I would think that it would be rather difficult for the airlines to arrange their schedules so that their employees would end up back in their cities of residences at the end of their shifts. So where do these people sleep? It would seem to me that spending a large proportion of your nights at hotels would be rather expensive.
I think most of the pilots try to catch a few winks while the autopilot’s on.
My friend said they had “dorms” at the hub airports. She would often get stranded by weather, and stay at the airport hotels. Those charges were part of her compensation, so it wasn’t a problem.
I see them in hotels all the time. I suppose the airline negotiates a good price.
They stay in Hotels. Several good friends of mine are pilots/flight attendants. The Airlines get good hotel rates and seriously…most airlines could probably afford to put everyone in America up in a hotel for a night and still wipe their asses with hundred dollar bills so the money isnt really a factor.
Your forgetting that on international flights, read 747’s, there are sleeping quarters’ for both pilots and attendants. There small, but effective.
Should have added, there onboard sleeping quarters’.
I believe flight crews stay in hotels if they have a relatively long time before the next flight. If they have less time they stay in the terminal; I think there are places crews to sleep in most major terminals.
The cost of hotels is not prohibitive in this case. Think of flight crews as business travelers. Their salaries are similar, and their away from home schedules are similar. The expense of hotels for airlines is comparable to that of other large corporations.
My cousin is a stewerdess on the Tokyo-London route. She lives in Tokyo and, if I remember correctly, does one round trip every 8 days, staying overnight in a hotel in London. The airline has hotel rooms reserved where the crew take turns to use. She also stays at a hotel near the airport the night before she leaves Tokyo, but that’s only 2 out of 8 days that she uses a hotel. During the flight, she gets about 3 hours off duty.
And then when they run out of beds…it’s DOUBLE UP TIME!!
…and I guess the pilots don’t complain…at least they’re getting served more than that DISGRACEFUL airline food! : )
I worked at the Crowne Plaza a few years ago. We had a deal with Delta, and airline folk would stay there all the time.
Stewardesses… growwrr…
On several flights back and forth across the Atlantic, I have had to sit in the back row of the plane. I’ve noticed that on many carriers (particularly US ones) there are two seats at the back which are curtained off. Invariably during night flights. there are two flight attendants sleeping, or trying to sleep, in these two seats.
A relative of mine who was a pilot for American confirms that they were able to stay in hotels.
I spend on average six nights on the road. This may not be the “typical” example, but our contract reads that a hotel of a certain standard within a certain distance of the airport at which we have completed our day at, is provided at company expense. The hotel my employer have a contract to provide x number of rooms per night for x dollars (bulk purchase?).
If the layover is more than 12 hours, we generally stay near the downtown/business core. If less than 12 hours, then we stay nearer the airport.
They are all decent hotels for our company – Doubletree, Hilton, Ramada, etc. We have a union rep who arranges/approves/rejects hotels and if a certain hotel starts treating us like poop then we set up a contract with another hotel.
Most of the hotels provide shuttles to/from the airport.
Most hotels like us as there is a good chance that we won’t pee on the carpet or otherwise trash the rooms.
Most hotels still charge if for whatever reason (ie flight re-routing or weather) we do not use the room that night.
Contrary to myths, we sleep alone. After a 12 hour day to be followed by another, you’re more likely to see the flight crew go to the gym than go to the bar to get gooned.
On overseas flights with augmented crews, some aircreaft have a compartment not unlike the sleeper on an 18-wheeler for napping. Some companies simply curtain off a row for crew to use for rest.
As an aside, earlier this spring, an Alaska crew told me they had 57 rooms per night in Portland, Oregon.
Cheers Mike