In today’s ask Oscar The Pilot post, I received a rather interesting question: “Do airline pilots and crew stay in Airbnb?”
I’m assuming the question is about if pilots use Airbnb for their layovers. The short answer is NO.
How do airlines book hotels for their pilots and crew:
Airline pilots travel a lot, for pilots who work for low-cost airlines, layovers are not that common. As for pilots who work for major airlines that do long-haul flying, then layovers are quite common.
Airlines’ Pilots and Crew accommodation cost the airline quite a lot, American airlines says it spends $350 million a year on hotel accommodation.
Airlines would have specific requirements for choosing one hotel over the other, a few of them are listed here:
- Proximity to the airport.
- Financial side (The Cost).
- How safe is the area where the hotel is located.
- Hotel services availability (Restaurant, room service).
- The quietness of the area.
- Amenities.
- Extra Facilities.
Airlines do book hotels in advance for the crew flying, they would have signed deals with certain hotels so they can receive the best rate in addition to good extra services for their crew.
Extra Services Airline Pilots and Crew Get In Hotels:
When on a layover, we usually get decent rooms with special discounts. We get discounts for using laundry or most of the time, a laundry of our unfirm is included with our stay for free.
We would get discounts on using other services such as room service, restaurant, and hotel transport.
Even when not on duty, some hotels that have contracts with your airline may have special discounts for you if you show your pilot ID.
Fun Secret Fact: A lot of the hotels where the crew stay are owned by the airline itself or the mother company for both the hotel and the airline or sometimes the owner of the airline. Dig deeper and find out 🙂
Do Pilots and Crew pay for their hotels:
It’s quite a popular question out there and I thought to include it here. The answer is a simple NO. The airline pays for the stay when on duty.
I hope that you now know the answer to “Do airline pilots and crew stay in Airbnb?”.
References:
Maszczynski, M. (2018, February 10). Learn from the pro’s: Here’s how American Airlines chooses the perfect hotel rooms for its flight attendants. Paddle Your Own Kanoo. Retrieved April 2022, from https://www.paddleyourownkanoo.com/2018/02/10/learn-pros-heres-american-airlines-chooses-perfect-hotel-rooms-flight-attendants/
