How to eat like a regional pilot

[SteveC]

... I can understand slamclicking places like SLP, AEX, and GRR, ...

GRR? Really?? GRR is an awesome overnight! The Grand Rapids Brewing Company, lots of restaurants, two malls (with loads of beautiful girls ), and Oberon beer!! Dude, don't knock GRR, it's near the top of my list of good overnights.

Besides there is free beer in GRR if you PM me when you're coming in. You make me laugh often enough, I'll spring for a couple o'rounds.

.

 

[JDE]

I agree - I can't stand tuna. One CA put it in their mac and cheese and I almost threw up...

Yum! For some reason I can't hardly stand to eat sea food, but I love a can of tuna. And it's pretty good on mac and cheese. Don't forget to try hamburger and hot dogs (not together) on mac and cheese too, its pretty tasty.

 

[CapnJim]

Dernit! I knew there was no wa I could pick three overnights that someone didn't love!! Thanks for the info Chicaga- I'll have to check those places out.
I love the SYR overnight myself-- I cook a big, fat ribeye in my room, drink beer, put on my free movie, and then munch my free popcorn. Steak, beer, and a movie for under $15!

And Steve, the next time I get a GRR, you're getting a PM!

 

[BrettInLJ]

You mean the chief pilot at a regional won't put together a care package for you like certain one's at flight schools have been known to do? the hell you say! (Kell, you know what I'm talking about here).

 

[Bluto]

Just my opinion, but toting around picnic baskets looks just as tacky as backpacks, raybans indoors, iPods, and frosted spikey hair. You get per diem for a reason. Heck, most of us can afford to miss a Kung Pow Kitty now and then.

Well, you have a right to your opinion, but I have to disagree with you. You're right that there are a lot of unprofessional looking regional pilots out there, and there is no excuse for that. Unfortunately, regional airline management considers per diem as part of our compensation. It would be really nice if we could afford to use our per diem on food, dry-cleaning, conservative hair cuts, and non-descript military-style sunglasses (outdoors only!) . Unfortunately, in the real world, we have to use our per diem to pay for other luxuries, like rent, medical insurance, diapers, baby-food, etc. Pilots who work 12-13 hour duty days with quick-turns, no breaks, and multiple aircraft swaps (ask Omar how often this happens) sacrifice safety by not taking food with them. Fasting is not a weight-loss solution. Eating good food, regularly, and in the right portions (any ideas on where to find healthy food in your average terminal?) is the only way. I'm sorry if it offends your sensibilities, but I'll stop bringing food with me when my company pays me appropriately and schedules flights in such a way that eating during breaks is possible, and not until then.

 

[FlyChicaga]

Besides there is free beer in GRR if you PM me when you're coming in. You make me laugh often enough, I'll spring for a couple o'rounds.

.

We'll be in the weekend after next for a concert, so I'll have to let you know when I'll be around then. We're not sure when we will be coming in that weekend yet, but I'll try and remember to PM you!

 

[bike21]

Well said Bluto! I choose to eat healthy (haven't had fast food in over 10 years) so eating cheap & healthy isn't an option on per diem.

Heck, once I do make enough money to dine out more, I probably won't. Nothing beats fresh food for me.

 

[wheelsup]

two words:
Per Diem

If I was flying a DC-8 I probably would still be carrying most of my food. I'm just that cheap (PC term would be "financially responsible" maybe?). I also like eating non greasy foods, after going so long without eating fast food, my stomach gets upset when I do eat it, so I just stopped.

That being sad, its very sad that it comes down to doing this to make ends meet for a lot of people. I do it because it's almost a game to me to see how little $$ I can spend to live, to others its survival. I prefer to spend my income on having fun outside the job. Unfortunately at my tax bracket, I can't afford to have fun on the job and off .

 

[EDUC8-or]

Where do you pack your beer? In your rollaboard?

I bring lots of snacks/food in my flight kit mostly for health purposes but it does help with the funds.

 

[kellwolf]

You mean the chief pilot at a regional won't put together a care package for you like certain one's at flight schools have been known to do? the hell you say! (Kell, you know what I'm talking about here).

Yes, yes I do. It was nice to have the cabinets and frig stocked for once.

The only places I can think to eat healthy in the terminals charge an arm and a leg, so a measily $1.40 an hour extra ain't gonna cut it. Hell, I was bringing turkey sandwiches to my SIMULATOR sessions, so I know there's room in the flight kit.

 

[Captain_Bob]

I can understand slamclicking places like... GRR

What??? Obviously, you've never been to the BOB!

Grab a cab and tell them you'd like to go downtown to the BOB. You won't regret it... It's the Big Old Building. One cover, and like seven different bars and nightclubs in one, on 4 different levels.

Also, get your cheapskate a** a $20/day rental car, split it with el capitano, and drive the 30 minutes it takes to get to beach in Grand Haven. Great beach town, brew pubs, water, lighthouses, boats, and all the pretty things that go with beaches...

Bob

Edit: OK... I just finished reading the rest of the posts... Good to know Chicaga stepped up to the plate to enlighten you as well!

 

[Seggy]

At my airline we are all outstationed based so we only get per diem if they send us TDY. Call this what you want, but I go to the airport hotel by my base were the mainline and other express crews stay and have breakfast their! Yes, even though it is VERY tacky I will bring a cooler for lunch, saving me tons of money I don't have.

Heck, we don't even have catering on my plane, we are usually asking for drinks from the Saab! To me that is the BIGGEST annoyance from flying the 19hondo around. I get very thirsty and go through about two gallons of water a day. I can't lug that around!

 

[MQAAord]

I could pack enough food to last for an entire 4 day trip. I'd bring a small mini-cooler stuffed full, and a couple cans of spaghettios or soup (don't forget the can opener, this was pre-9/11 though, don't know if can openers are still allowed in carry-ons) in my roller bag.

I ate SO much better that way, saved incredible amounts of money, AND lost 10 pounds in 2 months.

This probably would not work for everyone though. I'm 5'2", and really don't eat much.

 

[FlyChicaga]

What??? Obviously, you've never been to the BOB!

Grab a cab and tell them you'd like to go downtown to the BOB. You won't regret it... It's the Big Old Building. One cover, and like seven different bars and nightclubs in one, on 4 different levels.

Also, get your cheapskate a** a $20/day rental car, split it with el capitano, and drive the 30 minutes it takes to get to beach in Grand Haven. Great beach town, brew pubs, water, lighthouses, boats, and all the pretty things that go with beaches...

Bob

Edit: OK... I just finished reading the rest of the posts... Good to know Chicaga stepped up to the plate to enlighten you as well!

We are going to a concert next weekend in GRR, now I know where we will be going post-concert possibly! I ditto what you say about Grand Haven. My girlfriend and I went there on our first date, and it is a gorgeous area of Michigan. Definitely worth the trek over there.

 

[SteveC]

We'll be in the weekend after next for a concert, so I'll have to let you know when I'll be around then. We're not sure when we will be coming in that weekend yet, but I'll try and remember to PM you!

Make sure you do!

Looking at my schedule, I am "on duty" to fly Monday through Saturday (6 on/3 off), but it is not unusual to not fly even when scheduled "on". Bottom line, it is too early to tell if I'll be here or flying next weekend. I'll have a pretty good idea how the weekend schedule is shaping up by Wednesday or Thursday, so we could see if something might tentatively work out by then. It is pretty rare for us to get pop-up trips so I'm usually pretty confident (at least the night before) knowing if I will be flying the following day.

I'll PM you my cell phone # anyway.

 

[NW004]

Good idea with the ROTH IRA man, that thing almost doubles every 8 years, so by the time i'm 60 i'm looking at some 200k tax free money. Something everyone should do, i had mine since i was 16, and i already have the 4k max in there. Now let it sit and make money for me. LOL

 

[SkyHawg]

Do most/any planes have a microwave? If they did I would bring microwavable foods.

I always recommend rewarding yourself for eating this traveling anti-per diem diet. It's just like if you were going on a weight diet. If you don't reward yourself you will likely give in.

Then there is always the dollar menu. I can buy a $1 hamburger and a water and throw away 1/4 of it cause I am full.

Lastly I would put the money you put in the Roth into paying off the loan because the interest rate you are paying on the loan is more than you would make on the Roth even with compounding and tax free earning. By paying off the loan quicker and taking the monthly full amount you are paying into the loan and then putting it into the ROTH you will have more money in the long run.

 

[wheelsup]

Good idea with the ROTH IRA man, that thing almost doubles every 8 years, so by the time i'm 60 i'm looking at some 200k tax free money. Something everyone should do, i had mine since i was 16, and i already have the 4k max in there. Now let it sit and make money for me. LOL

You *do* know that the $4,000/max is yearly right? You would be doing yourself a disservice if you did not max it out every year IMO .

Lastly I would put the money you put in the Roth into paying off the loan because the interest rate you are paying on the loan is more than you would make on the Roth even with compounding and tax free earning. By paying off the loan quicker and taking the monthly full amount you are paying into the loan and then putting it into the ROTH you will have more money in the long run.

I disagree. I am only paying 3.25% on my student loans. I figured out by the time I paid them off on schedule, 13 years down the road, I would have paid around $2,800 in interest. In the first two weeks of opening up my Roth, I made $400 in returns...on a $3,000 initial investment. If my loan rate was 7 or 8%, I would certainly be paying down the loan debt ASAP, however.

Heck, even my money market account pays 4.81%, which is ~1.5% more than I pay for student loans :insane:.

As for the microwave, we are lucky if some of our hotels have microwaves, let alone the airplane. Southwest's a/c don't even have microwaves!

 

[NW004]

You *do* know that the $4,000/max is yearly right? You would be doing yourself a disservice if you did not max it out every year IMO .

Yeahh i just cannot afford to put more money in it, since I'm saving all of the money I can for my bussiness idea, hopefully it will make 1000 times more then the ROTH will make.

BTW I thought pilots get to eat all they want while in cruise and stuff? I never pictured a pilot heating up sups while doing flights.

 

[stultus]

BTW I thought pilots get to eat all they want while in cruise and stuff? I never pictured a pilot heating up sups while doing flights.

You thought wrong, my friend. I don't think anyone gets crew meals (at least domestically) anymore.