BUFFALO, N.Y. (WKBW) — The power outage at the airport had many travelers looking for another way to get to their destination Wednesday.
Flight delays led to more demand for car rental companies near the airport. 7 News spoke with a travel expert, a representative from Hertz car rental company, and a customer about the challenges and what you need to know if you are planning to travel this summer.
Gianni Oliver is a manager in training at Hertz across from the Buffalo airport. He says every day is different and there was no way they could have predicted the power outage Wednesday, which impacted Hertz in addition to the airport.
Oliver says for Hertz, the problem wasn't a lack of inventory.
"It's been more so we can't get systems up— so if we can't get systems up we can't rent. If we don't have our manual papers, it's a huge hassle." Oliver says rates and availability change every day and, "We don't know what's going to happen. We can only plan for so much. At the end of the day, everybody is human. It's not going to be a perfect business."
Brian Murray is the Director of Travel at AAA. He says lately there haven't been any major issues when it comes to car rentals but when the power went out at the Buffalo airport, flights were canceled and delayed. Many ended up trying to rent a car at the same time to get to their destination.
"Initially, there were cars available, however, they couldn't let all the cars go because one, they have inbound reservations for today and this week so they had to hold cars for confirmed reservations for people coming to Buffalo. Secondly, there are car rental companies that do limit the number of one-way rentals so they want to keep inventory local," Murray explains.
Murray also says more tourists are coming to our region this time of year and reserving cars in advance. He says there is, "a lot of inbound tourism for, you know, Niagara Falls and Canada, and so rates and availability are limited in the summer."
Oliver says often customers get upset when they can't get the car they want. He has this advice for people planning to travel, "pack your patience and let us know ahead of time so we can best help you out."
The NFTA says when it comes to traveling, things have been taking a little longer lately, so plan ahead. If you are planning to rent a car, call in advance.
