worrying
 

Makes you think twice when using the 'company credit card', doesn't it? Nothing is sure these days and apparently nothing can be taken for granted. In my country it is lawful for the banks to go after the drivers when the company which issued the credit cards goes south. Scary thought.

I tend to ask my employer for a cash-advance when launching to a longer trip. This, at least, gives me some sercurity.

And after having had difficulties in getting paid for free-lance work, I ask new custumers for cash before I get on board. Works out fine and makes me sleep well.

No wonder that people act this way when even the banks don't trust each other any more...

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?

Thanks captjns....A brutally frank example of what can happen and how to escape from that scenario.
Whilst Jetopa's suggestion seems eminently sensible..........in theory, it is extremely unlikely that one would get any contract work on a "cash-up-front" basis. The armholes who even think about asking the crew to pay with their own c/c's, would just find some other mug to do the job.
There was a thread on Biz Jets, Ag Pilots etc. that discussed this whole issue of non payment to both contract pilots and employed pilots. It didn't really resolve the issue, but generally the concensus was that removal of either A/C documents and/or equipments, seemed to be the most efficacious way of ensuring prompt payment! Of course the drawback being, that you need to know that you are NOT going to be paid before you leave the aircraft....!

Jetdirect and Mass state law
 

Jet Direct has broken the Massachussetts law by not paying its employees within 6 days of the end of a single pay period. Bankruptcy will not protect them from this or the IRS. The employees just need to have worked in Massachussetts and fill out a form from the Ma Dept of labor called the wage and workplace complaint form. it can be found by using the links from the WWW.Mass.gov website to the attorney generals web site. The more employees that fill out these forms and send them in together the faster this will be resolved. Remember if flight operational control and maintenance control walk the company is done at that point.:}

340Turboprop pilot?
 

Hey 340,

You have never made 200K a year in corporate flying. I have for 20 years and understand why some of us have protected our clients by taking care of bills with our own credit cards to keep them flying when a management company defaults.

I agree with you in a general sense that pilots shouldn't have to buy their jobs or use personel credit cards for their company. There are however exceptions for those of us who fly for solid owners and know we will be covered for all of our expenses. We are not all stupid.

Good Luck in your career.

Mass law
 

unfortunately, not all of us live in states that are so pro-employee. it's amazing how the labor laws differ from state to state. how can we get all the Weymouth employees together on this??

JetDirect Shutting Down
 

Its official. JDA shut down yesterday 4/17/09

$ owed Pilots
 

How many still have not seen their money back yet?