The tribulations of "underage" traveling...

Rohit Khare (khare@mci.net)
Tue, 12 Aug 1997 17:34:32 -0400


WSJ commented today on the predicament of under-25 travelers. I've had
success with corporate accounts since 19, but it can become a major
struggle. I stick with Avis, where they know me well know (at least their
computers do...)

Rohit

PS. The other item is just for Duck... :-)

===========================================

WHEELING AND DEALING can be a problem for some young entrepreneurs.

Drivers under age 25, even executives, often either can't rent cars or face
surcharges, though some rental companies waive youth fees in corporate
accounts. Matthew Cutler, 24-year-old co-founder of net.Genesis Corp., a
Cambridge, Mass., software company, says surcharges -- in his case about
$15 a day -- were "financially unwieldy" so his company set up a corporate
account that eliminates them.

Ted Collins, who turned 25 last month and works in San Francisco at a
venture-capital company, found out the hard way the firm had no arrangement
allowing him to rent. He turned to cabs, the subway and an uncle's car when
a car-rental representatives in Boston said no. Avis Inc. spokesman Elliot
Bloom says his company is "delighted" to set up age-neutral corporate
accounts with young businesspeople as long as they rent with a corporate
credit card and their company checks out as "legitimate."

BOTTOM OF THE CLASS? Jobs nonetheless beckon computer-information grads.

A sizzling market for computer-science and management-information skills
raises demand for college grads -- even those who might once have had to
scrounge for a job. At the University of Oklahoma in Norman, students with
averages in the lowest quarter of the class are getting two or three job
offers, says Richard Van Horn, a management-systems professor.

The University of Pittsburgh finds that only a handful among hundreds of
company recruiters initially specify grade-point averages for candidates,
according to Robert Perkoski, career-placement director. Mr. Perkoski, who
happens to have a degree in management information, finds that even he gets
job offers.

At the University of Cincinnati, a "C" student with a bachelor's degree
gets two job offers, accepting a $37,000 starting salary at a global
consulting firm.

---
Rohit Khare /// MCI Internet Architecture (BOS) /// khare@mci.net
Voice+Pager: (617) 960-5131  VNet: 370-5131   Fax: (617) 960-1009