Wow Toilet, quite a diatribe there. Must have been up most of night banging that one out

Seriously though, despite the fact that I rarely agree with you, I agree with you here. The FAA is famous for interpreting the rules to their full advantage. I also agree with some of your examples of what seem like, on the surface at least, to be clear cases of illegal flight for hire. But the truth of the matter is that all of your examples are scenarios that the FAA has dealt with and ruled on and precedent has been set. So your strongly worded letter, while nice, would not have a leg to stand on.

You posted a letter from the FAA which very clearly showed an interpretation of the rules for flying for "compensation or hire". While you may not agree with it, that is how the FAA interprets it and how they have consistently interpreted it. While it may seem like you get the blow off or a wishy-washy answer when you call the FAA asking them a question in passing, I can GUARANTEE you that if you ended up in court or in front of an administrative law judge you would get a concrete answer from the FAA. And it would be somewhere along the lines of how they have ALWAYS interpreted the rules governing flying for compensation or hire.

Lets be realistic here. If you fly for a 121 or 135 carrier where there are set limits on the amount of flying you can do for hire in a year you are opening yourself up to a HOST of grey areas and interpretations of regulations from both the company AND the FAA that have HISTORICALLY and with multiple precedents set that are NOT in your favor. So I would ask "Why bother?" Just for a few lousy hours in a 172? Maybe a couple hundred bucks? You would expose yourself to possible litigation, termination from your airline employment and possible certificate action? You may think you're right but you are not the FAA and you are not an ALJ. So if a few hours extra in your logbook or a couple hundred extra bucks in your pocket are worth a sticky situation and a long, protracted legal battle with an aviation lawyer (who are rare, therefore expensive) then go for it. Personally, I wouldn't touch that mess with a 10 foot pole.