Brokers-Scum of the Earth or necessary evil?

[BayBum37ft]

I have been in the 135 world for a few years now and all I hear is how the tips have all but disappeared. Some have suggested that the brokers ask the client if they want to add a tip to the bill which of course we never get, just 100% profit for the broker. And whats with all the freakin catering the brokers order and expect us to put some where in the plane with 8 pax 3 dogs and all their crap and 9 boxes of catering. And whats with ordering dinner entrees that require heating? Have these brokers ever seen a corporate jet or do they just sit behind their computers in their garage office in their underwear all day. Some of these clients act like children on spring break, trash the plane on a 4 hour flight, spill wine every where and rub food into the carpet and then barely say Thanks. You meet so few nice people you actually remember them.
If the PAX only knew how poorly we are paid and how tired we are.
Thoughts?

 

[minitour]

I try not to take it personally. If i manage a tip, great. More often than not, I'm just as happy to get a look in the eye, a handshake and a thank you.

If there's catering we do what we can to make room. If there's lots of bags, we put what we can on the plane. If they trash the cabin, we do what we can and then call a cleaner.

Normally, I'm just glad to see the plane being utilized.

-mini

 

[G-force]

Scum!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I have been in the 135 world for a few years now and all I hear is how the tips have all but disappeared. Some have suggested that the brokers ask the client if they want to add a tip to the bill which of course we never get, just 100% profit for the broker. And whats with all the freakin catering the brokers order and expect us to put some where in the plane with 8 pax 3 dogs and all their crap and 9 boxes of catering. And whats with ordering dinner entrees that require heating? Have these brokers ever seen a corporate jet or do they just sit behind their computers in their garage office in their underwear all day. Some of these clients act like children on spring break, trash the plane on a 4 hour flight, spill wine every where and rub food into the carpet and then barely say Thanks. You meet so few nice people you actually remember them.
If the PAX only knew how poorly we are paid and how tired we are.
Thoughts?

I would call them "scum of the earth"types for the reasons you have already mentioned!!!!!!!!!!

 

[rettofly]

Some of these clients act like children on spring break, trash the plane on a 4 hour flight, spill wine every where and rub food into the carpet and then barely say Thanks. You meet so few nice people you actually remember them.
Thoughts?

Working in frax, I found that share owners were much less likely to trash the airplane or clean out the stock on arrival than the card holders.

 

[logjammer]

Scum! You hit the nail on the head BayBum. I could write a book with all the broker nonsense. It seems every trip is F'd in some major way. I dread every call.

 

[TransMach]

Brokers

My favorite part about brokers is when they go to book the trip we require payment. Yes, REQUIRE payment. No payment, the airplane doesn't move.

The brokers are austounded! "What, we have to pay before you fly!" "Yes, it's the only way, here's our wiring instructions". "We can't do that, what if you break down?" "If we breakdown, which never happens, we can refund your money. If we fly the trip and you don't pay, you can't refund the trip."

"Well", the broker says, "Then we will just have to find another operator who WANTS to do this trip". "Yes sir/mam, if you won't pay for the trip before it goes with us, you'll just have to find another operator who will extend $100,000 (plus) credit to you because we won't."

"Fine ... "

The phone rings about three hours later ... "What were your wiring instructions again?" "Sorry, the airpane is no longer available. It's been booked through a portion of your trips's periond, sorry."

"What, that can't be!"

"Sorry ... "

TransMach

 

[timmay]

Had a broker call the other day for a heavy jet one way mia-vny. Sent quote get a call back saying "yeah thanks for the quote but we really need to be at 20k what else can you do for us".

Are people seriously chartering heavy airplanes one way for 4k an hour? I don't get it.

 

[StarHustler]

Scum of the Earth! I could elaborate but why bother, anyone that deals with them knows they make a used car salesman look like a saint.

 

[hawkerflyer]

Did the 135 thing, both pax and freight. Saw the absolute worst of the worst in brokers. Nothing more than used car salesmen, but the operators are just as bad. To me it's a pick 'em, with the operator winning it by a nose.

 

[jonjuan]

Had a broker call the other day for a heavy jet one way mia-vny. Sent quote get a call back saying "yeah thanks for the quote but we really need to be at 20k what else can you do for us".

Are people seriously chartering heavy airplanes one way for 4k an hour? I don't get it.

http://www.xojet.com/

 

[whatfuelpolicy]

The 135 Operators need to push the Feds to require brokers to have some sort of certification. The industry needs to weed out the bottom feeders that only want to pay light jet one way pricing for a Global 5000 round trip to Europe. The operator I work for has stopped quoting the bottom feeders and if everyone else will jump on board, eventually, the bottom feeders will go away. On the flip-side, there are some crap-hole operators that are whoring out their aircraft and crews and catering to the bottom feeding brokers. STOP IT.

Many brokers are advertising that they are an operator and their clients are none the wiser. I recently had a group of pax that asked when "broker's name" got the CL300 that they were on. They were surprised and upset when they learned that "broker" did not own or operate our CL300.

 

[pilotyip]

hey if you expect nothing; you can never be disappointed

 

[pilothouston123]

Brokers, Management companies, all Charge for what I as an avation director do for my boss. We have 12 aircraft and I love my job. I must wear many different hats including PIC but knowing I saved our company over a milllion dollars over the past 2 years gives me great satisfaction. Not to mention I just picked out our new G4.

 

[BayBum37ft]

Once again a broker has brought lying to a new level. We picked up 8 pax and enough suit cases to start a department store and the lead pax was told by the broker that they got an upgrade to the X. What other plane is below a X that can carry 8 pax and bags on a 3 hour flight?

 

[Woodstockpal]

1 used car salesman + 1 pimp = charter broker

 

[BobbyB623]

While I wouldn't disagree that there are some bad brokers out there, all brokers shouldn't be lumped into this category. There are good ones out there. And, to some extent, the operators are responsible for the current behavior of the broker. By joining the availability aggregators (CharterX, Avinode, etc.), regularly making availability known and marketing empty-legs, the operators have effectively commoditized the industry. It is no longer about relationships, but about the lowest price you can get for a specific flight. Each flight is now a commodity and open to haggling on price. This is what drives the greed mentality, which in turn spurs on the bottomfeeders.