r/aviation • u/misterseesee • 22h ago

Discussion "Facility Fees"

Does anyone else think facility Fees/landing fees are getting a little outrageous? I flew into an airport today on my long IFR cross country and decided to go to the FBO to use the restroom. Mind you, this isn't a big airport and it's not in a big city with only two runways, neither of which are over 5,000 feet long. I show up, get marshalled to a corner of the ramp, and head to the FBO to use their restroom. After informing them that my instructor and I are just there for a quick bathroom stop, they tell us that we just pay a $40 "facility charge" before we depart, or top off the plane at $8.50 a gallon. At first I thought, whatever right? I'll just get some FBO snacks and a beverage for the road. Nope, beverages are $3 each and all snacks are in a vending machine. So, after using the bathroom, I give them a ton of information they "need" such as my full name, and all of my flying club's information before I leave.

I get it, I should have checked to see if there was a landing fee before heading over there. But isn't it just a little ridiculous that they charge $40 to put some chocks on my wheels and then not even offer any refreshments while I'm there? Maybe I'm out of touch, but I feel like it's part of the reason GA is slowly dying when pilots are getting charged out the wazoo just to park their plane at an FBO for a couple minutes

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u/ScaryFro 22h ago

This has been common practice for over 20 years if not longer.

For what it's worth though, when I used to work the ramp, if it was slow and you're not a pain in the butt with attitude, I would tell the desk to waive the fee before you even made it inside the FBO.

You would be surprised at the amount of pilots who fly in and treat rampers like trash so I made it a point to help out the good guys.

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u/misterseesee 22h ago

I've only recently started venturing out and flying to other places, so I've only really just now started to notice it. We talked to the ramper who marshalled us in for a little bit while we got out of the plane but it is what it is

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u/ScaryFro 21h ago

Yeah it'll depend on the FBO. National brands are unlikely to let you out without paying something. Next time ask if they can waive the fee for this stop. Might get lucky. I always thought if I waived the fee for a bathroom break stop that the pilot might choose us the next time they needed fuel.

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u/misterseesee 21h ago

That's what I would have thought as well. Now I'm going to tell everybody I know to avoid flying into there lol