Is it normal practice to be charged for this???

[KyleRB]

Hi folks

A pilot friend of mine recently took his girlfriend for a trial lesson at Stapleford. He enquired at reception about the availability of a trial lesson certificate to commemorate the experience. He was assured one would be ready on her return. Reasonably thinking this would all be included in the total price he thought nothing more of it. Therefore he was staggered after the event to be charged £4 for the certificate, which incidentally they had a whole pile of! :=

Now he was too embarrassed to remonstrate to reception and ops in front of his girlfriend and walked away in disbelief! He had already paid nearly £160 for a lesson in 152! :*

He mentioned this to me a few days ago and I thought it was a pretty cheap and tacky move from Stapleford Flight Centre. As a former instructor at two different schools we NEVER charged separately for this.

Yesterday I was speaking to some other pilot mates and they all seemed to say that Stapleford no longer seem to be bothered about trial lessons or PPLs any more. Maybe it's just beneath them any more to offer a good service to all their students even if they're not CPL or IR potential!

[Duchess_Driver]

All included in the price where I work. You even get a smile free of charge!

(and its cheaper!) £160 for a 152:eek:?????

[Mike Cross]

Some friends gave me a Tiger Moth trip recently and I felt that there's a fair bit that could be done to make more money for the school and to provide more customer satisfaction for the punter. In my case I'm a pilot but this is written from the perspective of someone who's not.

There are two different products here.
1. The "experience" where someone is being given a present.
2. Someone who already knows he wants to learn to fly and is checking out the school.

The approach should be different for both. The first one is commonly sold through a third party, who provide marketing and take their cut. It's therefore more expensive than the second. For the first one the certificate is a cheap and effective way of providing more perceived value to the punter. Another tweak would be to have someone with a digital camera on hand to take some pictures of the punter in and by the aircraft before departure and on return. Show them the images on-screen afterwards and offer them prints. If they also fixed a camera in the aircraft they could offer a video of the punter at the controls during the flight. At a basic level a bullet cam and video recorder setup could be had for under 250 quid. If you offered the DVD to the punter at say 25 quid a pop you'd soon earn the money back. Of course if you're Ultimate High you go for a more expensive setup with cockpit, wingtip and tail mounted cameras and charge accordingly.

For number 2 above the offering should be charged at pretty well the normal dual instructional rate and the instructor or a clued up staff member should be given the incentive of a bonus if he signs the punter up for membership, which should ensure that he is properly looked after.

Can't help feeling that schools are missing the plot a bit here.

[jkveenstra]

I Did a trial lesson at Stapleford last year. They charged me GBP 168. GBP 20 more than they advertised, since the fuel charge was not incorporated.

In the end I chose another school. The way they prices things was one of the reasons not to go there.

[mrmum]

The club where I'm an FI do charge an extra (optional) £5 for a certificate and photo (6"x4" framed) on top of the £130 for a hour flight. If somebody did want just the certificate I suspect we'd give them one for free, bit of A4 with some ink isn't exactly expensive. Better to send the customer away happy and enthusiastic, than make an extra couple of quid, but never see them or any of their friends again.

[IO540]

Oh yes, the old chestnut in any business. It is OK to screw the customer but you must not create a perception of being greedy :)

I would never charge for the certificate.

[Gertrude the Wombat]

If it's a real trial lesson then what the punter wants is a line in a log book.

If it's a disguised joyride you can tell this because the punter asks for a certificate. You then know they're never going to come back and spend any more money, because they don't really want to learn to fly, so why not make a few extra quid out of them?

[Pace]

it's a real trial lesson then what the punter wants is a line in a log book.

If it's a disguised joyride you can tell this because the punter asks for a certificate. You then know they're never going to come back and spend any more money, because they don't really want to learn to fly, so why not make a few extra quid out of them?

That is very blinkered thinking. A friend bought an experience flight for her husbands 40 th birthday something she knew he wanted to do.
It wetted his appetite so much that three months later he is looking into doing an NPPL.

It is the whole approach to people which determines whether they enjoy their experience, think it was money well spent and maybe just maybe from seeds sown a new PPL evolves.

Pace

[Whopity]

My kids bought me a flight in a Balloon, a most enjoyable experience. The pilot had a camera on a rope that swung out from the balloon and with a remote he could take a picture of all on board, drinking champagne. The cost was around £20 for the picture and there were 16 punters on board. I suspect the pilot earned more from selling pictures than flying balloons.

[KyleRB]

Gertrude,

My first ever trial lesson was also a present and I got a certificate free too without having to ask for one! :ok: The flying school put the effort in for me and I appreciated it!

So when it came to starting my PPL a few months later I continued with the same school and instructor! I also bought myself a logbook and entered the details myself.

Now an ATPL and 3000 hrs later I still remember that first flight a decade ago!:)

The bottom line is Stapleford didn't appear to be bothered which is never a good thing!:sad:

[Charles E Taylor]

Stapleford


A long time ago a group of 4 young boys of about 10 or 12 years walked about 5 miles to Stapleford Aerodrome on a Saturday afternoon. Just something to do - no planning, just something interesting.


There was not much to do on a summer weekend afternoon in the early 60’s.

Three of these lads took a flight in a small 4 seat high wing aircraft, which might have been a Cessna. The cost was 10 shillings each.


The other lad who had no money sat outside the office, which was then an old Horsa glider fuselage and waited.


When his friends returned the next flight customers were a young couple. Seeing the look on the young lad’s face the pilot said, “get in” the lad replied “I’ve no money", the pilot said “get in”


After the flight the young lad was ecstatic, when he got home he told his mother he had been flying in an aeroplane from Stapleford, she clipped him round the ear and told him not to tell lies.



He wished he had a certificate as well!



I would really like to meet that pilot again.



It seems times have changed at Stapleford.

Oh well........................




Charlie

[Whopity]

The cost was 10 shillings each.Nice to see that illegal public transport was thriving in the 60s!

[Union Jack]

If they also fixed a camera in the aircraft they could offer a video of the punter at the controls during the flight

I'm pretty sure that Tiger Airways at Staverton offer such a video/DVD with certain of their flights.:cool:

Jack

[codemonkey]

perhaps people should give stapleford a break, the prices are clearly stated on the web site (flyingpresents.co.uk), 159 for an hours trial lesson, 9.99 if you want a first flight certificate in a pouch with a few other bits. perhaps if they hadnt cut a deal for the certificate they´d risk offending the next guy who might have paid.

wrt prices lets keep in mind that stapleford is inside the m25, not the cheapest area in the country, doesnt charge landing fees, and the instructors arent bad either.

[johnflying]

Hi everybody

last month, did my trial lesson at Sibson flying club, great club and really friendly . Booked my first lesson this week :ok:
Could have gone to Sywell nearer to home but no atmosphere or club to speak of .:sad:

[Teejman]

I have two thoughts on this, I took my step-daughter for a 152 and Firefly combined flight last August. We were offered the certificate and a video of the Firefly flight at extra cost. At the time I thought the certificate should have been free and the video was a bit pricey.
Second, I have recently started flying at Stapleford having checked costs at flying schools local to me. I found, taking travelling expenses and time into consideration that Stapleford were the cheapest around. What sealed it for me was when I visited to get costs and information for myself, I was introduced to an instructor who spent 15-20 minutes answering my questions and gave me his mobile number in case I had any more questions. He is now doing my training and I have no regrets.

[Piltdown Man]

£160 for a 152?????

Paying a person £160 to suffer (endure?) a trial lesson in a 152 is not too bad, but you'd have to pay me a lot more than that to get me up in one of them.

PM