Crappy FBO's

[Texanflyboy]

Please indulge us with any FBO's that give the worst customer service. I fly to MDW every night and refuel at Atlantic and overheard one of the morning ladies complain about how "stupid" us freight pilots are. Plus...They won't lend a crew car for 10 minutes to get some food when both cars stay parked all freakin' night.

Anyway, I'm just venting b/c i'm forced to deal with it every night. I'm sure every freight pilot goes through this....any more stories out there? How about DSM? I've heard both those FBO's suck as well.

 

[SinglePliot135]

Flying Route 23 out of GRR? Quite a blast, eh? You should try harder to get one of those cars, White Castle really hits the spot at 2AM!!!

 

[rubicon789]

Please indulge us with any FBO's that give the worst customer service. I fly to MDW every night and refuel at Atlantic and overheard one of the morning ladies complain about how "stupid" us freight pilots are. Plus...They won't lend a crew car for 10 minutes to get some food when both cars stay parked all freakin' night.

Maybe it's just an Atlantic thing, because Atlantic in PHL are a$$'s also. They won't even let us freight guy's into the FBO after like 10pm. They say we trash the place which is total BS, because most freakin NetJet Pilots are slobs and leave all their trash all over the place like they own it. Sorry if your a NJ pilot who is considerate, I don't me to bash you but rub some of your manners off on them please.

 

[100fly]

Your right Rubicon. Freight Dogs get a bad rap because our aircraft look like they are abandonded although they prolly fly 100 hours a month, and because the pilots don't wear the uniform for most companies and can be confused as line personell. This is bs because most of the freight pilots are very respectful of the fbos and are good people who don't bitch near as much as the pilots who fly pax. We don't even get the red carpet, what's up with that? I like the red carpet. When I talk about freight pilots being good people, this doesn't include USC 184, he is disrespectful.

 

[rubicon789]

True, that guy's is a real duche. LOL

 

[chignutsak]

Wow is this typical? I can understand that some of the eqpt freight dawgs fly looks a little crappy, but are you guys really treated like scum? Where do you hang out all night if the c****s in the FBO throw you out?

 

[Lostdog65]

When you're thrown out of the FBO...well...the back of a 402 or BE99 is fairly comfortable if you have one of those egg crate pads...

(three years of sleeping in the back of 402's at KaiserAir in OAK talking here...)

Eric

 

[FracCapt]

I can't say I ever got tossed out of, or not allowed into, an FBO while I was flying freight for AMF or two other freight companies I worked for. The airplanes never looked good, but they always flew fine and brought me home. Well, one stranded me....but that's a whole different story.

As for the NJ guys being "slobs"...well, I can't say I agree with you(I've only met a few that were slobs and/or d!cks), and I've been working for one of their competitors for 6.5 years.

To the guy that stated that a BE99 is comfortable in the back....well, myself and several other guys put together hammocks that attached to the cargo net attach points, and would throw them up in the back and sleep in the airplane. A hammock was more comfortable than a recliner, especially when other pilots were coming into the FBO lounge while you were sleeping and turning on the TV, lights, whatever... I spent many days/nights sleeping in a hammock in the back of the airplane with a small battery operated radio playing some music to help drown out any airplane noise. Give it a try....you can buy a cheap hammock from Wal-Mart or Home Depot and rig it up to attach to the net attach points.

 

[Tug Driver]

If you take Fermin with you on route 23 he can usually sweet talk his way into the crew car. I think those Atlantic boys like him. You can also order pizza, good chi town deep dish.

 

[Ill Mitch]

When you're thrown out of the FBO...well...the back of a 402 or BE99 is fairly comfortable if you have one of those egg crate pads...

(three years of sleeping in the back of 402's at KaiserAir in OAK talking here...)

Eric

Yeah, Kaiser can be hit or miss. There is only one girl who consistantly treats me nice. I think I am in love.

 

[Lostdog65]

mitch...then check out fbohotties.com and see if she's there!

Yeah...sometimes KA is good with cars and stuff when I'm in the Charter uniform but when I'm freightdawged up, they tend to want you out of the line of sight of the high rollers. We (the company I work for) has been at KA since the early 90's so we're kinda like in-laws...didn't ask for them but stuck with them!

Eric

 

[fokkers&beer]

Byerly in PIA gets my vote as a freighter unfriendly place. Threatened to call the cops on me in the late 90's.

 

[Ill Mitch]

mitch...then check out fbohotties.com and see if she's there!

Already did, and she's not. Besides, I don't want dudes staring all over my future ex-wife. :0 Of course that means I need to do something about my present future ex-wife.

 

[buttercup]

Ah how bad can it be you get Atlantic bucks!!

 

[NorthShore]

Two words.

Prior Aviation (BUF)

 

[Midge]

Lousy FBO's

Try Midlantic Jet Aviation in ACY. They ought to be ashamed of themselves. The place is a Sh** hole! $$millionaires flying in and out of there to waste countless dollars in the casino's and the dump can't even have a decent fbo lounge, plus the people who work there are less than friendly!

 

[ksu_aviator]

Try Midlantic Jet Aviation in ACY. They ought to be ashamed of themselves. The place is a Sh** hole! $$millionaires flying in and out of there to waste countless dollars in the casino's and the dump can't even have a decent fbo lounge, plus the people who work there are less than friendly!

Midge, that whole post should be nominated for understatement of the year.

 

[shortbus driver]

The red carpet

i worked at an fbo for several years going through college and we had only 5 red carpets...we ruined one with a forklift and stopped putting them out for freight dawgs...not to mention we were working a little for tips too, the cars we would let anyone have...now i am a freightdawg, and i understand the lack of effort to help people who are there everyday...but usually we were pretty nice anyway

 

[idoitupsidedown]

i took my frieghtdogin' into Altlantic at midway a few weeks ago. no one was in there so i had to push the automatic doors open myself...not a problem, but i thought i was going to trip an alarm because of it (did not). also, when i was lookin for the line guy's in there lil' room by the door, the counter was littered w/ budweiser cans. i'm all for a good time, but i think that goes a bit beyond unprofesional. at least if i drink on the job, i toss the evidence out the storm window....:beer:

 

[AMRAAM]

Questionable FBOs

Mercury in Reno will hide the cookies when the box-haulers come in. I'm sure this is not the only place to deprive us of a healthy meal! I always felt less than welcome there.

 

[duc driver]

yea they started hiding the cookies from me when it became breakfast and lunch, although they did start putting them out again after i spent 1700 dollars on a de-ice. the pilot lounge is good for a kip too, its quite.

 

[NorthShore]

Not that they are crappy, but which FBO do people get better service from at PWK, North American or Signature?

 

[Dodge4SRT]

Yo Jake, how is that BE99 treating you??

 

[starcheck208]

everytime at atlantic mdw they tell me not to make a mess in the lounge. i'm sure nj pilots don't get that. i should get a little more respect after buying 100 gallons everytime i'm there at $4 a gallon or whatever they charge

 

[Texanflyboy]

I'm not on 23 this week, but I am flying with Fermin to MDW on 22....he can always sweet talk his way to a crew car! Looks like we'll be eating tonight!

 

[Princedietrich]

It's widely understood in the aviation world that unless your plane has an 8 digit pricetag and a pair of very large turbines on the tail, you WILL get treated like somethign that came out the back end of a sick dog. And heaven help you if you're a freight dawg. MillionAir at BKL won't even let us into the FBO despite fuel purchases and the -40 degree windchill blizards during winter. Atlantic in TEB treats us like 4th class citizens and yells at us for parking in the wrong spots, despite them being too lazy to marshal us in. Atlantic in MDW called the air[port police on one of our guys who just went in there to check the weather computer. ASIG in DTW won't let us in the lobby area or in the pilot lounge because we scare away other customers, even though it's 3am and we're the ONLY ones there.

Shall I go on?

 

[mu2cptn]

Business Jet Center in DAL used to do this to our company too, along with not turning on the heat in the pilots lounge since we were the only ones in there for 12a to 5a. The corporate office called the fbo and advised them that we purchased 10,000 gallos of jet A there a week which equated to 1.4 million dollars of fuel there a year. Needless to say the cookies and bagles were put out before we left in the morning.

Mercury in Reno will hide the cookies when the box-haulers come in. I'm sure this is not the only place to deprive us of a healthy meal! I always felt less than welcome there.

 

[imacdog]

That is too bad to hear that there are so many FBOs that don't treat freight pilots well. Where I worked, the FBOs were very good to us even though we wouldn't buy a lot of gas for our 310s. My favorite FBOs were Fargo Jet Center (regular stop) and the Million Air at St. Paul Downtown (alternate).

 

[leardawg]

Those stories of bad treatment by FBOs are pretty pathetic; don't these FBOs realize today's freight trash is quite possibly tomorrow's Gulfstream Captain? I remember a couple of places from my freight days that dished out similar treatment and attitudes, and I haven't forgotten. I make it a point to not give them any more business than I absolutely have to, from fuel purchase to coins in a vending machine. Business is business, and any savy manager would realize the un-wiseness of looking down their nose at any customer, big or small. Having said that, the vast majority of FBOs I passed through during those days didn't seem to discriminate (either everyone was treated like a valued customer, or everyone got sh***y service.) Most of the stories of discrminatory treatment seemed to involve particular individuals who were most likely despised by a majority of their co-workers, the Barney Fife/Frank Burns hybrids.

 

[troy]

We still have popcorn for all at FSD! And the new lobby is projected to be finished Apr-May timeframe. Stop in sometime. The new hanger is done, real nice and large, too. (bring your G5) Tell them Troy sent ya (like that would get you anywhere!)