FBOs--best features??

[CounterGirl]

Hi everyone!

I just got promoted to a supervisor position at my FBO. The company as a whole is looking to make some improvements, and it's my main objective to gather ideas and implement ways on how to better serve the crews and passengers. I talk to flight crews on a daily basis and know that you guys/gals are a wealth of information when it comes to this sort of thing, so I just wanted to know what specific services/features you would like to see at an FBO? What would make you choose to go to one FBO over another, or keep you going back as a regular customer? What can we offer you--the flight crews--on your layover time that would be a stand-out feature?

I work at a busy FBO that mostly deals with private, corporate, and fractional aircraft. Any ideas or direction is appreciated--thanks in advance!!!

 

[ALASKAN AVIATOR]

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[English]

Are you in PHX?

 

[CF34-3B1]

I always thought the single most important feature of a high quality FBO is a hot looking girl behind the counter in a little black dress and high heels.

 

[340drvr]

Maybe your FBO already has this, but...
My favorites always have a separate "nap" lounge or quiet room, different from the pilot lounge with the TV, WSI weather computer, etc.

 

[MooseTrax]

Free T-shirts, free food, and free Baskin Robin's (sp?) ice cream.........the hot girl that CF34-3B1 mentioned wouldn't hurt.
Regards,

 

[Lear2460]

Fbo's....

Heard through the grapevine:

Pilots want to be greeted. On the ramp and through the door to the FBO. Now...they don't want to have you "in their face", but want to know you know they are their and to provide them with what they need.

Now on the greeting: Ok....the fact is, FOR NOW (all you women reading this) the majority of pilots are of male orientation. If they can see a good looking woman marshall them in on the ramp, the better. If you were a man, after a long haul, being a air taxi for that arrogant ceo, would you rather see a cute girl, or some guy that reeks of ramp grunge and has a mullet? (EMPHASIS ON THE IF YOU WERE A MAN)

The counter greeting: Ok....they want to see a goodlooking woman here too. It might just make their day a bit better to see a smiling face, and a pretty face. Also gives them something to do...flirt a bit and take up some of the time waiting for that arrogant CEO to get done with the meeting you ferried him to.

FOOD: Okay..if you can have a batch of cookies at the counter, thats a plus. Also, popcorn (although seeing and smelling so much as virtually ruined the movie theatre gotta have popcorn thing) is a good thing.

KNOW WHERE THE GOOD EATS AND BARS ARE: Good steak places ( and not just the OUTBACKS ), and good bars. And..not just drinking places.....BARS...A.K.A, STRIP CLUBS....... know where they are, and you just might get a tip!

COURTESY VEHICLES:
Have one in working condition, that does not have a sticky steering wheel.....have MAPS to area places!

Take the pain out of rental cars, catering, and hotel reservations for them.....and their PAX. They work their @ss of to get the plane in on time and that the travel is well...nothing like getting to the airport and the rental car not be there....and make that arrogant ceo late for his million dollar meeting. If you dont have a rental car, someone at the FBO take them to the meeting..in the end, it will be for the best.

TAKE CARE OF THE UNICOM
Know how to give airport advisories, and all that jazz. When a pilot calls for a quick turn 15 minutes out....get the line out on the ramp. Now....we know not always will this work, but when it does, you will have happy pilots, and happy PAX.

Have a nice lounge, and pilots lounge for them to crash in. Make sure the area is halfway neat, and try and get some magazines other the AOPA, and Business Aviaiton, and all the freebie crap that comes to the FBO.

There is so much to do that could make an FBO a winner. Know normally I have seen it is the small stuff that matters..not so much the large stuff.....

I could go on and on.......

Consistancy is the key also....good service not most of the time, but all the time. Now of course, this is in a perfect world!!


Cheers!

 

[TurboS7]

When I pull up to your ramp it will be in a 737-800. First we want service, simple stuff, belt loaders, stairs, lots of people to keep the busses from running into our airplane. Get us unloaded quickly and get us on our way. If we are staying overnight picking the crew up at the airplane and running us to the hotel is a great help. Inside the FBO, popcorn, weather, free food, and some place to park cranky flight attendants. Pilots love to watch airplanes, FA's want to watch soap operas. All our fuel will be contract fuel but we don't mind paying resonable ramp and handling fees about $1000.00 per flight. Be friendly and help us get our job done which is basically getting the customer where they want to go quickly. Customers hate airports so they want to be out of there in a hurry, both coming and going.

 

[bobbysamd]

FBOs

Cheap fuel, if such a thing is possible these days.

Competently manned UNICOM, as mentioned above.

Courteous and prompt line service. Someone who will wipe down the windscreen of the 172 in which I'm flying a student without having to be asked and without sniffing their noses because I'm not a Lear.

Cleanliness inside the FBO. Clean restrooms. I recall being in a dump or two. It doesn't have to be walnut-paneled upscale corporate, but it shouldn't be like the corner Conoco station, either.

Alright, cute marshallers are nice, too. The ones at Flower Aviation in Pueblo years ago were babes.

 

[banned username 2]

Good Service and free food...

There are several FBO's we use that you buy X number of gallons and they buy the crew lunch... Sounds like a deal to me!

Also...

-non-aviation related mags
-WSI Weather
-HIGH SPEED INTERNET ACCESS
-Enough courtesy cars (in good working order) for the amount of traffic you get on an average day.


(edited to add more stuff from other peoples ideas)

 

[generaltso]

HIGH SPEED INTERNET ACCESS IN THE PILOT LOUNGE!!!

 

[Diesel]

how about a crew lounge where pax aren't allowed. Drives me nuts when we get to an fbo and the tv room is full of pax. Sometimes you just want to kick back undo your tie and take a nap.

Also if you have satelite tv don't be cheap and have the ghetto subscription. It sucks when your flipping through the channels and 90 percent of them are blocked because there is no subscription.

Anybody remember when we had the signature satelite tv in BOS hooked up to get free pay per view?

 

[ILLINI]

A seperate lounge for the pilots with:
-satellite television
-a DVD player or VCR with a good selection of movies
-non-aviation related mags
-WSI Weather
-HIGH SPEED INTERNET ACCESS
-a seperate quiet room with fat comfy Lazy Boy recliners and a couple comfortable couches long enough for a person 6'3" tall
-a work out room with a universal gym and a cross trainer
-a clean bathroom with shower
-a practice putting green
-a pool table

A pretty face with a smile behind the counter that knows the area and can recommend several different resteraunts etc...

Friendly staff

Enough courtesy cars (in good working order) for the amount of traffic you get on an average day.

Freebies for the crews are always nice wether it be food, steaks, bottles of wine, t-shirts, hats, ...whatever as long as it isn't crap.

And finally, cleanliness is very important!!! I've seen many FBOs that could use a renovation BAD!

 

[350DRIVER]

I just got promoted to a supervisor position at my FBO. The company as a whole is looking to make some improvements, and it's my main objective to gather ideas and implement ways on how to better serve the crews and passengers. I talk to flight crews on a daily basis and know that you guys/gals are a wealth of information when it comes to this sort of thing, so I just wanted to know what specific services/features you would like to see at an FBO? What would make you choose to go to one FBO over another, or keep you going back as a regular customer? What can we offer you--the flight crews--on your layover time that would be a stand-out feature?

Congrats on the promotion, I am sure you are deserving of it and it was justified. I would concentrate on "service" and doing the job to the best of your ability and trying to go the extra mile to make sure it is a "good" experience for all involved. I will always go to Signature Flight Support since I truly feel that they have the best features for the flight crews regardless of the fees that they charge. Jet in TEB also has the "good stuff" . Sometimes it is the "small" things that stand out in my mind, don't try too too hard since that is just as bad sometimes as not trying to make the crews happy.

Pilots want to be greeted. On the ramp and through the door to the FBO. Now...they don't want to have you "in their face", but want to know you know they are their and to provide them with what they need.

I think this is correct to a certain extent but the number one priority is making sure the fbo is able to get the job done right the first time. Signature LAS MKE BOS ORD always stand out in my mind for the good job that they do time after time.

Now on the greeting: Ok....the fact is, FOR NOW (all you women reading this) the majority of pilots are of male orientation. If they can see a good looking woman marshall them in on the ramp, the better. If you were a man, after a long haul, being a air taxi for that arrogant ceo, would you rather see a cute girl, or some guy that reeks of ramp grunge and has a mullet? (EMPHASIS ON THE IF YOU WERE A MAN)

Looks mean absolutely nothing, we are looking for one thing and that is to see that the FBO is doing the job correctly and to the best of there ability.

Good luck to you on the promotion...

3 5 0

 

[CounterGirl]

Thanks for the congrats!

I know that good and prompt service is number 1, and we seem to have that down (consistency is the key on that one--we're working on it!), as well as the other basics. I have a great team of CSRs, and we work with what we've got. Unfortunately, I can't change big things like the fuel prices, nor would I put the girls outside in tiny black dresses (it's Arizona for goodness sakes--we'll melt!), but we can certainly offer things like free lunch for fuel and a DVD player in the crew lounge. It's the little, unique things that I'm hoping will make us stand out--aside from our awesome customer service.

So free food/snacks, maybe some girls as ramp greeters/marshallers (we've been seriously considering this anyway), freebies, and a technologically advanced crew lounge--that's good stuff!

Looks mean absolutely nothing, we are looking for one thing and that is to see that the FBO is doing the job correctly and to the best of there ability.

Right on, 3 5 0. Don't get me wrong, I think we've got a good looking staff, and I know that's important. However, a cute girl is no good if it takes the length of a Justin Timberlake song to figure out the answer to "is your Jet A premixed?" or who forgets to tell the line guys that you want a quick turn. If one of my employees is hot AND competent, then great! But competence comes first.


CG

 

[Mongolikecandy]

Free shuttle runs to BisonWitches would be nice.

 

[English]

The "other" FBO on the field has 4 crew cars, and yours only has one. How 'bout another crew car or two?

 

[Gulfstream 200]

dont have a slew of rampers swarming our pax and airplane...its just adds to confusion. We will take care of the pax.
Dont disappear with the pax, this is when we NEED you! (fuel orders, catering, hangars,etc.) Just ask "what can we do to get you to your hotel ASAP"

And PLEASE...have the rental car info printed and ready to go. Dont call Avis across the field AFTER we get there and hope Julio can bring a car by in the next 30 mins...that sux.

Oh, a suggestion on marketing....Pilots are weird. If you offer ANYTHING free - especially like a nasty frozen steak or similar - pilots will think they really got something and will be very loyal. The only one I really liked was when Flower gave bottles of wine out. Now theres a reason to buy as much gas as possible...I dont care what the price is....It just felt great to score 3-4 bottles of $4 wine..

 

[Brett Hull]

Two words: Massage Chairs.

 

[Lear2460]

Bathrooms....

One thing that is important, well, very important for women. I recently was on a trip on saturday, and went to use the facilities. I guess I should have checked, but I didn't. I went ahead and did my business (thank god it was only number 1) and there was NOtoilet paper. IN ANY OF THE STALLS.

I grabbed a piece of paper from my purse and used that. Now, I am thinking of the PAX that has paid good money for jet charter, or something along that lines, they come in to use the restroom, and there is no toilet paper after the fact..that is pretty bad.

I guess it takes one small thing to make a big impression.....and my impression on that FBO was not a very good one. Mistakes happen, but at 3 in the afternoon, I am sure the girls at the desk have used the restroom by then....

I agree with having good CSR's over hot ones. I do think the better they look, it is a plus. You can see just by the first few posts on this thread....its a plus. Men like women, FREE food, FREE stuff, and DVD's and other cool gadgets. We had hired a beautiful girl to run the desk on the weekends, but it did not last long. She was "dumber than a box of rocks".lets just say, some people cannot multi-task beyond one thing. But SHE WAS beautiful. And the pilots liked her, but that quickly faded when you had to tell her your tail number 5 times over, and you heard her try and use unicom, and it just didn't comeout right. She will do well somewhere, just not behind the desk at a FBO.


Cheers

 

[TurboS7]

Yes, girl after my own heart. They call me Captain TP at my airline. I am always concerned that we will run out of TP, I have been known to run into the bathroom and rip off the local latrine-(maybe some of our FA's got there just before you did) If you have a full 737-800 with 173 mixed male and female you will use 1 roll of TP for every 300 nautical miles. That means on a five hour trip you must have 7 rolls to complete the trip. I once refused to pushback because we didn't have any TP on board, when I wrote up the delay my did that cause a some yelling and screaming-hence the name captain TP.

 

[flywithastick]

First of all, congratulations. Your employer is lucky to have someone truly interested in pleasing the customer.

I've got a little different take on the deal. Being a bug-smasher owner/operator, I'd rather get a fair deal on the fuel. You can keep all the fluff, food and other unnecessary stuff.

All I really need when I stop, in decreasing importance:

Fuel - I usually fill the plane because I don't want someone banging it up. If you must, use one of those pads over the filler opening (a very considerate precaution) and be careful around *my* plane.

Weather/flight info - get a real terminal for checking wx, etc. I stopped at an FBO (Pittsburg, MO I believe) on the way to OSH last week that had some kind of d@mn farmers weather info terminal! Useless! Had to call the FSS.

Candy/Drink/Snack machines - Must have ones that take bills, or someone around with change.

Bathroom - always found them at least reasonably clean and airconditioned.

Couch or recliners - Usually don't hang around long enough to use, but do occasionally. Have some mags around other than the free ones offering multi million dollar jets for sale. That's entertaining for about 15-20 seconds.

You've already got the best thing going to be a successful business - a good attitude! Keep it, work on the other details, and I bet you/the FBO will be very successful.

 

[sky37d]

A great attitude, a friendly face. Doesn't have to be female, though that is a preference. I go into TEB frequently, and the folks at MillionAir are very friendly. We usually have a ton of luggage, and they bring a cart to the plane to help unload.


CLEAN. Signature and MillionAir at MDW have that down. Especially the rest rooms. Seperate area for flight planning so you don't disturb someone who's trying to get in some snooze time.

High speed internet access, with a printer, and not blocked to every website except DUATS. Exec air at SYR has slow speed, a printer that always seems to be broken, and every website blocked except duats. I like to use weather channel, or AOPA weather to look out ahead. WSI or DTN would be helpful.

Crew Cars. It doesn't help if you have the cheapest fuel on the field, if we have to rent a car to get a cheeseburger. Had that happen at GVQ.

AIRNAV. List your fuel prices there, guarantee them. A lot of FBO's do, Presidential at SFM does. There's 4 airports within 20 miles, and they are all $$ more than Presidential. It helps them get business. The reviews there will help you or hurt you.

 

[HAZ-MAT]

Whatever you decide to add to make the FBO more appealing... please, plllllllllleeeeeeeeaaaaaaaasssssssseeeee.... Dont kick us Freight Dawgs out

 

[labbats]

I think a seperate pilot area is the most important. Not on a snooty level, but I worked in an FBO for a while, and that seemed to be all the pilots' main attention. Getting upstairs and away from everyone for a bit. Seemed to lighten them up.

Also, we as pilots need to use caution on out calls. Saying "XXX unicom, cessna 555 downwind runway 12", etc, when you should be saying "XXX area traffic" instead of "XXX unicom".

After scrambling to the radio 10 or so times in one day, you start to tune it out. If you hear someone using this, please let them know it's screwing up your quick service.

 

[TurboS7]

They'll build a shack in the back of the hangar for the freight dogs.....old couch, porno movies, old dirty mags, and the like. They can put the day old popcorn in there too.

 

[labbats]

Throw in an air hockey table and I'm there.

 

[CounterGirl]

Lots of great suggestions....Thanks!

Looks like bathrooms and crew cars are pretty high on the list. Our bathrooms are nice and get checked often, but we do really need another crew car. English--I'm working on it! Oh yeah, and good non-aviation magazines--I hadn't though of that. A pool table or air hockey table might be do-able too.

Flywithastick: thanks for your list--it's very helpful. You'll be pleased to know that we do use wingmats!

By the way, we try to roll out the red carpet for everyone, from the freight dogs to the 172s. I think that's good business--to treat everyone like an important customer. You never know who will step out of the airplane....

....Did someone mention Bison Witches???? Now THAT'S a winner!

CG

 

[Flechas]

congrats! im sure you will do a great job, you seem to care about it.

-what you mentioned last is very important i think, treat everybody like an important customer, i hate it when i go to an FBO and don't get good customer service because i flew in a C-172, or because i'm not getting any fuel that day. but you can be sure that if you treat me good, next time i have to stop at your airport to get fuel i'll buy it from you.
-don't charge a landing fee, happened to me in SAV, and only flew in to pick up some people, didn't stay for more than half an hour. now, ask me if i'll ever go to that FBO. on the other hand i had to divert to stuart due to weather and had the best FBO experience ever. even after i told them that i didn't need fuel they ofeered me free cookies and coffee, and said that i was welcome to stay in the launge as long as i wanted, with free pay per view and all the good stuff(good WX computers, hig speed internet....)
- i could go forever, but the more welcome you make the piot feel, the better for the business, because we will come back to your FBO in our next trip.

good luck and keep up the good work, and please let me know if you know of anyone needing a pilot