Just wondering what are some perks you guys have experienced from being a pilot? Ever Chartered a sports team and got free tickets? Also, in regards to experience, what’s a skill an experienced CA might have that a newly minted CA might not?
Hello Tre,
I think the single most amazing perk of the job is flight benefits. It still hasn’t really registered with me that I can just login to a website and book myself a flight to ANYWHERE… in the world… free of charge!
A few weeks ago I was chatting with my old buddies from AZ that I haven’t met up with in a while and we were debating where we should meet up (I am in Chicago, one is in NY and the other is in Memphis). We couldn’t decide which of the three cities would be best so Chris from NY said there are open seats to Nicaragua…a few minutes later we were booked for a weekend in Nicaragua… ;).
Yarden
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Tre,
Not to be corny, but for me the best perk of the job IS the job itself. I get paid good money to do something I would gladly pay to do. Many years ago when I had first started flying for ExpressJet I had a Sunday off and the family was away. It was a beautiful day and I thought “I’d really like to go flying”. Problem was I wasn’t single engine current and really didn’t want to drop $200 to buzz around. I checked open time and there was a nice easy JAX turn. I picked up and flew to JAX and back and instead of spending money I got PAID money. It was that day I realized I had the greatest job on Earth (at least to me).
As for teams and celebs I’ve done many charters, and while you usually get fed well ALL airlines have a strict policy against interacting, pics, selfies, autographs, etc. Failure to adhere and I guarantee that’ll be the last charter you do.
Adam
Tre,
I have flown plenty of sports charters and have had almost no interaction with the players or coaches. We deal strictly with the team travel coordinator and simply fly the team from point A to point B.
We also have a strict no autograph policy, but there was one time that my Captain’s son was very sick in the hospital and I did manage to get a basketball autographed by the entire team for his son. Sports players have hearts, too 
Chris
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