Overnights?
10-11-2025 | 01:00 PM
#1
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Overnights?
Coming from 121 where we have short / medium / long stay hotels for overnights…. Curious if you ever get any long layovers and if you stay in nice hotels (downtown)?
Are the layovers better for a specific fleet vs another?
Are the layovers better for a specific fleet vs another?
10-19-2025 | 06:22 AM
#2
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I'm on the Praetor. I doubt that the Phenom/Challenger are very different, but ILC is probably completely different.
I like working at Flexjet, and I think they treat us well. But the overnights are definitely a very weak area compared to a major.
The hotel will almost always be a pilot prison near the airport. Sometimes, when they have no choice, you luck into staying in what passes for small-town downtown. I'd guess that happens to me maybe 5 times a year. Once in a blue moon you might stay in a nice resort in someplace like Cabo because you have an early live leg the next day and the less-nice resorts are full.
Unfortunately, even with a long overnight they'll keep us on hotel reserve for the full 12 hours in case something pops up. You might be "finished" in TEB at 14:00 and think "great, I can go into the city!" -- but you still theoretically need to be wheels-up 90 minutes from a phone call, and that might last until 21:00 depending on when you started your day. So although long overnights do happen, the circumstances in which you can actually (legally) do anything with them are pretty rare.
Even if I'm babysitting a broken airplane, they _still_ have me on hotel 90 the whole day. Maybe another crew will call sick or fatigued; maybe the plane will magically get fixed early; maybe they'll airline you to another plane? They want to keep their options open, and that keeps you more-or-less tethered to the hotel area.
Very very occasionally the situation is so obvious that I can go do something in the confidence that I won't be called, despite still being on duty. I've been in Aspen on an afternoon where the winds would never allow a takeoff, so I went on a long hike. Or in the Caribbean with an early live leg the next morning, and no other Flexjets on the island, so the odds of the plan changing are low (but not zero!). This is nice, but rare.
On the other hand, at least FBO reserve is practically unheard of. You may still be on duty, but at least you're cut loose so long as you stay nearby.
In my experience, we go to some pretty neat places, and almost never get a chance to enjoy them. If I could change one thing about the job, it would probably be that.
I like working at Flexjet, and I think they treat us well. But the overnights are definitely a very weak area compared to a major.
The hotel will almost always be a pilot prison near the airport. Sometimes, when they have no choice, you luck into staying in what passes for small-town downtown. I'd guess that happens to me maybe 5 times a year. Once in a blue moon you might stay in a nice resort in someplace like Cabo because you have an early live leg the next day and the less-nice resorts are full.
Unfortunately, even with a long overnight they'll keep us on hotel reserve for the full 12 hours in case something pops up. You might be "finished" in TEB at 14:00 and think "great, I can go into the city!" -- but you still theoretically need to be wheels-up 90 minutes from a phone call, and that might last until 21:00 depending on when you started your day. So although long overnights do happen, the circumstances in which you can actually (legally) do anything with them are pretty rare.
Even if I'm babysitting a broken airplane, they _still_ have me on hotel 90 the whole day. Maybe another crew will call sick or fatigued; maybe the plane will magically get fixed early; maybe they'll airline you to another plane? They want to keep their options open, and that keeps you more-or-less tethered to the hotel area.
Very very occasionally the situation is so obvious that I can go do something in the confidence that I won't be called, despite still being on duty. I've been in Aspen on an afternoon where the winds would never allow a takeoff, so I went on a long hike. Or in the Caribbean with an early live leg the next morning, and no other Flexjets on the island, so the odds of the plan changing are low (but not zero!). This is nice, but rare.
On the other hand, at least FBO reserve is practically unheard of. You may still be on duty, but at least you're cut loose so long as you stay nearby.
In my experience, we go to some pretty neat places, and almost never get a chance to enjoy them. If I could change one thing about the job, it would probably be that.
10-20-2025 | 03:26 PM
#4
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Do you guys have briefed show time? If yes can they call you prior to that time?
At the other frac, they often give us show time that is 1-1.5 hours before the flight. So if they bring us to Bermudas in the afternoon and the next flight is not until say 2pm tomorrow then we basically have a 20ish hours overnight and they are not allowed to call us earlier even if something changes while we're at rest.
Obviously, that wouldn't happen at TEB or PBI where we'd be on duty until we time out but it does happen a lot at the outstations.
At the other frac, they often give us show time that is 1-1.5 hours before the flight. So if they bring us to Bermudas in the afternoon and the next flight is not until say 2pm tomorrow then we basically have a 20ish hours overnight and they are not allowed to call us earlier even if something changes while we're at rest.
Obviously, that wouldn't happen at TEB or PBI where we'd be on duty until we time out but it does happen a lot at the outstations.
01-09-2026 | 05:35 PM
#5
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Joined: May 2015
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Yes, we have a showtime for the next day. However theyll keep you on duty as long as they can, and as long as you're on duty, you are liable for anything that comes up, which includes notifications of duty changes for the next day.
So you could land at 1400 with a noon show for a 1300 go....
But your duty off tonight says 2000 (and they do this 95% of the time no matter if you're in TEB, PBI, NAS, or Kearney Nebraska.)
And then at 1915, ding dong, you now have a 0600 show tomorrow.
So yes, once you go a minute past your published duty off time, your show time is what it is.
But brother good luck keeping that sweet 20 hour overnight if you're still on duty. LOL
So you could land at 1400 with a noon show for a 1300 go....
But your duty off tonight says 2000 (and they do this 95% of the time no matter if you're in TEB, PBI, NAS, or Kearney Nebraska.)
And then at 1915, ding dong, you now have a 0600 show tomorrow.
So yes, once you go a minute past your published duty off time, your show time is what it is.
But brother good luck keeping that sweet 20 hour overnight if you're still on duty. LOL
01-11-2026 | 08:18 PM
#6
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Yeah overnights are probably the worst part of FlexJet. All the other comments are right. You’ll see the world from a hotel room. I don’t get how the old guys do it. Sitting in a hotel room isn’t unbearable for me because I have a gaming laptop and an Xbox I bring on the road with me so I can easily kill the time. I’d go nuts if I was one of these 70 year old ex airline guys probably just sitting there watching the crappy hotel cable.
I’ve had success a few times with having Flight Comms give me an early duty off so I could actually go out and venture around, but don’t count on it at all.
I’ve had success a few times with having Flight Comms give me an early duty off so I could actually go out and venture around, but don’t count on it at all.
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