So the pilots aren’t sleeping in the cockpit any longer? That’s good to know!

This article in the Wall Street Journal exposed the lifestyles of US airline staff focussing on the increase in commuting by plane.  Rather than relocate many airline staff choose to crash in shared apartments or RV’s in parking lots during their working days then fly long distances back home.

Why don’t the major hotel chains offer standby rooms for pilots and flight crews? There are so many vacant hotel rooms couldn’t the airline staff just pay a modest fee?

The Hotel chains could comp the pilots and crews in exchange for their own reduced or comped airfares. I’m talking about the rooms that would be empty anyway at a lot of these airport hotels. It’s just a thought, but it would not cost the hotel chains a dime if they were comping rooms which were not sold anyway.
This is a serious issue of airline safety and I think that everything can and should be done for the safety of the airlines. If I owned a major hotel chain such as the Holiday Inn, I would instruct all my managers at my airport locations to comp all pilots and crews if the rooms were available.

The corporate goodwill that this would engender would be priceless. And again, I’m not asking them to take rooms out of their inventory, just give special rates to communter pilots or the pilots of major airlines. And, in tern, I would hope that the major carriers would work out a deal for lower or standby rates for the hotel chain employees of certain levels as well.
One hand washes the other, and it can be quite effective I would expect.
The Holiday Inn or the Hilton or whatever could offer the pilots and stewardesses of United or American free standby rooms in exchange for free standy tickets. What an advertising coup that would be. I would do it at all major airport locations.