Crew Car Etiquette

flav8r

flav8r

Line Up and Wait
Joined
Jan 20, 2009
Messages
644
Location
Extreme Northeastern Florida
Display Name
Display name:
David
On final approach to the local uncontrolled airport a Cessna Citation calls ahead to the Unicom to ask if they could use the crew car.
On their next call to the FBO they advise the FBO that they will be spending the night.

Whatever happened to crew car etiquette?

This FBO is located on an island full of high-end hotels with shuttle service to and from the airport on demand.
The FBO also has a major rental car service with numerous cars to choose from.

Why would a Citation driver want to hog the crew car for over 12-24 hours.

In all fairness I could not hear the response from the FBO, but I hope they advised the Citation of their rental car rates.

I've never borrowed a crew car for more than a couple of hours and then I've always brought it back with a full tank.
 
I'm the same. Unless the FBO offers me the crew car overnight, I use it for a lunch run or something similar. And I bring it back full of gas.
 
Last time I borrowed a crew car, I too returned in a couple hours and they looked at me astonished when I told them that I filled it up!

If I'm going to take a car overnight, I should damn well be paying for it, not mooching off the FBO!
 
From a purely economic perspective, there a chance the Citation bought more fuel than all the other transients combined.
 
I agree but it depends on the FBO. If they have tons of crew cars an overnight is usually not an issue if you arrange it in advance. Otherwise, grab a rental for the night. It sounds like this place may only have 1 or 2 cars though, so a rental car should be more appropriate.
 
When I borrow the crew car anywhere I usually expect they don't want me keeping it more than 1-2 hours.

Good point about the citation buying a ton of fuel. I don't mind the FBO's giving the big guys perks as long as they still provide me with good service, which they usually do.
 
We had two crew cars at LOM and they stopped the practice after they kept getting returned with no fuel. The FBO said that the main culprits were the biz jet guys.
 
HPNPilot1200 said:
I agree but it depends on the FBO.
Click to expand...
True but I've found that most FBOs have some time limit on their crew cars, especially in the middle of the day. You might be able to take one overnight if you arrive late in the day and are departing early.
 
Yeah, there have been a couple times where I land late night/early morning and I'm gonna take off again first AM I have been told "just take the crew car", but outside of that, unless it's a run for food or a local meeting or something that's less than 2hrs, I'll rent a car or find some alternate.
 
My best "crew car" experience was in Custer, SD, KCUT. Flew in for the day and asked the aiport manager if they had a crew car. He said they didn't but if I didn't mind driving home with him he'd lend us his old Jeep CJ-7 for the day.

I had more fun driving that old Jeep through the Black Hills and Mt. Rushmore. I filled up the tank, and left him a really nice thank you note in the vehicle.
 
Anthony said:
My best "crew car" experience was in Custer, SD, KCUT. Flew in for the day and asked the aiport manager if they had a crew car. He said they didn't but if I didn't mind driving home with him he'd lend us his old Jeep CJ-7 for the day.

I had more fun driving that old Jeep through the Black Hills and Mt. Rushmore. I filled up the tank, and left him a really nice thank you note in the vehicle.
Click to expand...

Us Custer-ites just wanna have fun ... "it's a jeep thing" :D
 
I've been told to "just take the crew car" a lot. I've also (out in Iowa) been told if I couldn't find the keys to the crew car that the local cop would take me to the hotel.
 
We flew into Dinwiddie Co for a fuel stop/bit to eat and their crew car was out of service. Some guy hanging out at the airport let us borrow his car to drive a mile down to the only place in town to eat a quick lunch. We didn't pass a gas station, and didn't think a fill-up was necesarry in that case, but my gf left him an awesome platter of fried bread and a thank you note.
 
Charge me a ramp fee and I won't be putting gas in the crew car. Don't charge me a ramp fee and I fill em' up.
 
I don't know...I don't see a problem with the scenario presented. Several years ago when I was still flying somewhere almost every week for fun...I'd take off after work on a Friday or Saturday evening and half the time I'd stay overnight at a nearby fleabag. It never bothered me to ask for a crew car overnight to get to/from the motel. I don't recall ever being turned down. I figure most, if not all, of the time the car would have just sat at the FBO anyway.

Of all the cars I've borrowed they were almost always between half-full and empty. I never understood how other people could borrow a car and not return it with the tank full.
 
Crew car stories are fun. I've got some good ones but only one bad one
 
Anthony said:
My best "crew car" experience was in Custer, SD, KCUT. Flew in for the day and asked the aiport manager if they had a crew car. He said they didn't but if I didn't mind driving home with him he'd lend us his old Jeep CJ-7 for the day.

I had more fun driving that old Jeep through the Black Hills and Mt. Rushmore. I filled up the tank, and left him a really nice thank you note in the vehicle.
Click to expand...


I forget where in ND it was but there was a place I landed and the FBO had a fleet of various 55-57 Chevys, I took a 56, always my favorite.
 
I flew into Myrtle Beach and was getting a crew car just to go eat lunch. Purchased 100 gallons of fuel. The fella behind me wasn't purchasing any and they didn't have any cars when he asked the front desk person at the FBO. We gave him a ride to lunch and back. Funny how they had a car for the folks that landed right after him.

Best,

Dave
 
Of course most of the jet crews are professional pilots flying someone else's plane. They purchase a lot of fuel and have some flexibility as to where they add it. If the company credit card doesn't cover it, they'd be paying themselves; so, I can see them using a crew car and not filling it. Freebees are big stuff for those folks. We all know the pay isn't as high as it once was. I've seen crews change FBOs for some extras; not always the best deal for the owner <g>

At a lot of places, this is what makes the FBO profitable. If can be very beneficial for the rest of GA folks.

Best,

Dave
 
Dave Siciliano said:
Of course most of the jet crews are professional pilots flying someone else's plane. They purchase a lot of fuel and have some flexibility as to where they add it. If the company credit card doesn't cover it, they'd be paying themselves; so, I can see them using a crew car and not filling it. Freebees are big stuff for those folks. We all know the pay isn't as high as it once was. I've seen crews change FBOs for some extras; not always the best deal for the owner <g>

At a lot of places, this is what makes the FBO profitable. If can be very beneficial for the rest of GA folks.

Best,

Dave
Click to expand...
:yeahthat:
We don't have a whole lot of say in where we go, but we do have say in where we take our gas! As long as the prices aren't horribly disparate, Atlantic gets a top-off almost every time because of those little "extras." Plus, they tend to have cheaper fuel, anyways. We charge a lot of stuff to the company that gets passed on to the owners, but the girls in the expense dept. would laugh at us if we tried to expense crew car gas when we only drove it five miles to get lunch and come right back. If it's a small FBO that makes some special accommodation, or we drive it a lot further than usual, or they give it to us for an extended time (read: days), then we'll fill it. Else, especially at the big FBOs and big airports...it's kind of an expected item these days; like coffee, ice, and papers.

To the OP:
Do you know that they actually took it for the night? Maybe they just grabbed the car for a couple hours to get dinner someplace that's more than walking distance from their hotel, brought the car right back, and then hopped the shuttle to the hotel. Or perhaps they had asked for the car before they realized that they were spending the night? I don't think you can vilify them just yet. I've been in and around a LOT of crew cars in the last few months, and I don't think I've ever seen one gone for more than a few hours. Or noticed any other egregious misuses of crew cars, for that matter.
 
Teller1900 said:
To the OP:
Do you know that they actually took it for the night?
Click to expand...
Nope.. That's why I said that I did not hear the response.
It was the request that got me wondering if we as pilots use this courtesy with the proper etiquette.

Keep in mind that this particular FBO is more of a mom & pop type operation with a single crew car.
 
Henning said:
I forget where in ND it was but there was a place I landed and the FBO had a fleet of various 55-57 Chevys, I took a 56, always my favorite.
Click to expand...

Let me know if you remember - might just go there to drive one ha
 
We pretty much have no say on what airport we go to unless there is an operational problem, and very little say on the FBO we use. We're also supposed to buy fuel at the least expensive stop and take as much from home as possible. In general, we accept the ramp fee rather than buying unneeded fuel. On the other hand I've never been questioned when I use the company AMEX to put gas in the crew car. But like Jesse, I will only do that if there is no ramp fee. Our ramp fees can be pretty huge.
 
Anthony said:
My best "crew car" experience was in Custer, SD, KCUT. Flew in for the day and asked the aiport manager if they had a crew car. He said they didn't but if I didn't mind driving home with him he'd lend us his old Jeep CJ-7 for the day.

I had more fun driving that old Jeep through the Black Hills and Mt. Rushmore. I filled up the tank, and left him a really nice thank you note in the vehicle.
Click to expand...

Those people at KCUT are TOP Notch GREAT PEOPLE!!!! I had a good time this last summer there as well great service
 
Henning said:
I forget where in ND it was but there was a place I landed and the FBO had a fleet of various 55-57 Chevys, I took a 56, always my favorite.
Click to expand...

Your favorite was a '56? I remember, but possibly/probably incorrectly, that the '57 and the '55 were classics and the '56 was anything but. I remember hearing a story about the '56 having coil springs instead of leaf springs and that if you went across a rough railroad crossing at a too fast speed it would "hop off the coils" and not drive so hot after that.

I'm old so maybe I have this all wrong. ;)
 
Skyhawk4754 said:
Those people at KCUT are TOP Notch GREAT PEOPLE!!!! I had a good time this last summer there as well great service
Click to expand...
I was there last summer too. I called ahead to make sure we would fit on the ramp and that it was strong enough. I think we were a novelty because they took pictures of us on the ramp and even drove to the opposite end of the runway to get pictures of us taking off.
 
AdamZ said:
We had two crew cars at LOM and they stopped the practice after they kept getting returned with no fuel. The FBO said that the main culprits were the biz jet guys.
Click to expand...

Yup. It always amazed me that the guys flying the little $24K bug-smashers would fill the tank on our courtesy car, while the guys flying the $3 million dollar bizjet would stiff us -- AND use the thing for 10 hours, and drive 100 miles.

Because of this we stopped promoting to charters, after being stiffed on the courtesy cars (and last second cancellations) one too many times.

Still -- getting rid of your courtesy cars is not a logical response to misuse by a single segment of your customer base. We've now got two courtesy cars -- and I haven't had to put gas in either one since we opened.

MOST pilots are darned good people.
 
Often it's the horrible company reimbursement systems that cause this stuff.

Most companies don't issue true "company credit cards" anymore. They're really yours with their name on 'em.

I stopped working as a traveling field engineer when my employer did that garbage. I had to apply for the "company" card just like any other.

And it showed up (still does in the historical records) on my credit reports.

Nope. I'm not here to work for you and be your credit line, sorry. Back to the office for me.

And that worked out just grand. I liked the travel, worts and all, pre-TSA. And loved being on site fixing real customer problems. But not at the cost of my credit score. Especially when they were slower than the card's deadlines to pay for thousands of dollars in expenses.

Bzzt. No. Next player!

I'd have done it another ten years if they hadn't pulled that crap.

Glad they did it. My life ended up better off in the long run for it. I found supporting the field guys from the office almost as rewarding. Missed seeing the customers, though.

I ever travel again, it's on their card, on their dime, and any trips longer than a week, they're paying to do my laundry. I'm easy other than those. Those are non-negotiable.

I, in return, will take better care of their customers (my! customers) than anyone else in the field.

That was how I rolled. They didn't appreciate it. I stopped. I don't care if they had to limit their liability because some jerk bought himself a new washer and dryer on his last day at the company with the company card (true story), that's called a hiring error and is not my problem. It's yours, Mr. Field Engineering Manager. Make it my problem, I'm headed for internal Product Support engineering.

He didn't believe me. I did it. Buh-bye. It was nice working for ya.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top