heads up. guess National it is!