Hertz after hours at Flagstaff

[AudenHoggart]

The Hertz website indicates that you can get an after hours pick up or drop off at Flagstaff Amtrak. It's unclear about how this works in practice, however.

Anyone have experience using this? The SW Chief would be after hours both eastbound and westbound.

 

[greatcats]

I am in Flagstaff, but do not know the exact answer to your question. I think it may mean that someone will have a car for you at the station if a reservation has been made, but am not certain. I don't think the counter at the airport would be open all night, as our air service here is rather limited. I'm going to park my car later this evening by the station for a jazz concert and will try and ask the Amtrak agents what the situation is for Hertz cars.

 

[Devil's Advocate]

I'm curious about this as well. I tried calling Hertz in Flagstaff to see how they handle the process but apparently they're closed on Sundays. Maybe someone can explain how the pickup portion works from prior experience. When it's during the day I simply call a local rental location upon arrival and they pick me up. When it's late at night I'll either spend a night at a nearby hotel or take a cab to the nearest major airport and rent a car there. Unfortunately there's no major airport anywhere near downtown Flagstaff. There are a few rental cars at the regional airport that's outside of town, but they aren't going to be open during the train's arrival either. Basically I'm stumped as to how this would work.

 

[Shanghai]

Last August I rented a car from Hertz at the Flagstaff Amtrak Station.

The SWC arrived near the schedule time and there was a Hertz representative

at the Hertz counter. She checked out the car and I was away. When I returned

the car, there was a drop box where I placed the keys then boarded the train.

There was not representative at the counter when I returned the car. I received

an e-mail confirmation that the car was received in proper order in a couple of days.

When I rented the car, there was another person who rented a car as well.

 

[greatcats]

Hi just spoke with Agent Caro at FLG station. Yes, a Hertz employee will meet trains in either direction, regardless of the hour. A reservation needs to be made at least 48 hours in advance. It probably would not work on shorter notice.

 

[greatcats]

My favorite agent's name is Carol.

 

[AudenHoggart]

Thanks for the information, and for making the inquiry.

 

[greatcats]

You are welcome. Going to Grand Canyon?

 

[AudenHoggart]

No, we're going to Sedona this time.

 

[greatcats]

Enjoy. If you drive south out of Sedona on AZ 179, I hope you enjoy the novelty of at least seven traffic circles that the AZ DOT thinks are a good idea. WHen I lived in New Jersey, they were getting rid of them.

 

[AlanB]

Enjoy. If you drive south out of Sedona on AZ 179, I hope you enjoy the novelty of at least seven traffic circles that the AZ DOT thinks are a good idea. WHen I lived in New Jersey, they were getting rid of them.

NJ was for a while quite busy getting rid of traffic circles. But lately they've been busy putting them back in, with improvements to the old design.

 

[greatcats]

Thanks for the update! I think they are a pain.

 

[Devil's Advocate]

Thanks for the update! I think they are a pain.

Roundabouts? They're a pain compared to what, exactly? Sitting and waiting at a stoplight?

 

[justinslot]

So I don't know if anyone has done this recently but I called to see how to reserve a Sunday night car from Hertz and the woman I talked to said 1. there were no longer having an agent available to meet off-hours arrivals and 2. they were closing the Hertz desk at the Amtrak station.

Hertz was the only rental place with a desk at the Flagstaff station, right? This is starting to become a too inconvenient way to get to Phoenix...(you accept some inconveniences when you travel by train, but coming in a day earlier just to pick up a car might be the thing that forces me to break down and fly.)

 

[Bob Dylan]

So I don't know if anyone has done this recently but I called to see how to reserve a Sunday night car from Hertz and the woman I talked to said 1. there were no longer having an agent available to meet off-hours arrivals and 2. they were closing the Hertz desk at the Amtrak station.

Hertz was the only rental place with a desk at the Flagstaff station, right? This is starting to become a too inconvenient way to get to Phoenix...(you accept some inconveniences when you travel by train, but coming in a day earlier just to pick up a car might be the thing that forces me to break down and fly.)

Could you ride the Sunset Ltd to Tuscon, the calling hours are better and rent cars or Greyhound can get you to Phoenix quickly!

 

[jacorbett70]

The Hertz was still there a month ago, although it sounds like that changed or is changing. There were dropoff boxes from other agencies.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jacorbett70/14418007246/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jacorbett70/14254520800/

If a mid-morning Monday arrival is not too late you could stay at FLG, take the Arizona Shuttle to/from PHX airport and rent there. Tucson might depend on the day of your return trip with the 3-day-a-week schedule.

http://arizonashuttle.com/schedules/flagstaff-phoenix/

 

[Anderson]

Hi just spoke with Agent Caro at FLG station. Yes, a Hertz employee will meet trains in either direction, regardless of the hour. A reservation needs to be made at least 48 hours in advance. It probably would not work on shorter notice.

At least when I did this, that was not quite true...but the train has to be like 6-7 hours late (i.e. getting in past 0200 or so) for them not to meet the train, and that issue only arises because of their system resetting at night or something like that. Yes, I ran into this issue once.

 

[Devil's Advocate]

Hi just spoke with Agent Caro at FLG station. Yes, a Hertz employee will meet trains in either direction, regardless of the hour. A reservation needs to be made at least 48 hours in advance. It probably would not work on shorter notice.

At least when I did this, that was not quite true...but the train has to be like 6-7 hours late (i.e. getting in past 0200 or so) for them not to meet the train, and that issue only arises because of their system resetting at night or something like that. Yes, I ran into this issue once.

You're quoting a post from 2012. The most recent information is that they are closing the Hertz desk entirely. Which is a shame but not entirely unexpected. Amtrak did a surprisingly poor job of making it clear which destinations had rental cars options or what the conditions were.

 

[Anderson]

Hi just spoke with Agent Caro at FLG station. Yes, a Hertz employee will meet trains in either direction, regardless of the hour. A reservation needs to be made at least 48 hours in advance. It probably would not work on shorter notice.

At least when I did this, that was not quite true...but the train has to be like 6-7 hours late (i.e. getting in past 0200 or so) for them not to meet the train, and that issue only arises because of their system resetting at night or something like that. Yes, I ran into this issue once.

You're quoting a post from 2012. The most recent information is that they are closing the Hertz desk entirely. Which is a shame but not entirely unexpected. Amtrak did a surprisingly poor job of making it clear which destinations had rental cars options or what the conditions were.

...my bad. I actually didn't realize this was an old thread on first glance. Go me.

From what I can tell, Amtrak has generally done a bad job of (A) making it clear what destinations have rental car options and (B) working with rental car agencies to make convenient options available. RVR has no rental car desk (there's a phone to call when you get in) in spite of being the busiest station in the South. As far as I know, neither NPN nor NFK have any sort of rental connection, either. WBG does have something (I'm not sure what, but there's something there if I'm not mistaken). But in general, those "what do you do once you get off the train" connections? Not Amtrak's strong suit. Not by a mile.

 

[justinslot]

Yeah, sorry for bumping an old thread (and with my first post too.) When I googled "amtrak flagstaff hertz" this was the most detailed thread about it so I figured it might be useful to add my new information to it.

I've been spoiled in general with car renting and Amtrak since my main train experience is Philly to Orlando which is a completely easy experience with Hertz.

 

[justinslot]

So I don't know if anyone has done this recently but I called to see how to reserve a Sunday night car from Hertz and the woman I talked to said 1. there were no longer having an agent available to meet off-hours arrivals and 2. they were closing the Hertz desk at the Amtrak station.

Hertz was the only rental place with a desk at the Flagstaff station, right? This is starting to become a too inconvenient way to get to Phoenix...(you accept some inconveniences when you travel by train, but coming in a day earlier just to pick up a car might be the thing that forces me to break down and fly.)

Could you ride the Sunset Ltd to Tuscon, the calling hours are better and rent cars or Greyhound can get you to Phoenix quickly!

You know, that might not be a bad idea...I'm coming from Philly and my idea was to break the trip up with a few nights in Kansas City. If I take the Crescent to the Sunset Ltd it would take a similar amount of time but I'd get to Arizona a little earlier and Tucson's airport Hertz has far later hours than Flagstaff's. And instead I'd be breaking the trip up with a few nights in New Orleans (which might seem like an upgrade but I think KC is an amazingly underrated place to eat and drink, plus I know nothing about NO.) I never really considered the Sunset due to the weird schedule but it gets me there Sunday night which is when I need to be there.

The only thing I need to figure out still is if you can at least leave a rental after hours at the Flagstaff station, otherwise I'll have to take the Sunset both ways.

 

[greatcats]

When I was last in the station in Flagstaff a few weeks ago, the car rental desk is still there. I inquired at the airport recently about it and was told it is no longer open at night due to security reasons. ( not that the train station is a terrible place. ) My impression is that you can drop off cars there when the desk is unmanned, but that charges accrue until the next day, which gets rather screwy. You need to talk to Hertz directly, preferably at Flagstaff Airport, not some 800 number where the information may be wrong. There are other rental agencies in town in Flagstaff which may have better arrangements, notably Enterprise. I would go ask them myself right now, but am in Switzerland taking trains, not renting cars.

 

[the_traveler]

That does not sound even logical to me!

FLG has 2 trains per day (1 each way), 1 in the morning and 1 in the evening. The desk is staffed at (say) 3 pm when there is no train, but not at night when the train comes in? :huh:

 

[Bob Dylan]

That does not sound even logical to me!

FLG has 2 trains per day (1 each way), 1 in the morning and 1 in the evening. The desk is staffed at (say) 3 pm when there is no train, but not at night when the train comes in? :huh:

Dave: The Staffed Station Hours are 3:45AM-10:45PM/ 7 Days a week!

 

[the_traveler]

Like I said, it doesnt make sense that the desk is staffed at 10 am or 4 pm (when there is no train), but you can't go to the desk at 10 pm to rent a car after you arrive on the train - because the desk is closed! (I don't know the hours the desk is open.) It just seems to me that if you have a rental desk in a train station that has 2 trains a day to have the desk staffed around the train times. Its like having a rental desk at a station on the SL only open on Tuesdays - when the SL doesn't operate there on Tuesday! :wacko: