Pilot Benefits

PaulS

New Member
I was wondering what kind of hotel benefits and other travel benefits, other than free flights, were available for pilots of major regional airlines. Someone said they get hotels for dirt cheap, along with huge discounts on restaurants, car rentals, ski lift tickets, and many other things. How true is this?
 
Not very. Usually the best 'crew discount' rates are actually not as good as some of the rates found online. You can get the Red Roof Inn north of DFW for $32/night but the amenities include your own soap bar and a couple towels!

The only real restaraunt discounts I've found are at some layover hotels.

A couple of the off-brand/local rental agencies offer some deep disconts on cars, but my Delta discount hasn't been much more than my wife's AAA discount.

A little before my time we'd get monster hotel discounts and car rental discounts, but really "good" deals are few and far between. I've actually stopped even bothering asking about hotel or car rental discounts because it's largely a waste of time.
 
the only real discounts i've seen that are worth it - are overseas hotel discounts and cruise line discounts...we do fairly good on the hotel depending what specials they have and their online rates and the cruise discounts we do awesome on - at least 1/2 to 3/4 off of the regular price of a cruise... that's been the best discount so far...
 
Thanks. I was wondering if I lay over in a city, is my wife allowed to meet me there and stay in the hotel with me?
 
As far as I'm aware, there's no restriction on that. Of course, your first priority is work, and there's no guarantee that she (as a non-rev) will be able to travel on the flight you are crewing.

FL270
 
My husband and I used to go on each other's overnights all the time. (Before my furlough and our baby!) No hotel ever gave us any crap about it. However, actually having an overnight that's worth bringing a 'date' on is becoming a rarity! It seems like my husband's overnights have all become 12-hour nights, and not to mention what a pain non-reving has become!
 
if you ever land at PBI(west palm beach int) you can get a "pilots rate" at "cranes beach house" in delray. Its 3 blocks from the ocean and is set up like a hawaiian cabana type deal. all you show is your pilot cert and you get an awesome stay for dirt cheap. I got it as a private pilot....pretty cool eh.
 
The hotels you have to stay at while on your leg or trip (Sorry, what did you call it again?) are paid for though right? Are you just tlaking about hotels on your off time?
 
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if you ever land at PBI(west palm beach int) you can get a "pilots rate" at "cranes beach house" in delray. Its 3 blocks from the ocean and is set up like a hawaiian cabana type deal. all you show is your pilot cert and you get an awesome stay for dirt cheap. I got it as a private pilot....pretty cool eh.

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I'm so there! I have family down that direct that I'd like to party with.
 
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However, actually having an overnight that's worth bringing a 'date' on is becoming a rarity! It seems like my husband's overnights have all become 12-hour nights, and not to mention what a pain non-reving has become!

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Oh man, truer words have never been spoken!

Last overnight I brought a "date" on was a 28 hour BOS layover during Thanksgiving. After that, most of the trips weren't really worth the hassle of having to spend days stressing about loads and having to leave my "date" behind at the airport.

Non-revving looks good on paper, but I would't wish it on my worst enemies!
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But I've taken her to BOS, RNO, CVG and SNA in the past 5 years.
 
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The hotels you have to stay at while on your leg or trip (Sorry, what did you call it again?) are paid for though right? Are you just tlaking about hotels on your off time?

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When he's "on a trip" the layover hotels are paid for by the company and us spouses can stay overnight depending on the city, layover time and whether the spouse can get there and get home...

lately, it hasn't been worth it to fly with doug since all his layover's have been 12 hrs and under.. if he has a full day or a good 18-20 hr layover, then it's worth it to try and fly along - otherwise it's a pain in the rear end to make sure you can get to either the city or the flight he's flying on and then be able to do the same thing on the way back and/or home.

I haven't flown with doug all year cuz it's just been crappy schedule after crappy schedule and no good layovers or i couldn't get on either the flight there or the flight home... just not worth it...
 
Even if you look at a 12-hour layover, by the time the last passenger deplanes, you walk to the hotel van, check in and take off the 'flying monkey suit', it's about 45 minutes to an hour. Then you want at least (for me) about 7 hours of sleep, and if I get up an hour prior to pickup, I have about only three hours to go play -- depending on weather, the layover city and if you're near any amenities.
 
Well I am glad to hear it's paid for though! At first when I was reading I couldn't tell if that meant that even on layovers you have to pay for a hotel, if that was the case, that would be irritating!
 
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Well I am glad to hear it's paid for though! At first when I was reading I couldn't tell if that meant that even on layovers you have to pay for a hotel, if that was the case, that would be irritating!

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Oh man, don't give the evil airline CEO syndicate any ideas!
 
The last overnight of mine that I had a 'date' for was the summer of 2001. It was like the good old days, we had 23 hours in DCA, and we stayed at this beautiful hotel a few blocks from the White House. We went to the Air & Space Museum and walked along the mall, it was amazing. Loads were great, and he got to sit in First both ways. I actually held a great line with those same overnights the month of Sep 2001. Too bad I never got to fly any of those trips.

The last overnight I went with my husband anywhere was New Year's Eve last year. I met up with him in BOS, and I got there early enough to go with him on his PBI turn that he had to do before we went to the hotel. He had a pretty short night in BOS, we got in at 2230, and all he had to do the next day was deadhead back to CVG. Thankfully I still had my pass card from American, so we took AA direct back to ORD and came home early in the morning. (Loads were too heavy later in the day.) Even though it was a short night, it was New Year's Eve, and I didn't want to be alone! Besides, New Years is actually one of the easier holidays to non-rev on.
 
Man, I have homework to do. I need to go learn military hours and all the airport abbreviations. Lol.
 
yeah.. new years eve and the actual holidays themselves are the easier days out of the entire year to travel on... thanksgiving and xmas especially... but if you travel before or after - your in for a major shock and will most likely get stranded....
 
CVG = Cincinnati/N. Ketucky International
BOS = Boston Logan International
DCA = Washington National
AA = American Airlines
PBI = Guaranteed Passenger Proble....eerr, I mean West Palm Beach, FL
 
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