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After a trip from Nashville to Seattle, Jeanette Kronquist encountered an unexpected issue with her rental car reservation. Upon arrival, she discovered that Fox Rent A Car, a Europcar subsidiary, had no vehicles available despite her reservation. She decided against renting a car after a friend picked her up, but faced difficulties when trying to get a refund for the 24,500 AAdvantage miles she used to book the rental.
Kronquist's process to resolve the issue was met with challenges as she was redirected among American Airlines, Fox Rent A Car, Europcar, and CarTrawler without success. "The reservation said that I needed to pick it up by 9:45 p.m., and if I didn't, I could be considered a no-show," she explained. Despite notifying AAdvantage Cars about her flight delay, which was confirmed by an agent as communicated to Fox Rent A Car, she was unable to resolve the issue independently.
American Airlines eventually refunded her miles after an intervention from the TPG ombudsman, attributing the resolution to the airline's flight delay having prevented her timely arrival. This experience highlighted the risks of booking through third-party sites, with Kronquist commenting, "I could not have fixed this problem on my own."
