There is an article in (I think) this month's CHIRP, where someone reported having diverted into a regional airport due to the weather deteriorating. I don't have the article to hand, but from memory (someone please correct me if I'm wrong) his intended destination had no approach aids. He was IMC-rated, and in a suitably equipped aircraft, so decided to land at a regional airport with an ILS. He wrote to CHIRP to comment that (amongst other issues) he was charged for his landing, despite the airport being listed as a diversion airport.
The comment from the editor was that if he had declared a Pan Pan, he would not have had to pay for his landing. I thought this strange as I read it, and intended to post here as soon as I got a chance (which has taken me a while since I've been very busy).
This sounds very similar to your experience, Genghis - although the circumstances were quite different, the similarity is that in both cases the pilot felt the need to divert, but did not consider himself in any trouble or any urgent need of assistance. In both cases, the advice is that if a Pan Pan had been declared, no landing fee would have been payable.
I've never heard of this before, but if it really is the case, perhaps we ought to be teaching pilots that any diversion should be accompanied by a Pan Pan call???
FFF
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