Originally Posted by KiloAlpha
Often, CFI's who charge appropriately for their time are thought to be overcharging their students. In my opinion, all CFI's should charge for the following times, not just hobbs time: preflight briefing, the walk out the the airplane, preflight inspection (if not already completed by student), hobbs time, time to walk to building from airplane after lesson
Unfortunately, lots of not-so-scrupulous CFI's also charge for the time they're standing inside out of the cold while their student is pre-flighting the airplane and also while they are in the restroom after the flight while their student is tying down the wings. There are a lot of great CFIs and a lot of crap people who have a CFI certificate. I think you only should be billed for the time when the instructor is actually doing his/her job. This does include time when they are readily available for assistance, such as when they are standing by the airplane while the student preflights.