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After all this time, got back from our trip yesterday.
Overall no issues with Cathay, would fly them again depending on plane type (see below).
Flights were on-time, IFE works well and reasonable selection, food was pretty good. Service was professional and efficient, but not particularly wartm and friendly. I found this to be the case with folk in Hong Kong in general to be honest, they don’t seem to smile a lot.
Seat comfort on the A350s was about as good as can be expected, oddly it seems that some rows have more legroom than others. We also flew a couple of legs on their 777-300. First one was fine, with 3-3-3 config. Sadly they are going through re-fit and the last was on a 3-4-3. The marketers can spin it however they want, 17.2″ on long-haul is simply not wide enough.
This could well mean I’m running out of choices for my next trip and we might have to star budgeting for premium… it’s just such a big price jump from economy. Ideally there would be an in-between option with a guaranteed 18″ width and 34″ pitch at about 20% or 25% more expensive than standard economy, rather than the premium one has to pay for premium.
… Quick question – what info have you gleaned from these articles that you’ve found useful?
Haha, truth be known I haven’t read any of them. It’s just a site I came across linked to by a facebook post about the 15 busiest air-routes in the world. More of trivial interest rather than useful.
Received another apologetic, grovely email from them offering 50% off my next rental with them. Their PR department is pretty efficient.
I still don’t have an answer to my original query though.
Their Executive Relations manager responded overnight. Thanking me for contacting the MD and saying they will investigate, and to contact him directly if I have any further questions (with a firstname.lastname email address rather than a generic mailbox).
…
Thank you for your reply. We have sent your query to the appropriate department as we cannot find any information about this subject. They will answer you back directly. ...
9 days on, nothing from the ‘appropriate department’. I’ve sent them a sh*ttogram saying I’ve booked with Hertz and they’ve lost a customer to the competition, cc’d in the Europcar MD for the UK. I doubt very much that it will change anything but it makes me feel better.
I’m still genuinely curious what that exception statement means. It must be coded into their calculation software somewhere somehow.That nudge prompted a response, here is their latest:
Thank you for your reply.
We have sent your query to the appropriate department as we cannot find any information about this subject. They will answer you back directly.
We apologize for any inconveniences this may cause.
that has come from their reservations email address, who I was advised to get in touch with by their social media team after my initial query on their facebook page.
…. Their damage assessment form marked damage but it’s at the point where the form couldn’t really convey the damage that did exist to the vehicle.
Which again strengthens the case for the customer to take photos or video when collecting the car.
I’ve not heard of/read about any ‘made up’ damage claims by the rental companies here in NZ. maybe that’s because the base-rental price of the vehicle still makes them money, even for the cheaper operators. Whereas in UK/Europe it has got so price competitive that I suspect the base price is a loss-leader and they need other revenue streams – i.e insurance upsells and (fraudulently??) charging multiple customers for the same damage on a vehicle post-rental.
Base price comparison, compact car, 7 day rental in October:
AVIS (linked through AirNZ site) – Manchester airport pickup and dropoff – £187.12 (NZ$375 appr.)
AVIS (linked through AirNZ site) – Auckland airport pickup and dropoff – NZ$690
APEX (direct to website) – Auckland airport pickup and dropoff – NZ$360
APEX shows up explicitly as a 4-5 year old car, I ‘d expect AVIS both here and in the UK to provide a 0 – 2 yr old vehicle with no more than 35,000 ks on it.
(It’s hard to do apples-with-apples and there’s hundreds of ways to price this but I hope it illustrates my point somewhat.)
Incidentally, I haven’t heard back from Europcar since I sent them the additional info they requested, I’ll give them a nudge. (Even though it’s irrelevant now, it’s my private little war on these outfits to be transparent with their customers.)
… Hence I like my videoing!
Yes, I do intend to do that, regardless of having bought the SuperCover.
There’s a thread on FlyerTalk where a Hertz manager has fronted up to ask questions and in one of the posts just about admits to the incentives I mentioned
https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showpost.php?p=10150737&postcount=91
Although that thread is very old now, things may have improved.
(The whole thing makes for quite an interesting read, there’s also some discussion about the supply issues that Steve has experienced.)
This article, https://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/advice/car-hire-scams-europcar-employee-reveals-all/ , more recent, also suggests it goes on.
Every UK car hire I’ve ever had has been a nightmare…
Yeah, I must admit that’s the most anxious part of our upcoming trip. Hopefully for every bad experience you read about there are hundreds of good ones that don’t get written about. I like to think I’ve done my homework, planning for the worst, hoping for the best. There are things that we simply can’t control – like the rental firm running out of cars. Fortunately we’re not under any time pressure.
We fly into Manchester at 07:00 on a Tuesday and will be heading for the Hertz counter so probably their peak time (or maybe just before all the business travellers arrive). Decided to go with their excess waiver called SuperCover and have prepaid that. (Travel insurance does cover rental car excess but for the extra £150 decided it was wort the peace of mind, particularly when you read about how employees get financial incentives to find damage when cars are returned.) After that we’ll also be renting for five days in Madeira which I have yet to book. Have read some shockers about practices there as well.
No word back yet from Europcar (been about 48 hours) since providing them the additional info.
Prompt response from Europcar, but not overly helpful yet:
‘We cannot see such specific message on the website. The first sentence “Translation is managed in the ETM.” makes reference to the time zone (Elapsed Time Meter). The second sentence seems to be referring to the charges of another extra, whichever is next to it. ‘
They then ask for the exact URL (linked to through the Accor Hotels site) and some screen shots which I have just sent them.
(Incidentally, I have since actually made a booking with Hertz, same product at approx £90 cheaper.)
No great rush, so we’ll see if they come back with anything. If not I’ll certainly try and get in touch in some other way as you suggest. Here’s a couple of screensnips.
This came up linking to Europcar through the Accor loyalty website. Get no such thing if I do it through europcar.co.nz (all screens are very different), but the price is about $100 (which is less than 10% of the overall booking) higher
but I’ll pass on the sleeping tablets for nowSleeping tablet for me. Solved.
Yep. Zopiclone, glass of wine (just one), eye mask, earplugs and noise-cancelling headphones for me.
Reading other travel forums there appear to be mixed views on this.
I’d venture to say that it is not customary but is becoming expected, as the photo in your post above suggests. Could this be a results of increased numbers of American tourists perhaps in recent years, who are used to tipping at home so automatically do it when on holiday?
I don’t mind tipping for a good service but I ‘d like to be the judge. I detest when tour guides give their wee spiel at the end of a few hours or a day out and pressure you into giving them a tip.
Agreed. I like the ‘worry-free’ zero-excess option from Thrifty, and it’s reasonable value for money with an AA membership.
Once or twice a year I tend to do a WLG-AKL re-locator from Budget. On those occasions I spend $35 on a couple of days domestic travel insurance to cover the excess (wearing the risk described in my OP). Significantly cheaper than the waiver that Budget offer. The agent always asks if Iwant to buy it but never with any undue pressure.
