ACARS Costs
 

I was hoping someone in the know might be able to help with this;

1) Recently, VHF datalink failed, but SATCOM worked, does requesting the route via Satcom instead of VHF Datalink cost much more?

2) The enroute weather was dodgy, so decided to retrieve an update but my colleague advised against it as all wx requests cost $100, which seems very steep to me, could there be any truth in this

Thanks for any info!

Both of those depend on contracts your company has. Those may be varying between paying for amount of messages, or for amount of data transferred, or having 1000 messages inclusive then on 1001 you pay by the kilobytes.

SATCOM basically will be pricier than VHF, en-route weather request shouldn't really be that expensive though.

I stand to be corrected.

Your colleague seems to know. Why ask?

Who cares?

Halas

What a strange thing for your colleague to be concerned about. If the enroute weather is dodgy and you want to improve your situational awareness with the latest METARs then do it.

If VHF datalink is u/s and it costs the company more money to improve your SA then so be it! Of course you always have HF volmets as an option if you can find them quickly enough from the Gen Text Manual but I wouldn't be overly concerned about price.

Where is this cost-over-sensibility mindset coming from? Is it something that's coming with new Captains, or maybe from the training department? I hope this isn't what they're pushing through during command training :oh:

Just my two cents.

I was told the same thing. If you need it, use it.

If we are talking about EK, then if I remember correctly there was something in the latest Training newsletter about the subject. Can't remember exactly what it said. On the portal.
Subject was probably raised by some of the new TRI-AOs etc,who have 6 months command time :ugh::ugh:

I was always under the impression that EK buy bulk capacity for uploads of info. Paying per wx request, message would seem an expensive proposition. Given the fact that no one(no nasty letters from above), has ever question my use of the acars, I will keep requesting what I want, when I want.

SyB :zzz:

Thanks for info all, I guess as has been pointed out, if it cost a fortune they would let us know... :ok:

IMA birdbrain, good point re SAT data charges, I doubt wx and new wind updates would be data heavy.

The cost of a weather request is well below 1 USD (for a single request) unless your company is having very unfortunate contracts.

Might I suggest
 

Avoid fly with XXXXXX

It's in the B777 FCOM.
"Crew may elect to obtain weather information from either the company LIDO database, or from SITA. The first preference is LIDO, due to cost benefits. Weather requests should be kept to a minimum and should only be actioned when VOLMETs are not available, the destination forecast is at or below CAT1 minima, the aircraft is within 90 minutes of the destination, and the crew deem the ACARS weather request function the most efficient means of retrieving the weather"

Apparently LIDO wx requests are free but you (the company not you personally!!) pay a small fee for SITA!

some years ago on a line check to Cairo, on a CAVOK day, i requested ACARS wx for CAI during the enroute phase of boredom.
The check airmen, said...you just cost the company the equivilant of $3 for that request. Somewhat cynical, but i retorted...it was ok because i didnt have a crew meal.
I've been doing this job for more years than i care to admit to and it's the same story in most companies.

"they step on the ants, but the elephants run wild" when i comes to financial planning.

A few years ago that wonderful man capt Ed..... :yuk:, wrote an email tellingus not to get any enroute weather via ACARS, this was to save money on ACARS paper, which he quoted as "in excess of $50" no mention of the service cost. What the intelligent being missed was the two meters of engineering report being spewed out every sector.

As a engineer, I offen saw some non-tech msg downlinked to MC to question about game score requesting by passenger. So I guess the cost won't be expensive.

Couldn't be any clearer.

Applied in coordination with the FCOM recommendations you get any weather you feel you need via the appropriate channels.

ED wasn't ever a long-haul commander and never flew outside the USA... therefore I would take any of his previous advice with a pinch of salt.

:ok:

With Gulf Air we do 't have any restrictions on using it and haven't heard anyone not using it for costs reasons. Personally, I don't give a rats ass about costs. If I need it I use it. I can see a point about being sensible like not checking your hometoens metar or somewhere in the caribbean.

@Tangpig

"As a engineer, l offen saw.....". :hmm:

Back to thread.

Have often put requests in for sports scores, and all but a few get answered.

But if there is a restriction, then don't tell Hannes! :ok:

halas

You read my mind....:E

"good morning gents........" :ok:

Everyone loves Hannes!

Hannes is the best, gets my vote:ok: