(WXYZ) — Car rental companies report a surge in one-way car rentals as a result of flight cancellations caused by the federal government shutdown.
Jennifer Pettit and her husband's flight to Aruba was canceled the other day.
Watch Darren Cunningham's video report below:
"We booked our vacation back in January for our anniversary. So, we were going to Aruba," she explained.
However, their Delta Air Lines flight to Aruba turned into an American road trip. Pettit's TikTok post about her canceled flight to the Caribbean island has gone viral.
She told 7 News Detroit she and her husband, Josh, flew from Detroit Metro Airport to Atlanta, where they learned the bad news.
"The second we got off the flight in ATL, I got a message saying your flight has been canceled. Unfortunately, we're not finding any good options for you," Pettit recalled.
With no other viable options and no flights home, she said they headed to Avis to rent a car.
"(The Avis employee) said to us... he was like, 'Oh man. There are no cars left in this city,'" Pettit explained. "He's like, 'Your only way out of this city... Go downstairs and find a Greyhound.'"
"I started panicking because I'm not taking a Greyhound home."
Avis and Hertz said they're seeing spikes in one-way vehicle rentals as flight cancellations occur due to the government shutdown.
Pettit said her husband managed to book a car through Hertz online.
"We waited in line. There's like 20 (or) 30 people in line," she said. "(Hertz) didn't realize we were taking the car with us to drive back. She was like, 'I don't know if we're going to be able to accommodate this.' She was like, 'Let me see what I can do,'" Pettit recalled.
"It seemed like it was the last vehicle they had."
Hertz allowed the Pettits to rent a Jeep, and the couple has made a road trip out of it as they head back north.
"We are... lucky that it wasn't something overly serious because (the shutdown is) affecting people, livelihoods," Pettit said.
David Fishman with Cadillac Travel Group said a car rental shortage has been years in the making. He said during the pandemic, rental car companies sold a lot of their inventory and more and more people are turning to ride-sharing to get around. The canceled flights from the shutdown may exacerbate the problem.
"Once that inventory is out of their control, and it's in a destination two hours away, three away, cause their connecting flight got canceled, now you have a bigger problem with getting those cars back," Fishman explained.
