Hi – anybody know Lyon airport well enough to tell me whether any car hire firms are actually at the terminal. I was about to book with one that claims to be and then saw it was 0.4 miles away via shuttlebus.

Much prefer to avoid buses if poss.

Cheers

Which terminal are you flying in to? Have you looked at an airport map?

I’ve been there a few times and always had to use the shuttle bus. I don’t think there are any at the terminal itself.
The bus comes every few minutes and it is only 5 minutes to the hire depots, but I am not sure you can avoid it

Flying into terminal 1, which appears to be undergoing changes. Europcar claim they are at the terminal whereas everyone else isn’t. Not sure I believe this…

The others seem well scattered on the map rather than in a central place – odd!

Europcar are showing on the map as in the terminal, aren’t they? These things are never straightforward 😆

Went there Feb 2016 and we had to use the shuttle. A lot of construction work going on at that time so things could be changing.

Yeah, always used shuttle bus to the Europcar depot. Pretty sure there isn’t one at the terminal. Hint: if getting shuttle bus to Europcar, get on last so you’re off first. Leave luggage with someone at arrivals – getting into depot first can mean difference between 15 mins getting car and 45 (can you tell I’ve done Lyon a few times? 🙂 ). There’s a set-down area at arrivals where you can drive back and pick up luggage (if you have the luxury of leaving with someone).

Also, guess you’ve already booked but Keddy thru Easycar often cheaper than Europcar direct and it’ll be a Europcar vehicle.

When I was there in September they were all off-site, all along the same road. I used Europcar and they were definitely off site. As above, lots of work going on so it may have changed.

This map on the website shows them off-site at the place they were in September

https://www.lyonaeroports.com/special/terminal1/plan_exterieur.pdf

Europcar are gits. Last time I used them in France they were adamant that the car needed to be cleaned before being returned else they would charge a cleaning charge. Now I understand that some people are pigs and would return it covered in shite but I’m talking wear and tear amounts of dirt. Getting a vac on your holidays isn’t the easiest thing. Then they charged me EUR20 for some random ‘equipment’ that I never asked for or received. Their customer service deliberately ties you up in a knot of autoresponses and requests for more 98-digit reference numbers. So I got the bank/CC company to yank it back and the money was back in my account in a couple of days. Oh and if you’re queuing to collect the car be prepared to be looked at with Gallic indifference by legions of staff busy moving pieces of paper from one pile to another, for as long as it takes. Les Gits.

Where possible I rent off the local bods now as they’re far more accommodating.

Building work at Lyons was still going on 2-3 weeks ago.

On your way home allow LOTS of time for passport control. They were shocking when we went through and I’ve heard the same from others who travel through there regularly.

Beware as they are between the lounge and the gate and not at main bag search security.

On your way home allow LOTS of time for passport control.

This. Nearly missed a flight a couple of years ago – massive queues just before the EasyJet gates – two guys doing the checks for a queue of hundreds. Then one of them looks at his watch, and just gets up leaving the other bloke on his own. 😆

It was flight by flight crisis management when we went through.

Shambolic does not begin to describe the experience we had.

Scuttler – I know what you mean! Europcar did this to me in Nice – 120EURO!! Had to use cc to get the money back tho it took weeks rather than days. Their own T&Cs on their website state reasonable cleaning is OK.

Haven’t booked yet so will try and avoid them but they are generally cheaper than the rest…