Holding a NRA membership no longer delivers the travel savings it once did. In the past few days – pushed mostly by consumer backlash related to the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida – several travel related companies pulled out of discount agreements with the group.
Rental Cars
On Thursday it was the Alamo/National/Enterprise group of rental car companies dropping the discount rate offered to NRA members:
Thanks for contacting us. We ended the program – effective March 26. https://t.co/gwYeQR3xAh
— Alamo Rent A Car (@alamocares) February 23, 2018
Thanks for contacting us. We ended the program – effective March 26. https://t.co/tRdHdoevfT
— EnterpriseRentACar (@enterprisecares) February 23, 2018
Thanks for contacting us. We ended the program – effective March 26. https://t.co/BMqcoac4s2
— National Car Rental (@nationalcares) February 23, 2018
Mildly amusing to me to see all three brands from the same company replying to the same initial tweet, but it gets the job done.
On Friday afternoon Hertz cut ties:
We have notified the NRA that we are ending the NRA’s rental car discount program with Hertz.
— Hertz (@Hertz) February 23, 2018
Avis Budget group is also cutting ties later in March.
Airlines
Delta announced on Saturday morning that the organization would no longer be eligible for discounted airfare through the carrier’s group travel program.
Delta is reaching out to the NRA to let them know we will be ending their contract for discounted rates through our group travel program. We will be requesting that the NRA remove our information from their website.
— Delta (@Delta) February 24, 2018
United followed suit shortly thereafter, removing the group’s discount for travel to the annual meeting.
United is notifying the NRA that we will no longer offer a discounted rate to their annual meeting and we are asking that the NRA remove our information from their website.
— United Airlines (@united) February 24, 2018
That these both came out on a Saturday morning is all sorts of strange. Are they trying to bury the news? If so, why make the statement. If not, why wait until Saturday?
There’s also the part where not everyone is happy about the cuts, though it seems the numbers overall are notably skewed in one direction.
Airlines hearing from both sides in the gun debate. pic.twitter.com/jL8P48KMci
— David Koenig (@airlinewriter) February 24, 2018
Hotels
Hotel brand Wyndham is getting credit online for acting similarly in conjunction with the latest events, though the company says it cut ties in late 2017.
Hello Elaine. Please know, Wyndham is no longer affiliated with the NRA.
— Wyndham Hotels & Resorts (@WyndhamHotels) February 23, 2018
Best Western hotels similarly claims to not have a corporate relationship with the group, though the NRA does list a corporate discount code on some publications.
Best Western® Hotels & Resorts does not have an affiliation with and is not a corporate partner of the National Rifle Association.
— Best Western (@BestWestern) February 23, 2018
The NRA does still maintain hotel discounts through a third party OTA HotelPlanner.com.
I’m not at all convinced that anyone is paying the $40 NRA membership fee to get travel discounts. I also don’t really believe that losing those discounts will skew the membership rolls nor affect the group’s policy decisions. But it certainly appears corporations are far less willing to carry that relationship any further.
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Good on UAL and Delta for their position on this…
Losing travel discounts may not cause any NRA members to leave the organization, but people unwilling to engage in reasonable conversation to reduce gun deaths shouldn’t be rewarded with discounts.
Personally happy about this. Want a discount for using guns, join the military and become a vet.
I’ve never once heard of anyone using a NRA discount code. The political posturing is a bit much right now
The NRA is a political organization. Its partnerships with these companies were politically motivated. Of course this is a political response.
Are you suggesting that makes it the wrong response?
No, just feels like termination of a partnership that was never really used. I agree with cutting ties.
AA and DL had previously provided discounts for NRA members traveling to this year’s convention. So, I would expect that NRA members WERE using this discount for this purpose. No more.
I have to agree. Im a NRA member, AAA, USAA, etc and I never use their codes because they all suck! So ya, these companies capitulating are losing more customers than gaining street cred. Weak sheep
You’re saying that you never used the discount anyways but now you’ll stop buying tickets with the company because the discount you never used no longer exists? How does that make any sense??
I cancelled my membership because the NRA didn’t speak up for the unethical constitutional violations by ATF of not allowing medical marijuana patients to purchase a gun. I didn’t mean to imply I took an issue with this
Good.
Funny how everybody excoriates the NRA, Trump and Republicans over the Florida school murders. Meanwhile, most say nothing disparaging about the FBI and their complicity in not investigating stark warnings about the shooter, the fact that the school had video cameras linked to law enforcement that were on 16 minute delay (!), the armed Sheriff’s deputy who failed to enter the school for four minutes after he heard shots, etc. Oh, and what about the deafening silence surrounding the miserable little s**t who did the killing! Meanwhile, volunteer a plan that would successfully and legally remove over 300 million fire arms from the American public and I might be a little more empathetic.
Hypocrites.
Standby for some offended snowflakes to call you racist lol
I have no idea if he’s racist from that comment. Certainly ignorant, but unclear that he’s racist.
What Garrett said.
What about AA or WN? They’re notably absent.
I suspect AA will be onboard, if they actually offer a discount. I didn’t see any on AA.com.
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/companies-sticking-by-the-nra_us_5a903e4be4b01e9e56bb57af
It appears the NRA TV app needs to be hacked and taken down.
Not at all, Susan. No need to resort to illegal actions to get the job done.
If they did offer a discount, it wouldn’t be on aa.com. It’d be on NRA’s website. But I don’t think you can see what discounts an NRA member gets unless you were a member.
AA clarifies that it does not offer any discounts to the NRA: https://twitter.com/AmericanAir/status/967499897212719104.
Seth Miller you do understand facetiousness, yes?
Susan: Sure, when done well.
One wonders what the discounts were and how many honored. In any case a nice gesture.
Seth Miller Facetious: not to be taken seriously- treating serious issues with deliberately inappropriate humor.
Obviously well done because you saw fit to tell me an illegal action wasn’t necessary. Because, obviously you thought I was serious – and I was making humor with a serious issue. ????
Only the Hertz discount was actually decent. They worked just like any corporate rate. Subject to mass variation in price, use at your leisure, but you may need to be verified, ymmv.
Wait… Why did they get discounts anyways?
Same as any other large group…just call and ask.