While Moorthy walked to the National Car rental counter, Rakesh got a phone call. And Raghav and I were busy collecting brochures and pamphlets about Alaska stacked in little bookshelves. We picked a copy of everything – it would come in handy for planning!
Choice?
Moorthy felt the prices being quoted were higher than what Rakesh and he had seen the previous night online. The guy at the counter said, “Check online to see if it shows a better price. The prices fluctuate.”
After a while, we discovered that the online rates had also gone up.
“Can we check at the other counter?” we asked, looking at the 3 other rental company outlets nearby.
“Oh, we are all together.”
So this was an interesting setup – these were 4 different rental companies, but they had some sort of tie-up, or perhaps they were all owned by the same entity! Gives you an illusion of choice.
There were a couple of other rental counters on the other side of the escalator, but Rakesh said that he was seeing the price of those show higher online. So we stayed at the same counter.
“Who is the primary driver?” the staff asked.
We went with Rakesh.
“You’d have to add whoever else will drive the car as a secondary.”
We opted for Moorthy – there is an extra charge for adding more folks as drivers.
“Would you like to add insurance?”
Our initial thought was that it wasn’t required.
“Is basic insurance part of the rental?”
“No – there’s nothing. You have to add-on.” And then he showed a list of add-ons – every add-on was extra money.
The staff mentioned, “Some credit cards also provide insurance. So you can check that.”
Rakesh said, “Mine doesn’t.”
“Just check the offers on your card. Many have some level of coverage.”
His was a basic Bank of America card, and he tried searching online to find what was covered. The staff also started searching to help us out.
“Yeah, this doesn’t have.”
And then Moorthy pulled out his card – he had a premium United one in hand while he had left a few others at home, one of which he was sure had insurance coverage. And so began the search online to see what services were provided as part of his card. He also mentioned that he had a Costco visa anywhere card, and when the staff heard that, he said, “Oh, you have Costco. Then you should book it online from Costco, and you’ll get offers.”
Costco is a large retailer in the US where you need to be a member to make purchases – and all purchases are made in large quantities; think of them like a wholesale shop that sells to retail customers – so if you are buying toothpaste, you can’t buy a single piece and instead will have to buy a pack of 6 tubes. Many people would go there once a month to stock up on supplies.
“But I don’t know if it has coverage.”
“I have a Costco, and it has.” But the card the staff flashed was different from the one Moorthy had; we tried searching online again for the services included in this one.
“You should know all the services offered in your cards,” the staff said. “Costco will have insurance. In fact, you’ll also get to add a 2nd driver for free if you book from Costco.”
And so, Moorthy tried to book from the Costco site using guidance from the staff since he didn’t know that you could make rental bookings via Costco and get offers.
Finally, the booking went through, and the staff said he got the online order. And it did include some freebies, thanks to Costco.
“It’s worth spending time knowing your card.”
Definitely some homework for Rakesh and Moorthy!
In India, I know a few folks who use various cards for the sake of getting discounts on purchases or hotel or airline bookings. But many of us don’t spend the time to look at what all is offered.
The maze
After picking up our car, which was a Toyota RAV4 (a common SUV in NC that everyone seemed to have) from the rental agency lot, we passed a petrol bunk installed inside the building and went upwards on a ramp that led us to the open terrace of the building were there were more cars parked. Out in the distance, we could see the snow-capped mountain scenery. Any outdoor view from the airport would have mountains in the picture!
There seemed to be two ways to get out, though there were no directions for the exit. We took the first one and came down the other side of the petrol bunk! That wasn’t the one, but we noticed another pathway leading somewhere else – it was again a circular ramp, and Moorthy took the car on it. After one circle, we came to a dead end where there was an access-restricted gate! This was an awkward spot because Moorthy had to come down the circular ramp in reverse gear (there was no space to U-turn). Moorthy managed this while the three of us kept a watch for any vehicles coming in the opposite direction up the ramp.
We were back near the petrol bunk – the problem was that the place was deserted, and there was no one in sight anywhere. Fortunately, a few minutes later, there was a lady who came in a car, and Raghav asked her for directions – she asked us to follow her car and took us past another gate that said restricted access but opened for her to take us into some other rental car lot; once here, there was a direction to the exit – up another ramp, we went to get out on to the street. We had spent 20 minutes inside that deserted rental lot, struggling to get out!
Our first stop was lunch – and we found a restaurant called “Taste of India” that was just a 5-minute drive away. Looking at the map of Anchorage, it felt like the places we wanted to go to today were all within a short radius of the airport. Even downtown Anchorage was only about 7 miles away (15 minutes drive). The restaurant was situated in a shopping plaza (in the US, they call these strip malls since you have a strip of stores, one beside the other). The weather was super pleasant – clear skies and temperature almost 20 degrees Celsius. Inside the restaurant, there were a couple of groups dining, while Indian film songs were playing on the TV. We left the ordering to Raghav and Rakesh – we started with pakoras, which was a little disappointing because they weren’t the small crispy pieces that we were used to. But everything else was pretty good – especially the paneer, which was super soft. We didn’t have desserts but ended our meal with their masala chai.
