Perdiem at home base while on duty

[kimmy]

Dear Members,

Good evening to you all. I am currently negotiating a new contract with a company, and I would like to seek you opinion on perdiem payment, and the usual practice of your company.

If I operate a flight back to my home base (with passengers onboard),should perdiem be paid to me? I will also be operating on the flight out of home base. It is definitely a duty trip although I will not request for hotel accommodation.

How is it like in your operation? Thank you and appreciate your input.

[south coast]

Every day/night planned away from your home should receive a per diem, where you choose to sleep should not determine whether you receive a per diem.

[specialbrew]

No per diem for us anytime at home base...on duty or not!

[dirk85]

Standby at home, no per diem.

Any duty, even with departure and/or landing at home base, positive per diem, and this anywhere I have worked so far.

[solent]

Wonder how many flight department managers are reading this thinking..... FFS the #+*%#$ %#*^>$€£....... insert your 2 words!

[His dudeness]

Standby at home, no per diem.

Any duty, even with departure and/or landing at home base, positive per diem, and this anywhere I have worked so far.

+1 / paid as per German tax law => less than 8 hours duty, no per diem.

[TWOTBAGS]

Per Diem, is by original definition a payment made to crew members to cover meals and other out of pocket expenses when on the road away from base over night. Per diem while operating to/from home base.... not likely.

If I flew from Berlin to Milan for the day and back that night then no per diem, if we did a full day 6 legs and ended up back home in bed, no per diem.

You cant have it both ways, general rule, if you sleep in your own bed, and you are salaried..... thats it.

If you dont sleep in your own bed, at the behest of your boss..... its on his account.

This all got mucked up when companies started using contractors instead of having full time crews, and then started to screw them on the day rate.

As a professional, your day rate needed to cover your income, tax, overnight expenses, recurrent training, etc. If your day rate did not cover your expenses then you are not charging enough.

[dirk85]

I beg to differ on your definition of per diem, at least when you say "away from base over night."

Doing 6 legs with the final landing in your base does entitle you to the per diem, because you most likely have spent money from your pocket to have kind of a lunch and/or dinner.
You can establish a minimum amount of hours to be entitled to that, but not getting it just because you land in your home base does not make too much sense to me.
Luckily so far I haven't heard or worked for companies interpreting the rules that way, and I cannot say I have worked for the most generous companies in the business…

I am speaking in this case of contract pilots, not freelancers.

[Jet Jockey A4]

Our per diems have specific hours related to them...

For breakfast if one is on duty at 07:30.

For lunch if one is on duty at 12:30.

For dinner if one is on duty at 18:00.

For the snack if one is on duty at 22:00.

These are available to the crew whether they operate a flight leaving or arriving at home base within those time periods.

Examples...

You're leaving your home base for XXXX with a departure time of 08:00... Your duty day starts one hour prior to your departure time (in this case 07:00)... You are entitled to your breakfast per diem.

You are at airport XXXX with a scheduled departure of 17:15 with a scheduled landing back at your home base at 18:05... You are entitled to your dinner per diem.

[kimmy]

Forgot to add, home base is not where the aircraft is based. My previous contract pay perdiem as long as it was considered a work trip, even at home base. Just wondering what is a common practice out there.

[CaptainProp]

We have same as Dirk85 described. If I'm on duty away from home, flying or not, I get per diem. If I start duty day at home and end up somewhere else, I get per diem. If I start day away from home, but end up at home at the end of my duty day, I still get per diem.

CP

[Victorian Dad]

we have a policy on PD as follows

you arrive home off a trip or positioning home before lunch time (Half Day)
You depart after Lunch time (Half Day)

Now on to standby days, at home if the company sends you home at their choice and puts you on standby I can think of many companies that would pay you etc.

However if you have mixed domiciled crews and you end up at your home base and you go home at your own choice or to a friends place we do have Half Day Policy but your at their mercy should they call you back to work.

Flight Duty day is just that, I have worked for a major swiss operation whom senior CAM (Crew Air Managers) attempted to cancel our PD if we had breakfast in the hotel or consumed any aircraft catering.

so many people get so upset about PD due to tax situations some countries have strict ruling on documentation some do not.

[deefer dog]

For us, per diem while on duty in country (base included) rate 1. Any flight out of country of base, rate 2 (double rate 1), even if a day trip out and return with no overnight stop.