I nearly lost 24,500 AAdvantage miles on a rental car booking. Here’s how to avoid my mistake.

After TPG reader Jeanette Kronquist booked a flight from Nashville International Airport (BNA) to Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (SEA) via Dallas Fort Worth International Airport (DFW), the American Airlines website offered her rental car options. She clicked on the recommendations and was surprised she could pay for her four-day rental entirely with AAdvantage miles.

Scrolling through her choices, she noticed Europcar offered the best rental rate. For 25,400 AAdvantage miles (approximately $404 by TPG's April 2025 points valuation), Kronquist reserved a premium vehicle for her visit to the Emerald City. Her reservation confirmation said she'd receive a Dodge Charger or similar vehicle.

So, naturally, when she landed in Seattle, she expected a Dodge Charger or similar rental car to be waiting. But to her surprise, there wasn't. A Fox Rent A Car (a subsidiary of Europcar) employee informed Kronquist that he was about to close for the night and had no vehicles available for her.

Kronquist called a friend to pick her up and decided she didn't need a rental car after all.

But that strange turn of events wasn't the worst part of her car rental mishap in Seattle. After her trip, American Airlines refused to refund her miles for the aborted rental car reservation and steered her in a different direction.

Suddenly, she began a virtual trip through a seemingly endless loop of unhelpful customer service agents at multiple companies. American Airlines told Kronquist to pursue Fox Rent A Car for her refund. Fox told her to send her request to Europcar, its parent company. Europcar pointed her to CarTrawler (the company that owns and operates AAdvantage Cars). And then she was frustratingly back where she started.

Kronquist was stunned by all the various companies involved. She thought she'd made a simple rental car reservation with American Airlines — a company she knew and trusted. She also thought her problem would be simple to resolve, but it had become a complicated maze she found impossible to navigate.

Then Kronquist got an idea: Maybe TPG could help untangle this mess and get her AAdvantage miles back.

A late arrival to Seattle due to an American Airlines flight delay

Hours before Kronquist's trip was set to begin, she received a message from American Airlines. Her flight from Nashville to Dallas was delayed, and she wouldn't make her connection to Seattle. The airline automatically switched her to a later flight, but she immediately considered her car rental reservation.

Daily Newsletter

Reward your inbox with the TPG Daily newsletter

Join over 700,000 readers for breaking news, in-depth guides and exclusive deals from TPG’s experts

By signing up, you will receive newsletters and promotional content and agree to our Terms of Use and acknowledge the data practices in our Privacy Policy. You may unsubscribe at any time.

"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," Kronquist explained. "So I emailed AAdvantage Cars Concierge, told them about the delay, and confirmed that the rental would still be available at 11:30 p.m."

Kronquist shared the email exchange with me, which shows that an AAdvantage Cars Concierge agent quickly assured her that a message had been sent to Fox Rent A Car about her late arrival. The agent cautioned that the location closed for the night at 12:30 a.m.

Relieved that her rental car reservation would be honored, Kronquist boarded her flight to Dallas. She easily made her new connection there, landing in Seattle just before midnight. Then, she quickly made her way to Fox.

Fox: 'Sorry, we have no rental car for you'

When Kronquist reached the Fox Rent A Car counter, it was 12:15 a.m. — 15 minutes before the location closed for the night. She breathed a sigh of relief. That is until the employee behind the counter shook his head and told her he had no rental cars available for her.

Tired and confused, Kronquist said she didn't spend much time discussing anything with the Fox representative.

"He said he didn't have a rental car for me, so that was that," Kronquist recalled. "It didn't matter to me why. I called my friend, and she came to get me."

Unfortunately, Kronquist's failure to get the employee's name and the specific reason why a car was not available would be a big problem later.

Asking for a refund for the missing rental car

Kronquist enjoyed her visit to Seattle sans rental car and flew home a few days later.

She assumed American Airlines would automatically return the 24,500 miles to her AAdvantage account.

A few weeks later she noticed that hadn't happened, so she contacted the AAdvantage Cars Concierge to ask about her missing refund.

Kronquist was surprised to learn that AAdvantage Cars had no record of Fox not honoring her rental car reservation. Her refund was not on the way after all. In her paper trail, which I reviewed, various nameless agents told Kronquist to obtain proof from the Fox location about the unavailable rental car.

Next, Kronquist emailed Fox, which was particularly unhelpful. Fox refused to confirm that no cars were available for her that night.

"We have no invoice for your rental because the car was not picked up. You need to go back to the original source of your booking for a refund," Fox Rent A Car wrote her.

Kronquist took that to mean Europcar, so she sent a message to its corporate office. That effort also became futile, and Europcar referred her back to CarTrawler.

After one last attempt with AAdvantage Cars went the same way, Kronquist gave up on fixing this problem on her own. That's when she sent her request for help to TPG.

Asking TPG to come to this traveler's rescue

When I reviewed Kronquist's attempt to track her miles and get them back into her AAdvantage account, I noticed that she had done some things to jeopardize her refund.

She didn't receive any documentation from Fox about it not honoring her reservation because of a lack of vehicles, and she didn't take the name of the employee who gave her that information. Plus, she did not inform AAdvantage Cars of the problem until weeks later. Fox's records showed that it had marked her as a no-show when she didn't appear at the scheduled time on her reservation.

Over and over in her paper trail, multiple AAdvantage Cars agents reminded Kronquist of the nonrefundable nature of her reservation. These messages glossed over her repeated reminders that she had tried to collect the rental car, but Fox had turned her away. Each agent asked her to prove what had happened at the Fox counter; however, she couldn't do so since that company refused to provide that confirmation, and she had failed to get any documentation at the counter.

Kronquist had made her best attempt to resolve her problem on her own. It was time to ask our always helpful American Airlines executive contact what could be done.

Asking American Airlines to refund the miles

CarTrawler powers American Airlines' AAdvantage Cars reservation system. Its terms and conditions warn customers that if they fail to show up at the time of their reservation, they may be considered a no-show (even if they do show up later). No-shows are not entitled to any refunds of their prepayments.

Although Kronquist had not shown up at the time on her reservation, she had called the AAdvantage Cars Concierge to move the reservation by a few hours. It is not clear why that did not happen. However, the only reason she hadn't been at the Fox counter on time was an American Airlines flight delay. It seemed only fair that American Airlines refund the mileage because, if not for her American Airlines flight disruption, she would have been there on time to pick up her rental.

Our American Airlines executive agreed with my reasoning, and after chasing her refund for months, Kronquist finally got her miles back. She also learned a lesson about booking through a third-party site: It's easy enough to add a car rental to the end of an airline reservation, but if something goes wrong, dealing with multiple companies — each one pointing at the other to fix the problem — is a frustrating maze that she doesn't want to ever experience again.

She said she'll just book her rental cars directly in the future.

"Thank you for all your help," she wrote to me. "I could not have fixed this problem on my own. I had no idea how complicated a simple car rental reservation could become."

What to keep in mind about third-party booking sites

Travelers should always consider the precarious nature of booking nonrefundable reservations through a third-party agent. We all know that air travel can be unpredictable. You could be out of luck if you miss a reservation because of a delayed or canceled flight and have a nonrefundable reservation.

Here's what you need to know before booking a rental car, hotel or flight through a third-party site.

Read the terms of the reservation carefully before booking

Third-party sites often advertise their services as simple, convenient ways to book and save money. However, the savings may not outweigh the risk if something goes wrong, and resolving problems may not be simple.

Before confirming a booking, always read the terms carefully. Ensure you understand the cancellation policy and other reservation parameters (like when you will forfeit your reservation if you arrive late).

When you use a third-party booking site, you might need to familiarize yourself with the terms and conditions of multiple companies instead of one. Often, you need to filter your complaint through the booking agent instead of directly with the travel provider. In this case, after Kronquist's flight was delayed, she was required to call AAdvantage Cars (the booking agent) instead of Fox Rent a Car directly (the travel provider). It's unclear whether or not the AAdvantage Cars Concierge ever actually reached Fox Rent a Car on the night Kronquist called, but the written communication to her says he did. Unfortunately, the records from Fox don't reflect that message from AAdvantage Cars.

This additional layer of communication — or, as in this case, miscommunication — often complicates the problem-solving process, which can be more than a little frustrating to travelers.

Get names and report reservation problems ASAP

Initially, Kronquist was confident that Fox would report the unavailable rental car directly to American Airlines, and her refund would soon follow. When she realized that would not happen, she found it impossible to get the proof she needed to get her miles back. If you have a reservation with a third-party site and something goes wrong, you must report the problem immediately to the booking agent (where you made your reservation). The longer you wait to report the problem, the more difficult it will be to resolve.

Call the travel provider directly

If you have booked a third-party nonrefundable reservation and it becomes clear that you'll miss the window of opportunity to use it, call the travel provider directly. Speaking to a real person at the car rental company or hotel will give you the best chance of overriding the cutoff point.

Always get the name of the person you are speaking to at the company and write it down. Be cordial and humanize yourself to that employee. Doing so will make it much more difficult for the company to write off your request, as you'll no longer be just a name on a reservation that failed to show up on time.

Get travel insurance that covers unexpected delays and cancellations

Remember, it's not just flight delays and cancellations that can throw a wrench in your plans.

One way to protect yourself from the financial repercussions of changing plans is to ensure you have purchased travel insurance for your trip's nonrefundable elements.

A comprehensive travel insurance policy can protect you from various events that cause you to miss all parts of your trip. Plans that you change due to things like illness, injury, death in the family, delayed and canceled flights, and even job loss can be covered by travel insurance. Be sure to thoroughly read the policy to understand the named perils (covered events). Keep in mind that you're only covered for those events.

Bottom line

If you like to hunt for good deals and enjoy planning your own travel, then you might regularly use third-party booking sites. If everything goes smoothly, you won't have a problem. However, travelers should always ask themselves the "what if" questions and prepare for the unexpected before plunking down nonrefundable vacation dollars.

In Kronquist's case, she had no idea how many companies were involved in her reservation. She also did not know what could happen if she failed to show up on time for her nonrefundable car rental reservation. She said she would not be caught unaware again.

Ultimately, American Airlines refunded her points because the airline's own flight delay caused its customer to miss out on her rental car. But travelers cannot rely on similar goodwill gestures.

Before booking any nonrefundable plans as part of your next trip with a third party, weigh the risks and benefits. Only make that reservation with your eyes wide open.

And don't forget, if you find yourself in an unfair battle with a car rental agency, airline, cruise line, hotel or credit card company, TPG can help. Send your request to ombudsman@thepointsguy.com, and I will be happy to try to help you, too.