On the road questions...

[prpjt]

We're a small operation and we do things pretty much like the others.

Hotel- Hilton, Marriott, Embassy

Absolutely no room sharing.

It is very rare that we are on an airline. When we do, it's the cheap seats. If I were going overseas to look at a plane or something I'd upgrade.

Company credit card with no limitations. I imagine that if we were hitting it for $300 dinners every night that would change. The occasional high dollar meal with a good bottle of wine has never raised any eyebrows.

Shared rent car.

 

[501261]

What kind of hotels do you guys stay in while on the road?

Upscale, but not luxury, usually Hiltons or Westins

Does your boss expect you to share a room with the other pilot?

Share a room? You can't be serious, maybe if my wife's coming along I MIGHT share a room .

When you get airlined, is it customary to fly in first or business class seat or do you go in the back? Does it even matter?

Over 5 hours, or international- business class or better. Does it matter no, not really unless you're doing a bunch of international repositioning of crews. With all the RJ's out there it's almost impossible to get first class anyway, and even if you find a domestic first fare, all it takes is one missed connection and the "next available" flight will probably be on an RJ.

Per diem vs. company credit card? Which one do you prefer?

Company Card, you're supposed to pay taxes on per diem .

Do you share a rental car with the other guy or do each of you rent your own?

Usually share (we're going to the same place normally), but not a problem to get two if needed.

 

[xdrvr]

DONT ever agree to sharing rooms, that will set the (low) benchmark and who knows what the owner will start asking for next.. We usually stay at the Hiltons or Marriotts -- get yourself enrolled in the frequent guest programs --even if you find a chain that you don't stay in a lot... still enroll a lot of them can be transferred to airlines miles. My family reaps the rewards --free vacations and nights in nice hotels. My wife took charge of this --I guess it helps the downside of being away from home all of the hotels that I stay at with the exception of Hilton and Marriott get converted into airline points.

We fly coach and direct if we can help it. It's a rev ticket so you sit where you would normally sit. Is it just me or do the FA's treat you better if you arent in uniform? haha! oh ya I'm an elite memb with AWA so I get free upgrades if avail --so far have been pretty lucky in that dept. Print your boarding pass and get seat assignment the night before -- I always try for an aisle, NEVER check your bags and exit rows are good for long legs (yours and the route)

Per diem (higher if we're out of the country even Mexico) and we have a company card --but the per diem overrides meal expenses vs company card. Airline tickets, recurrent expenses -hotel/car are direct billed.

We are expected to share a car.. a lot of FBO's have courtesy crew cars. We have to have creative reasons to get the company to pay for a rental car.

My best tip I could give you about all of this is get yourself a credit card that has a rewards system with it and use it for all of your reimbursable expenses. For example if you stay at a Hilton you'll be "triple dippin" you can get Hilton points, airline points and whatever reward program you have on the cc will also be accumulating. Believe me, even when you're at six figs and a decent schedule you're always looking for the perks .. helps justify the road lifestyle... good luck!

 

[2000flyer]

Yeah trip went fine. Only good thing in gander is the icecream.

I've got a picture that i'll have to post one day of a hotel room in copenhagen that was a best western. It was so small that i could reach my arms across and touch both walls.

The tv was like a 12 inch tv but it was so close to your face it was like a big screen.

Rooms are small enough in europe as is. Economy rates gets you the janitors closet. Although i'll never understand why getting in the shower has be a gymnastic event.

I know the feeling. We stayed at an economy hotel in London once. First indication of trouble was the stench of unwashed bodies from the hotel staff. Second indication of things to come was the one person elevator. Got to my room and the door wouldn't open all the way. Someone thought they needed another chair in a 6'x10' room. From The door to the bed was a step and a half. The bed was like the old hospital beds with the tray over the foot, except they called it the "entertainment" center as thats where the 12" TV sat. It was one step to the bath room. To sit on the john, you had to slide your legs under the sink, ala tv tray. To use the sink you had to straddle the commode. I guess I could have multi-tasked had I thought of it :laugh: . When you used the shower, you sprayed the entire bathroom and if you forgot to put a towel by the door, you had a wet bedroom floor. We stayed one night and relocated ASAP the next morning.

2000Flyer

 

[HMR]

...Oh, never mind. You guys don't believe me anyway...

 

[Flechas]

...Oh, never mind. You guys don't believe me anyway...

C'mon HMR,we wanna know how goodyour life is!!

 

[User546]

Well, everyone's done a good job answering your questions, but I'll throw in my hat as an additional set of answers for you.

What kind of hotels do you guys stay in while on the road?

Hilton, Marriott, Embassy, Westin, etc. Never stay at the cheaper, "lesser" brand hotels - Super 8(?), Ramada's, etc. We've stayed at the Ritz a couple times when the situation warranted. If we fly to an international destination, we'll typically stay at an all-inclusive resort. The boss likes to see us keep it around $100-200 a night if possible. Pilot discounts will usually get you some good prices at most any hotels as well.

Does your boss expect you to share a room with the other pilot?

Never, EVER share a room with another pilot. For all reasons previously stated!

When you get airlined, is it customary to fly in first or business class seat or do you go in the back? Does it even matter?

We typically go for the cheapest price. Southwest is our priority airline. Typically when we airline its on real short notice so it all really depends. We always fly in the back (Southwest doesn't matter anyways!).

Per diem vs. company credit card? Which one do you prefer?

Company credit card. All our Captains are issued a company credit card, and they are responsible for picking up all expenses for the crew while on the road. This includes hotels, rental cars, food, aircraft supplies,tips and fees. If the Captain and I are not together, then I just put it on my credit card, and expense report it when I get back. Entertainment expenses, and alcohol is the only thing the company won't pick up.

Do you share a rental car with the other guy or do each of you rent your own?

We always share a rental car. Typically only get one if we'll be at a destination more then a couple days. Any shorter, or if close to the airport / entertainment, we'll typically not bother getting one. We visit a lot of the same cities so we find hotels that have lots to offer close by to them to keep us entertained without having to get a rental car.

 

[English]

Entertainment expenses, and alcohol is the only thing the company won't pick up.

You are kidding, right? You don't submit a receipt that states "alcohol", do you?

Why don't they reimburse you for a drink you have with dinner?

 

[User546]

You are kidding, right? You don't submit a receipt that states "alcohol", do you?

Why don't they reimburse you for a drink you have with dinner?

A drink with dinner is ok, I was talking more along the lines of going down to the hotel bar and having a couple drinks. That better not show up on the company card!

And I'm sure we're all well-versed on the art of masking receipts for all those 11:30pm "dinners"...

 

[pilotviolin]

We try to stay at marriott, or something like it. Share the rental car. Company American Express card for everything including fuel . We get about enough point to go anywhere we want to take our family each year. Airlines? We deadhead the airplane if it is more than a couple days, and not across the county, otherwise its coach.

 

[Lead Sled]

What kind of hotels do you guys stay in while on the road? Does your boss expect you to share a room with the other pilot?

When you get airlined, is it customary to fly in first or business class seat or do you go in the back? Does it even matter?

Per diem vs. company credit card? Which one do you prefer?

Do you share a rental car with the other guy or do each of you rent your own?

We stay in "nice" hotels. As to which chains, it totally depends upon where we're at. Like always though, there are places where the best place in town is a Motel 6. Typically we stay at Hiltons, Marriotts, or the equivalent. And no, we never share a room.

Domestic U.S. airline travel is coach. More than 5 or 6 hour legs and we'd probably go first or business class - the boss wouldn't care.

As far as per diem vs. company credit cards - I've done it both ways in my career. I've always managed to come out a little ahead on per diem arrangements, but now it's not worth the hassle. We are reimbursed for all of our actual expenses. Our policy is to spend the bosses' money as if it were our own. That is to say that we are as careful with his money as we would be if we were spending our own. He trusts us and we would never do anything that would cause him to question that trust. We use our personal credit cards for our personal expenses and we are reimbursed immediately.

We have a credit card that we use for aircraft expenses. I suppose that we could use the "airplane card" for our personal expenses, but I'd just as soon get the miles, points, etc. on my card. At our discretion, we can get cash advances for personal expenses - which we do when flying internationally. There are some outfits where I would never dare use my own personal card to cover my personal expenses. I have absolutely no problem doing it here.

We get rental cars whenever necessary. If we need one we get one, if we need two we get two. It's never even questioned.

Our situation is atypical though. We fly for a family and no tax write-offs are involved. The airplane is essentially one of the family's "recreational vehicles".

'Sled

 

[501261]

A drink with dinner is ok, I was talking more along the lines of going down to the hotel bar and having a couple drinks. That better not show up on the company card!

Sounds like a perfect example of a room charge!

Having said that, I believe the mark of a great company is submitting an expense report with a $300 dinner from Applebee's in Starkville, MS, and the company never asking a question.

 

[bigD]

I stay where I want to stay - Hilton, Marriot, Hyatt - doesn't matter. I basically keep it reasonable. I usually try for a Holiday Inn, as that's where my points are. Never shared a room, but I fly single pilot. I wouldn't be expected to if I were part of a crew, though.

I have a company Amex that I expense everything to. Airplane expenses such as fuel, cleaning, charts, or anything else I want for the plane go to my Amex card as well. I like it because I get the points, and each month averages about 10-15K. Therefore every other month I have another round trip ticket to anywhere in the country. Pretty cool.

Technically I'm not supposed to expense alcohol, however nobody bats an eye at a 40 dollar tab at Chili's or wherever. As a rule, I don't drink at all if I fly the next day - even if the flight is in the afternoon or evening. That's a personal rule, though.

I don't airline anywhere. I don't fly an airplane cool enough for it. They'll have me fly the plane home empty if it's an extended trip, and pick them up later.

 

[CapnVegetto]

Usually stay in nice places.....Marriot, Hilot, Sheraton, Doubletree.....sometimes we're at a Comfort Inn or Holiday or something like that, but usually only when we're in BFE and there's nothing else.

NEVER EVER EVER EVER SHARE A ROOM.

We get per diem. I hate it......I'd rather have a company card. Although, you will run into some guys that love it. They get $50 or $60 bucks a day, eat a lot of Mickey D's and pocket the rest. My old CP used to love to do this. I've had both, and I like the company card more hands down.

Airlined in the back.

Share a rental car.

I work for a crappy 135 company.....and we're still industry standard on all of this stuff.

 

[SCT]

"Having said that, I believe the mark of a great company is submitting an expense report with a $300 dinner from Applebee's in Starkville, MS, and the company never asking a question."- 501261

That's a great quote......I can relate!