Originally Posted by
B727DRVR
Hey UTR,
That’s a pretty accurate description of our operational tempo and hotel life. The only amendment that I would like to make is that we
GET to pick our hotels, rather than being forced to... A Netjets pilot walked up to us and said... “You guys HAVE to pick your hotels, huh”, and then one one thousand, two one thousand.. wait of it.. “You guys GET to pick your own hotels.... That’s pretty awesome”.
This is the first place that I have had that option and love it. Believe me that I would never go back to having my hotels selected by scheduling that got the contract by cutting out free breakfast; Been there done it..
Great idea about the FlightAware tracking
Truth in advertising:
Yes, you get/have to pick your own hotels. Sounds great at first until you land someplace busy and can't find a hotel room under your FE cap of $135 per night. You then call dispatch and they suddenly can find you a hotel, but it is 50 miles away and only $400/night (same room I found). OK, book it for me and I'll take that Uber for an hour. Not a problem until the next day when you have to show for a flight......and you take another Uber ride back that wasn't counted for in your show time (travel local in nature)....
It's all how you make it.....some guys are Marriott guys (Bonvoy) and some guys are Hilton (Hilton Honors) guys, so there is always a discussion about "where do you want to go"......
Some guys are misers and want to "help the company out" and stay at a cheap hotel and some guys are willing to blow all of the money "as long as we are close".....
I guess that is all how you perceive it but I would rather have a contract that states they will book the hotel for me as long as it is within acceptable limits.....Those limits change as hotels are reviewed by the pilots...
I would rather have a licensed dispatcher that professionally dispatches my trips and provides me with weight and balance, V-Speeds, Pax names and DOBs along with their weights (goes back to that W&B). Weather, NOTAMS, etc, etc. I honestly think that could allow them to fly the pilots more efficiently which is good for a small company looking to scoop up low hanging fruit.
Don't forget, your dispatch has a board on the wall that tracks sales. When I saw that room, and especially that board, it made me understand what your dispatch is REALLY there for......
Shall we talk about your 401K now? Want to know Mike's response to "when are you going to increase the 401K"?
How your PTO accrual?
How your healthcare and dental care?
Did we talk about your crew meal policy and how dispatch interprets that?
