The Extra Mile

Do the New Math When Earning Miles for Car Rentals

Q&A: What happened to National Comps points?

September 29, 2003 - On Oct. 1, 2002, in the midst of the travel industry's worst-ever slump, Hertz quietly upped its mileage surcharge for customers electing to earn airline miles when renting cars. The few mile-chasers who read the fine print on their rental contracts were outraged, not least because they feared that other rent-a-car companies would follow Hertz's lead.

One year later, the Hertz policy has indeed become the new industry standard: renters at Avis, Dollar, National, and Thrifty now pay 50¢ per day, up to $2 per rental, if they choose to earn miles in the programs of most U.S. airlines.

Travelers generally earn 50 miles per day when renting from the national rental-car companies, so the surcharge amounts to buying the miles for 1¢ each. Since frequent flyer miles are generally assumed to be worth 2¢ apiece, the fee effectively cuts in half the value added by earning miles. Which has led some consumers to question whether it makes economic sense to continue pursuing miles-for-rentals at all.

In some cases, it doesn't. Redeeming 25,000 miles for an award ticket which could be purchased for $200, for example, results in a per-mile value of less than 1¢. Or to put it differently, if those 25,000 miles had been purchased for 1¢ each, the hapless traveler would have paid $250 to earn a $200 ticket.

So at the very least, the new fees call for heightened consumer vigilance on the award side of the programs.

On the earning side, there are ways to get a better mileage return on car rentals as well.

First, rent from Budget to earn fee-free miles in the programs of Alaska, Aloha, American, Hawaiian, Southwest or United.

Or, choose to earn American AAdvantage miles, which are awarded with a modest 6¢-per-day mileage surcharge by most major rental companies.

And finally: rent from Thrifty, and choose to earn miles in the programs of America West, Northwest, United or US Airways. Thrifty awards 250 miles per rental in the programs of those airlines, which mitigates somewhat the effect of the 50¢-per-day surcharge.

Current News & Offers

All major hotel chains have special promotions in place for the fall and early winter months.

Between Sept. 1, 2003, and Jan. 14, 2004, Best Western is offering members its Gold Crown Club double points or double miles for qualifying stays at hotels in the U.S., Canada, the Caribbean and South America.

Members of the Hilton HHonors program may elect to receive 50% more HHonors points in place of the normally awarded combination of points and airline miles from Sept. 3 through Dec. 31.

Marriott Rewards members who charge their stays to a Visa card between Sept. 15, 2003, and Jan. 31, 2004, will earn double points for the second and subsequent qualifying stays.

Between Sept. 1 and Oct. 31, Prime Rewards members will earn double points and double airline miles when staying at AmeriSuites, Prime Hotels & Resorts, or Wellesley Inns & Suites hotels.

Beginning with their second qualifying stay, Priority Club Rewards members will earn double points or miles between Sept. 8 and Dec. 12 at InterContinental, Crowne Plaza, Holiday Inn, Holiday Inn Express or Staybridge Suites hotels.

And between Sept. 15 and Nov. 15, Starwood Hotels will award Preferred Guest members between 500 and 5,000 Starpoints for using a Starwood credit card from American Express to charge their Starwood stays.

Check the hotels' websites for details.

Readers: Miles on their Minds

Question from Michael C.

I know that National Airlines was liquidated last November, but I don't know what happened to their National Comps frequent flyer program. Did another carrier purchase their assets/Comps program, or are National Comps miles now completely worthless?

Answer

The shutdown of Las Vegas-based National was a frequent flyer's worst nightmare.

When National abruptly failed, they had made no special provisions for members of the National Comps program. And because National was such a small operator, larger airlines had no incentive to fold Comps members into their own programs (as American did with members of TWA's program).

Your Comps membership card may have sentimental value, but the miles are indeed worthless.