Once upon a time… a long… long… long… time ago, while moonlighting, I flew a group of people to Panama from South Florida. Once the jet was parked, the legal representative, the equivalent of a ground handling agent, insisted on payment for the handling.
I explained to him that all fees were prepaid in advance by the charter company. I asked if I could call them. The representative was present during the conversation. Here is how the conversation went.
Me: “Funds didn’t make it to Panama.”
Employer: “Yeah… we had trouble getting the funds wired to Panama… just put it on your credit card, and we’ll reimburse you upon your return.”
Me “Hey legal rep… can you take credit card payments over the phone?”
Legal Rep: “Oh si si senory!”
Me: “Hey boss… you can pass your credit card details to the legal representative for full payment.”
Employer: “Do us this one favor… use your card, and we’ll pay you back.”
Me: “No problemo.”
I called the hotel to see if my room was pre-paid. The hotel said no, and the last crew’s bill needed to be taken care of as well. I said no problemo.
Can you all see where this is leading?
I went straight to the main terminal, and jump seated back to the US. I called owner of the charter company to tell him to get another crew down to Panama to collect their jet and pay their bills. Of course I made additional calls before I came to this decision. And yes… I got the usual threats from them and so on.
By the way… while the insurance document was current, it was cancelled for nonpayment of premiums, as payments were made on a quarterly basis.
Now what’s that saying about a fool and his money?