<p>I am scheduled to land at an airport at 11:30 pm. When trying to book a car rental, I’ve noticed that the car rentals desks all seem to close at midnight. Not sure if I will have difficulty getting to rental desk prior to its closing. Has anyone had experience with this?</p>
<p>Yes. That is cutting it very tight. Call Hetz or Avis and find out how they will handle it if your flight is late. Will you be checking luggage (which will add even more time?) </p>
<p>One alternative: Stay the night in an airport-area hotel and pick up your rental car the next morning, often as early as 5 or 6. </p>
<p>Another: arrange for a car service to pick you up and take you where you’re going, and then get your rental car from a company with neighborhood service the next day. (Depending on the airport/city taxes and fees, this might actually be a less expensive alternative – Phoenix has incredibly expensive car rental fees if you rent from the “airport” location (which is actually a good fifteen minutes from the airport.)</p>
<p>Depends on which city. They are open 24/7 at airports in major cities.</p>
<p>The majors are almost always open 24 hours unless it’s a very small airport. The only national company we’ve had a time issue with was Enterprise.</p>
<p>Had this issue at Raleigh-Durham…only National was required to stay open until the last incoming flight.,.</p>
<p>Check with the car rental agency and get the phone # of the local at the airport…</p>
<p>Yes, it is a small airport and that is why the rental desks close at midnight. I called the rental agency and the woman told me that as long as I’ve included my flight info on my rental agreement, they will have someone wait, if necessary. I was not aware they even looked at your flight info, so this was helpful to know.</p>
<p>Make sure you have the rental car numbers to call handy when you land in the event there’s really not anyone there.</p>
<p>Just flew into Roanoke, VA. Was due in at 10:15pm and had car reserved at Enterprise. Still sitting in Atlanta at 11pm so called Enterprise and they had somebody wait–until we finally arrived around 2:30 am. Great as no way to even get a cab at that hour in Roanoke and we had to drive to Lynchburg for our hotel we booked.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>I would absolutely not take the chance of just hoping that someone at the rental car agency bothered to look at my flight info, checked to see whether the flight was late, and decided to wait there. You need to call the local rental agency, speak to a manager, and know exactly who will be there; get cell phone information if necessary if you are delayed, and have a back-up plan. Do NOT trust that Joe Schmoe at Enterprise or wherever cares one bit about your flight being late or delayed and if you don’t show, is going to sit there patiently. He’s going to leave and go home unless you make plans ahead of time.</p>