Pilots and their CELLPHONES

[BusDriver12]

it totally amazes me that pilots pay hard earned money for their cellphones and its all for the benefit of the company.

Maintenance calls, Crew Scheduling calls, Dispatch calls, it adds up to hours of minutes they have to pay for and no one does anything about it.

the company would be screwed if no pilots would use their cell phones to call the company

the other day we were in canada and the capt was on with dispatch for a half hour and his cell phone, that call probably cost him 20 bucks and no one benefits but the company.

I refuse to use my cell phone for the company and i love it, cause i dont use my minutes and something someone else shoule be paying for.

my wife's company gave her a nextell and she uses it for company use maybe once a month, we use them every single day, all for the benefit of the company, and whos pays? you and i do. step it up guys and stop using them for company purposes.

 

[proftomda]

I agree with your post. I've been surprised how much they use their cell phone for on the clock company businesss. I would hope that they are having the company reimburse them for the phone calls. Even in base, when ops says to call crew scheduling for an extension, the guy pulls out his phone rather than using the phone in the crew lounge. Thats what I call dedication. Please pass the Kool Aid.

 

[MINIME]

I'm guilty of that. Just the other day I did this without thinking about it. They did however, thank me for my effort in expediting the process but it was wrong on my part. Not in this enviroment, I'll make sure to take note of this and take my sweet ass time and run inside the terminal to use their phone. ChaChing....time is money in this business.

 

[Diesel]

Our company gave us Blackberries which have turned into crackberries.

2400+ pilots walking around with them im'ing their buddies can sure pass the time.

Everything we need to do to comunicate with the company can be done via BB. Call in times, check on catering everything is a drop down menu.

Plus we can also run MEL's and stuff like that. Get weather. all via data.

It also works as a phone to call the company from some middle of nowhere country.

 

[DorkProp]

My wife and I have plenty of minutes to spare on our plan, so it is a matter of convenience for me when I'm already seated and ready to go and realize I need to call dispatch or MX. What's the big deal? If you are paying extra for those minutes, then don't use it. I definitely wouldn't use my phone in Canada if I had to pay for it.

 

[miles otoole]

it totally amazes me that pilots pay hard earned money for their cellphones and its all for the benefit of the company.

Maintenance calls, Crew Scheduling calls, Dispatch calls, it adds up to hours of minutes they have to pay for and no one does anything about it.

the company would be screwed if no pilots would use their cell phones to call the company

the other day we were in canada and the capt was on with dispatch for a half hour and his cell phone, that call probably cost him 20 bucks and no one benefits but the company.

I refuse to use my cell phone for the company and i love it, cause i dont use my minutes and something someone else shoule be paying for.

my wife's company gave her a nextell and she uses it for company use maybe once a month, we use them every single day, all for the benefit of the company, and whos pays? you and i do. step it up guys and stop using them for company purposes.

It's the cost of doing business. Take it out of the per diem (per day expenses). You probably don't use it all anyway. They can simply make the requirement that in order to get hired, you need a cell phone. Most do as far as a computer is concerned or do you want the company to pay for that as well? What about a car? How dare they require a pilot to have a car to get to/from work?

 

[wheelsup]

It's the cost of doing business. Take it out of the per diem (per day expenses). You probably don't use it all anyway. They can simply make the requirement that in order to get hired, you need a cell phone. Most do as far as a computer is concerned or do you want the company to pay for that as well? What about a car? How dare they require a pilot to have a car to get to/from work?

I don't agree with your assumption that it should come out of per diem, and neither does the US Government.

http://www.gsa.gov/Portal/gsa/ep/contentView.do?faq=yes&pageTypeId=8203&contentId=16365&contentType=GSA_OVERVIEW#1

What is per diem?

Per diem is the allowance for lodging (excluding taxes), meals and incidental expenses.

Ok, so per diem includes lodging, meals, and incidental expenses. What are incidental expenses you ask?

What is included in incidental expenses?

Chapter 300, Part 300-3, in the Federal Travel Regulation (www.gsa.gov/ftr), under Per Diem Allowance, describes Incidental Expenses as: A. Fees and tips given to porters, baggage carriers, bellhops, hotel maids, stewards or stewardesses and others on ships, and hotel servants in foreign countries. B. Transportation between places of lodging or business and places where meals are taken, it suitable meals cannot be obtained at the temporary duty site. C. Mailing cost associated with filing travel vouchers and payment of Government charge card billings.

No mention of cell phone usage on the US Governemnt site. IMO, you can DEDUCT your cell phone bill (or percentage of it) off of your taxes as a business expense if you want to. I'm not so sure how the IRS would look at it if you deducted the whole thing, but for sure that $20 call to dispatch in CA would qualify. I'm deducting the $1.45 call I made to the hotel in Toronto for a pick up....

If you use 200 minutes/month calling the company, and you have a 400 minute plan, simply deduct half the monthly cost of your cell bill.

And the company doesn't require a car, just that you show up on time for your departure. It's your business how you get there.

What regionals require a computer? Mine has access for crew at our domiciles. No mention of having one at home.

~wheelsup

 

[machaf]

What else can the people on this forum bitch and moan about???

90% of what goes on here is people bitching and moaning about how life isn’t fair. Or people putting each other down.

This is such a negative environment. 10% of the posts are people helping each other out.

 

[Gulfstream 200]

it totally amazes me that pilots pay hard earned money for their cellphones and its all for the benefit of the company.

Maintenance calls, Crew Scheduling calls, Dispatch calls, it adds up to hours of minutes they have to pay for and no one does anything about it.

the company would be screwed if no pilots would use their cell phones to call the company

the other day we were in canada and the capt was on with dispatch for a half hour and his cell phone, that call probably cost him 20 bucks and no one benefits but the company.

I refuse to use my cell phone for the company and i love it, cause i dont use my minutes and something someone else shoule be paying for.

my wife's company gave her a nextell and she uses it for company use maybe once a month, we use them every single day, all for the benefit of the company, and whos pays? you and i do. step it up guys and stop using them for company purposes.

If you have a job paying 20K/yr you shouldn't even have a cell phone. You cant afford the $50 per month. Think about it, after taxes your stupid cell bill is probably 3-4% of your annual income. thats pathetic.

I cant believe you guys complain and analyze this. You pathetically go to work for slave wages -but yeah- god forbid you make a phone call to Ops and use one of the 3000 mins every plans seems to have today.....Way to stand up for yourself buddy. Fight for those minutes!

Its no wonder they pay you $hit, you're dumber than a goddam rock.


....

 

[Ralgha]

They don't require you to have a cellphone, just like they don't require you to have a car.

Following this line of thinking, you should charge the company for your home landline if they've ever called you on it. You should also charge them your auto expenses since you drive to work in it. Laundry expenses should be billed to the company. Ever been to the company website from home? Charge them for your computer too.

Are you retarded? If you're too cheap to pay for a quick phone call, then go inside and use a company phone.