Airports Eject Car Rental Vendors
Travelers around the country are being increasingly inconvenienced as more airports move their car rental facilities off the premises.
As traffic increases and land is at a premium, the airports cite a need for new terminals and other expansion projects as a major reason for the rental vendors' displacement. In some cases, airport authorities are choosing to replace car rental facilities with expanded parking lots, one of the most lucrative sources of revenue--and in demand by local residents, the airport authorities' constituencies.
Because waiting for the rental bus is one of the top complaints corporate travel managers hear from their travelers, the airports' moves can only thwart rental companies' desire to provide instant, seamless service to business renters.
"Airports are in control of the means by which the customer gets to us," complained Terry Hardy, vice president of strategic operations at National Car Rental. And a Hertz spokesperson said, "ideally, Hertz would prefer to have all of our vehicles housed at the terminal, where no busing would be required."
Rental companies have had little or no say in the decision to move their locations out, although the industry is beginning to act: Last November, the major vendors collectively aired their concerns to the American Association of Airport Executives. "We're doing a better job of coming together on planning issues with airport authorities," noted David Fiore, director of airport affairs and properties at Budget Rent A Car.
While airports with shrinking space are taking different approaches in the way they accommodate car rental firms, the most common solution is to consolidate the agencies into a remote facility, which is accessible by a shuttle but technically "on airport." A handful of airports also have replaced the vans operated by the car rental companies with an airport-operated common bus.
Sacramento International Airport, for example, opened a remote car rental facility, accessed by an airport bus, in 1995. Airports with a similar setup include Washington's National and Dulles airports, Dallas/Fort Worth International and Newark International, where a monorail now conveys passengers from the terminal to the car rental facilities. Other airports, including San Francisco International, Albuquerque International Sunport, Boston's Logan International and Phoenix's Sky Harbor International, have plans on the drawing board to consolidate their rental agencies into one remote building (see box).
The introduction of airport-operated buses is part of a general initiative to reduce congestion at the curb: Not only car rental buses but also hotel shuttles are being restricted or eliminated to cut down on roadway traffic. San Francisco, for example, currently limits the number of trips each rental car or hotel shuttle bus makes, charging the rental companies a $25 fee per trip if the limit is exceeded. Ideally, with fewer vehicles jostling for curbside space, the ride to the rental lot will ultimately take less time and benefit everyone.
Yet, with the move to a common bus, travelers can no longer take advantage of time-saving checkin services that some firms offer on their shuttles. Hertz is currently in the midst of a six-month test of flight monitors on two of its buses at Atlanta's Hartsfield Airport; travelers running late can find out if their flight is on time and which gate it's at. But should the test prove successful, a Hertz customer at Dallas/Fort Worth will not benefit from this service.
On the other hand, a common shuttle system creates a level playing field: Because travelers have no alternative, they can no longer gripe about waiting for the bus while watching three other rental agencies' buses pass by.
Whether airport shuttle buses catch on with travelers is obviously contingent on how efficiently they are run. A spokesman at Sacramento Airport claimed that the wait for the airport bus never exceeds four minutes; with the ride pegged at four minutes as well, a traveler should be able to get to the lot in less than 10 minutes.
On the other hand, Dallas/Fort Worth has earned travelers' scorn for the long ride to the two rental lots. Ron Finelli, fleet and travel manager at Graco Inc., a Minneapolis manufacturer, said that 15-minute waits for the bus are not uncommon. Airport officials are considering a plan to replace the two buildings with one consolidated car rental facility, which would allow more than four car rental firms--the current number--to be on airport. But the new facility might result in even slower service because the building would be located farther away than the current facilities--two miles from the terminal as opposed to half a mile--and the ride would be 15 minutes, compared to a current time of 10 minutes, according to Dallas/Fort Worth Airport spokesman Joe Deally Jr.
That's way too long, in the estimation of Rolfe Shellenberger, senior consultant at Runzheimer International, the Rochester, Wis.-based travel management consulting firm. "When there's more than a five-minute ride on the bus, people get frustrated," he noted. (Tellingly, when Budget instituted its "bus frequency standards" last year, one of the aims was to limit the maximum wait to four minutes.)
Another facility that has generated complaints among travelers is the new monorail at Newark. "We've had reports of people waiting 15 to 30 minutes at peak times," said Merrill Sehulster, corporate travel manager at Allied Signal, whose home office is in Morristown, N.J. Sehulster and other users complain that the monorail's cars are too small and too few, creating bottlenecks during busy times.
Another disadvantage is the location of the monorail's stations, which are two levels above the baggage claim area. After descending to the lower level to pick up their baggage, travelers must climb a set of stairs to the main floor, from which they can board an elevator or escalator to the monorail on the next level. And they can't bring luggage carts on board, which is a particular problem for travelers with disabilities or anyone who's loaded down with bags. "The monorail is an example of how not to do" a people-moving system, Sehulster said.
Of course, for the past 15 years, ever since Los Angeles International became the first large airport to introduce a remote facility, travelers have been accustomed to taking the shuttle to the rental lot, accepting it as a necessary evil. Perhaps not coincidentally, the expansion of express services such as Hertz's #1 Club Gold and National's Emerald Aisle have paralleled the spread of busing to the lot, offering a consolation prize to travelers frustrated by the delays. "Our interest is in bringing in more locations with express service, rather than deal with the universal trend of going off airport, which we can't control," Sehulster said.
In a few cases, the rental companies have taken the initiative themselves in moving away from the terminal. At Orlando, for example, Hertz has shifted off airport to a massive new facility to gain needed space. At Phoenix's Sky Harbor, Hertz maintains a counter in the terminal but has moved some of its cars to a spot off the airport. Budget has moved off airport at Detroit Metropolitan Airport to combat "some financial issues" with the airport authority, according to Fiore.
All this shifting from on to off airport, or on to off terminal, is sowing confusion in the minds of travelers. "On airport" is an increasingly elusive term: It could mean that the rental firm has a counter and a car lot at the terminal, or a counter in the terminal and a remote lot, or a counter and lot in a remote facility. "On or off airport isn't what's important," noted Roger Ballou, president and chief operating officer of Alamo Rent A Car. "It's how close you are to the terminal. At Los Angeles International, on airport is farther away than our off-airport location in Miami."
Perhaps the biggest losers in the move toward a remote facility are the customers of off-airport firms, who often must board a second bus at the remote location for the ride to the off-airport agency. (At Washington National, there are two alternatives: Thrifty Car Rental customers get picked up at the rental building, while customers of Dollar Rent A Car and Enterprise are picked up right at the terminal's curb). At Newark, travelers using the supposedly on-airport firms of Budget and Dollar have been particularly penalized: They must board a bus after taking the monorail to station D-1. (That arrangement will change this spring, when the two companies will open up a joint facility right at the station.)
In a few cases, car rental companies have benefited from the expanded parking facilities the airports have constructed. Built to accommodate future growth, these aren't yet full, so space still can be made for the car rental agencies. But while these garages are normally within walking distance--the exception is Minneapolis, which uses airport shuttles--that might not be a convenience. "If you have baggage, and the bus to a remote car rental facility is close, it's better to use that option than walk across four or five traffic lines to get to the garage," Shellenberger said.
One solution that would greatly simplify the procedure for travelers is for the airlines to offer, for a fee, a service in which a renter's luggage would be transferred directly from the airplane to the rental car, Shellenberger said. But so far, no carrier is biting, he added.