One-way car rental deal at New Orleans airport (Avis/Budget)

If anyone is flying in on the Thursday or Friday, Avis and Budget has a one-way rental from the airport to their Canal Street office in the CBD for $22.63 after fees and taxes, $21.36 if you pay in advance. Using the discount code A433301 takes it down to $21.36 / $20.21.

You can put on a maximum 150 miles and you don't have to refill the tank, but it does have to be returned within 12 hours and the downtown office closes at 6 p.m.

Still, from the airport it's $36 by cab for one or two people before tipping ($15 per person if more than two). Even adding $2.50 for the two of us to take the streetcar back to the hotel afterwards nets a decent savings.

There is also a similar one-way deal on the way back, from downtown to the airport, that is only valid on Sundays and Mondays. Unfortunately it's not valid to or from their kiosk at the Hilton Riverside.

One of our daughters goes to school in New Orleans so we use the airport on a frequent basis, and always stay in the warehouse/FQ area . Your best option would be to take Lyft or Uber. We have done a one way rental from the downtown area before and it was not worth the hassle. Both Uber & Lyft pick up at the airport usually Lyft is less expensive but not always. Uber usually runs under $35 from the airport to the French Quarter depending on the time. You will have no use for the car in the downtown/French Quarter area as parking will cost you a fortune.

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You also want to be careful with your prepaid taxes, we have found that the prepaid taxes do not include the added on city taxes that they will charge you when you pick up the vehicle. Our prepaid taxes included the LA 3% state tax but when we picked our vehicle up we had an additional $10 in city taxes. Not sure where you are staying but I am assuming the port area which would mean the last trolley stop. From the Avis/budget lot you will have somewhere between 8-10 trolley stops and it may be standing room only on the trolley depending on the time of day. When you take into consideration the time it will take you getting the rental car and dropping it, you should ask yourself if it is really worth it to save less than $10?

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Thanks for the feedback. I get that the rental car idea doesn't work for everyone, but I had never even considered it before I saw this deal and thought others might be interested as well. I agree that it doesn't work out to any sort of deal if you plan on parking for an extended period of time, unless you were also planning to cab it everywhere that day.

Lyft's website quotes $37 for the ride from MSY to our hotel (Harrah's). Surprised it was more expensive than the taxi (at least for the two of us). Uber quotes rates "starting from" $33.

Uber & Lyft both have surge times when they cost a little bit more so time of day, day of week, and any special events going on is everything. We have paid as little as $28 & not more than $33 when I look at my history in both apps. Just be aware that you will probably have an additional city tax when you pick your vehicle up at the downtown location.

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I was interested in the one way rental so I called both for the nov 24 it was not available since it was to move cars to each location and they didn't need to relocate cars so the one day quote became 108

I was interested in the one way rental so I called both for the nov 24 it was not available since it was to move cars to each location and they didn't need to relocate cars so the one day quote became 108

Try online. I booked this afternoon (just before my original post) for the 24th. Make sure you pick the 1317 Canal St. location and not 2 Poydras, which isn't eligible.