--- title: "Hertz Customers Take Matters Into Own Hands After Workers Ditch Airport Counter" date: "2024-11-13" modified: "2024-11-13" authors: - name: "Jerry Perez" job_title: "Deputy Editor" link: "https://www.thedrive.com/authors/jerry-perez" url: "https://www.thedrive.com/news/hertz-customers-take-matters-into-own-hands-after-workers-ditch-airport-counter" categories: - "News" --- # Hertz Customers Take Matters Into Own Hands After Workers Ditch Airport Counter ![SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA - APRIL 30: Car sit idle at the Hertz Rent-A-Car rental lot at San Francisco International Airport on April 30, 2020 in San Francisco, California. According to a report in the Wall Street Journal, car rental company Hertz is preparing to file for bankruptcy as the travel industry has come to a standstill due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)]() *\Justin Sullivan\* Another week, another Hertz screwup. According to *[CBS News]()*, Hertz employees of New York’s Syracuse airport rental counter decided to "abandon" their posts early, leaving incoming travelers stranded without access to rental cars. Some even took matters into their own hands and drove away in whichever cars had keys in them. This all went down last July, per the report. Security camera footage showed Hertz employees bouncing slightly after 7 p.m. even though someone was supposed to be stationed at the desk until 1:28 a.m., an hour after the final arrival of the night. One of the employees was seen making a quick comeback at 8:25 p.m. but leaving again 20 minutes later. Dozens of travelers were reportedly affected by this walk-out, but it's unclear how many later drove away in unauthorized cars. Denver Mayor Mike Johnston was one of the travelers impacted, and likely why this fiasco has made national news. Johnston was in Syracuse over the summer and was surprised to find the Hertz counter empty upon his arrival. "We showed up and the rental car company was closed," the mayor told *CBS News*. "There were probably 40 of us all stuck at the same rental car company, there were a bunch of folks picking up cars ... So we took one we thought was for us." Some reports allege that the travelers who jumped into unauthorized cars and drove away essentially engaged in "soft stealing," but I would mostly disagree. Many rental car companies allow you to skip the counter and go straight to a vehicle if you have the right pre-approved reservation. Maybe those customers did, and even if they didn't, if you have a legitimate reservation for a certain car category and such a vehicle is visibly available to drive away in, it's a pretty reasonable reaction. I likely would've done the same. It's not like Hertz didn't have the customers' information, or that they weren't planning on returning their cars at the end of their trip. Heck, the rental giant already has a reputation for wrongly reporting rentals as stolen while *still in customers' possession*, so nothing is stopping them from getting their cars back one way or another. Affected customers contacted airport officials while trying to figure out why the counter was unattended, only to be left in the dark. The report claims many of them contacted Hertz corporate, but it's unclear if they were given a resolution, considering no one was on the ground to help them anyway. Some who drove away were later contacted by the company. One such customer was Mayor Johnston, who was asked to bring his car back to the airport and swap it for the right one. Frankly, even that sounds unfair to me because he'd already been inconvenienced once, and Hertz was inconveniencing him again by making him swap out his rental in the middle of his trip. Unless Johnston took off in a [Porsche Cayenne]() even though his original booking was for a [Mitsubishi Mirage](), customer service should've just let him keep the car. Y'know, I've never had any issues with Hertz, but it's definitely starting to feel like I'm in the fortunate minority. *Got a tip? Email us at tips@thedrive.* ## Author Jerry is responsible for upholding The Drive's ethos as an audience-first, enthusiast-driven car blog that serves up industry-leading news, reviews, culture, and motorsport coverage. Overseeing a staff of writers and editors from his home base in Indianapolis, he helps curate the site's daily rundown, as well as its medium- and long-term content strategies. Jerry joined The Drive in 2018 as a writer and worked as news editor and managing editor before becoming the deputy in 2023. As a lifelong car enthusiast and racing fan, Jerry believes that all cars are cool, but the people behind the machines are even cooler. This belief often gives The Drive a slightly different focus from most other car sites, where we explore the humanity behind the machines. When he's not obsessing over the day's biggest stories or hanging out at a race track, Jerry can be found behind the wheel of a car, most likely sharing a laugh with his teenage son or daughter. ### Author social links [Instagram]()