AA, Avis Discount Car Rates

<H1>AA, Avis Discount Car Rates</H1>By Jay Campbell<H3>American 'First Call' program Adds Group Car Rental To The Group Air Zone Deal</H3>Longtime travel partners American Airlines and Avis Inc. have quietly introduced a first-of-its-kind program that standardizes Avis rates in certain zones for groups of 10 or more.

The program offers auto rental discounts that are deeper than those offered to 90 percent of Avis' direct corporate contracts, according to Brenda Hudson, manager of American's group sales and service desk. Companies book through American's group air program, First Call, in order to obtain the discounts.

Since its launch on April 1, the program has attracted 2,000 corporations, associations and other group buyers that have signed two-year deals.

"This zone product breaks pricing down to four pieces," said Hudson. "Before, the rental car piece was confusing for American to sell, with hidden fees and a different price structure tied to each city. It was also complex for the customer."

By signing a deal and booking through First Call, groups of 10 or more traveling to Zone One (Florida and Nevada) pay $30 to $35 a day off-peak or $32 to $37 at peak times. Price depends on the type of car, and the rates do not include gasoline, insurance, airport fees or local charges and/or taxes.

Zone B, $34 to $39 off-peak and $36 to $41 peak, covers most of the Southwest and Northwest including California and Colorado; Zone C, at $44 to $49 off-peak and $46 to $51 peak, encompasses the Northeast, a few Midwest locations and Canada. Other areas included in the program are being discounted off rack rates: Europe is 40 percent off rack rates, Asia 20 percent under and Latin America 10 percent.

"Pricing in the car rental industry is traditionally very much site based," said Neil Abrams, president of Neil Abrams Associates, a car rental industry consultancy in Purchase, N.Y. "I can't recall zones being done before."

"This type of pricing has never existed, to my knowledge," said Bill Boyd, president of Sunbelt Motivation and Travel in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. Boyd said the program sounds like a good deal for some companies, depending on how a given movement is negotiated.

"Some of the fares sound really good, but there are situations where they can be beat," he said. "For example, if I know I've got 15 groups going to San Diego and I negotiate them all at once, I'll get a better discount than negotiating them seperately, which is what you're doing here. But I do think American and Avis are thinking ahead because this certainly makes the pricing structure clearer."

Abrams said he wasn't sure whether such fares were logical from an economic perspective. "It doesn't seem to make sense to price a car the same in New York as you would in Altoona, Pennsylvania, and it's confounding how Avis would do that," he said. Nevertheless, he said, "it does sound like a user-friendly program."

In spite of the large number of bookings, feedback has been limited because the program is so new, Hudson said.

American set up the First Call program with Avis after issuing Requests For Proposals to all the car rental companies, some of which refused to offer zone pricing, Hudson said. It is available at all Avis locations.

Companies that already have preferred supplier relationships with both Avis and American can incorporate this offer into current arrangements. While the deal is exclusive at the moment, an Avis source said the company is considering setting up a similar plan with Delta.