How does your FBO handle pilots who booked a plane a week earlier, show
up to the airport with passengers to find a squawk listed 2 weeks
earlier makes the plane unairworthy for your mission. I'm referring
to out of date GPS databases, no panel lighting for night flights, etc.
Can the pilot charge the owner/FBO for their time? Sure we can
boycott their plane but I just wasted about 3 hours of
my time scheduling the plane, checking weather, doing the flight
plan, filing flight plan, driving to the airport, walking out to
the plane, taking the cover off, doing part of the preflight
just to put the cover back on and drive home with disappointed
passengers. Just happened and I ****ed away my Saturday on
a very nice day. will I get anything for it? No. But
I'll sure spread the word around the club.

Gerald Sylvester



Greg Esres wrote:
I'm curious to know what sort of cancellation policies that flight
schools and rental outfits have in place to make it highly probably
that those who schedule airplanes will actually fly them.

Our school doesn't charge people for not showing up, much less for
cancelling very close to the proposed flight time. You can even
schedule a plane for a week, then cancel at the last minute. Or you
can schedule a 5 hour block and only use 1 hour of it.

Can you institute policies that you must use some percentage of your
scheduled time or face some charge for unused time? Does a
non-refundable deposit make sense for extended schedule blocks? Can
you really charge some fee to those who don't show up or cancel too
late without alienating your customers?

Appreciate any thoughts on what works and seems fair to all concerned.