It is not just Hertz BK. The car makers are having all sorts of microchip supply chain issues… so no new vehicles to replace the ones that were sold off due to high mileage. All sorts of issues converging in a perfect cluster for anyone looking to rent a set of wheels. I have a car secured for the upcoming Big Island travel for $500/week. I thought this was a bargain compared to $1,200 I was quoted for our Oahu stay. We ended up Lyfting to the airport and back and renting a car for a day at the hotel to do grocery shopping to stock our kitchen for a week of breakfasts and lunches (dinners were eaten out to support the restaurants).
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The problem isn’t limited to Hawaii. There’re even stories of tourists with rental car reservation turned away due to the lack of inventory at some places. Some travelers now make multiple reservations to ensure that they get their cars, making the problem worse in the process.
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My daughter is flying across the country for a visit after a year and a half of not being able to. However, since airlines no longer save an empty middle seat, I bought two tickets each way. If they remove the mask mandate, she is cancelling her trip.
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What isn’t stated here is whether requirements for quarantine and/or testing will be removed. And whether this will be conditioned on reciprocity, since at the moment the US won’t allow Europeans into the country, regardless of whether they’ve been vaccinated.
We have flights booked for trips to the UK later this year (as dual citizens we will not be banned from travel). At the moment there is a pre-flight testing requirement in both directions and a requirement for post-flight testing and at home quarantine of at least 5 days in the UK. None of those rules have yet addressed exemptions for fully vaccinated travelers.
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The EU is going to requre “digital vaccine certificates”.
Now we get to figure out what the heck that is:
—a PDF of our cards, which we are told are in no way official
—a digital copy of something from our local/state/federal public health agencies
—our cross-my-heart/pinkie swear that we have been vaxxed!
With so many counterfeit cards out there…
If the airline is overbooked or has standbys, how are you going to stop them from putting someone into the other seat you bought with a “no-show” passenger? That’s what they used to do with empty seats and extra passengers. I guess I don’t know if they are still doing it, but it wouldn’t surprise me. You’d still be charged since you didn’t cancel on time, but no empty seat. Does anyone know if that’s still the policy?
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I called the airline about this. I booked an “extra seat” that is not for an actual passenger (similar to a musical instrument>)
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Yes, airlines are already testing those (like VeriFLY). But the rules about testing and/or quarantine are determined separately and until that’s addressed (and standardized since they differ between EU countries right now), it’s going to be hard to persuade people it’s worth the hassle.
Maybe you should bring an empty box/instrument case…to ensure they don’t fill the seat. I have no confidence that they won’t fill the seat if it’s empty and they are overbooked.
Well you all scared me so I just spent 90 minutes waiting to talk to the airline. The empty seat will stay empty. The only hitch would be if there is a schedule change or plane change or combination of plane passengers or whatever and they would offer a few options including moving seats, refund, cancellation etc. Overbooking will not fill the seat. The seat is considered taken.
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I just returned home from a cross country driving trip. We are fully vaccinated and the family members we visited are fully vaccinated. It can be done safely and we were not afraid.
I think that the chances of catching a bad case of COVID after being fully vaccinated are so minimal that the tiny risk was worth it. (Four family members are doctors and were not afraid either).
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@kelsmom - not sure where tour MIL lives, but there are lots of restaurants with outdoor dining and the weather right now is glorious (except for the pollen).
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She’s in Augusta. Lots of outdoor dining, but she wanted to eat at places that didn’t have any! 
Thanks for the rental car article. I rented a minivan for a June vacation out west, and am concerned I will be told it is not available, was not returned, etc… when I arrive. That would be bad, since we need to drive from airport about 3 hours. I think I will employ the strategy mentioned in the article: call the day before and explain that you need that sized car to be available and make sure they are going to have it ready.
My experience with rental cars is that their fleets tend to be relatively overprovisioned with SUVs and larger sedans, but smaller cars and minivans tend to be relatively scarce. So when reserving a cheap small car, you are likely to be offered a “free upgrade” to a larger car or SUV (not always desirable if you do not want to pay for the extra fuel), but never a minivan. So if you want a minivan, you need to specifically reserve it (and it is often relatively expensive compared to other vehicle types) and hope that they are not sold out when you get there.
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I am ok with being given a large SUV in place of a minivan. I’ve had that happen a few times. Just as long as I have something big enough. This thread also just prompted me to text my BIL to make sure he had rented a car for his family, as we are vacationing together. Of course, he had not!
lol, I live in Brooklyn, NYC where parking is scarce. I don’t have a car (too much of a hassle to park) and rent when I need one. I always book the smallest car but many times when I pick it up, they offer me an “upgrade.” No thank you, I need the shortest car possible!
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Just checked rental prices in HI, and it looks like some places got an infusion of cars. Was able to make a reservation which, if available, will save us some money.
But the bad news is that chip shortage is going to last… Ford just announced that they will have to cut production due to shortages.