Virgin Holidays, Alamo & Upgrade

[steph206]

Hi all,

My mum has decided to join us next year in Florida and this means we now need a bigger car.

Has anyone had success upgrading upon arrival to a bigger vehicle? We have pre-booked a standard SUV (edge or similar) but will now need a 7 seater.

It's been years since I've used Alamo, and heard some experiences when collected the car from any row, a bigger vehicle has been parked there and available for selection, so hoping that helps with availability.

I have budgeted to pay the additional fee at the desk, but is it cheaper to do it with VH in advance?

[garryboy11]

Do it in advance if you can.
If you wait till the desk you will likely end up paying more (you are captive audience and they have no incentive to discount + they are on commission).

Yes, you might get lucky with a bigger car being available - but it’s chance.

Would an option be splitting the party and some getting an Uber to your resort/hotel - meaning you can keep original car size (are you landing at MCO)?

[steph206]

Thank you. Yeah flying into MCO. Problem is though we are staying in a villa with a lot planned for the parks and an overnight for Miami. Currently we have 5 seats (with 5 passengers) and I think the next size up is 7 seater. When my mum arrives we have 6 people so defo need an upgrade.

Im sure I tried this before with BA and they said they had to cancel down my booking and re-quote - which id like to avoid if possible.

[Scully]

Bear in mind the 7 seater lack in the luggage space department.

[garryboy11]

Ok. Is it a fly drive with Virgin?

You might be lucky to find something like a Ford Explorer (which is 7 seat) in the standard SUV row at Alamo - I’ve had that a couple of times before. But it is luck.

If it’s a fly drive, I’d still do some quotes for stand alone car hire with places like USCarHire and Discount Florida Car Hire - see what prices you get.

Sounds like you’d need either a 7 seat minivan or 7 seat (full size) SUV. Again this will depend on how much luggage you have + 6 people.

[garryboy11]

Originally Posted by Scully

Bear in mind the 7 seater lack in the luggage space department.

See more...

This is true - although I just about managed to squeeze 5 people, 5 full size cases and 5 (rigid) hand luggage bags into a 7 seat SUV with a bit of Tetris 😀

[DisneyDreamx]

After completing skip the counter etc with Alamo we have another driver to add to the hire. I have contacted Alamo and you can add the extra driver at the desk upon arrival for an additional $15 per day but they need to be there to show driving license.

When I rang VH to amend the booking they wanted an extra £1700 for the upgraded insurance that included the extra driver (We have our own insurance)

[flossycandy]

I have recently upgraded our car through VH. We had only booked the basic car but DH was having second thoughts. We upgraded to a Mustang and because the prices have dropped since we booked, we only paid another £100ish.

[aprilshack]

Originally Posted by steph206

Hi all,

My mum has decided to join us next year in Florida and this means we now need a bigger car.

Has anyone had success upgrading upon arrival to a bigger vehicle? We have pre-booked a standard SUV (edge or similar) but will now need a 7 seater.

It's been years since I've used Alamo, and heard some experiences when collected the car from any row, a bigger vehicle has been parked there and available for selection, so hoping that helps with availability.

I have budgeted to pay the additional fee at the desk, but is it cheaper to do it with VH in advance?

See more...

Husband upgraded over the phone with Virgin from an economy to the next tier up.

Has anyone who paid off their flight/car hire in the last few weeks phoned Virgin to get some kind of refund on the car hire since the price has fallen?

[steph206]

Thank you all, I'll give them another ring and see what they can offer.