Online Scheduling

As a club we've been email- and web-literate almost since it was
possible to be that way,

That would not be us. I am the only instructor who has successfuly
scheduled a multi-day airplane rental. :-)

Interestingly, most of the instructors are young, but are almost
computer illiterate. One came to work one day depressed because his
wife had destroyed his computer by getting a virus. All he got when
turning the machine one was a black screen with a cryptic error
message. He brought me a copy of it. It said: "C:\Windows". I
hurt myself falling out of the chair laughing.

phone / voice command access turned on for the first two years of
use -- and no one ever used it.

I don't blame them. I hate voice systems, as a rule. But when I want
to check my bank balance, I use the automated telephone system....much
faster than logging in via the web.

It typically takes me seconds to enter a new entry in our system.

Takes me several minutes. You have to reserve the times by clicking
on option buttons in 30 minute increments. Four buttons for a 2 hour
flight. I go click, click, click, click, and then wait. After a
second or two, one option button lights, pause, then the second,
pause, third, pause and finally fourth.

Well, I'd have to say that with a club attitude like that, they're
probably right. Sounds like a self-fulfilling prophecy, to me...

Yes, you're right. That's why the decision-makers should have
involved everyone who would use the system.

I wonder if there's a market for a 'scheduling appliance' in the FBO
market...

You know how to make a small fortune in aviation....

In article ,
Greg Esres wrote:

It typically takes me seconds to enter a new entry in our system.

Takes me several minutes. You have to reserve the times by clicking
on option buttons in 30 minute increments. Four buttons for a 2 hour
flight. I go click, click, click, click, and then wait. After a
second or two, one option button lights, pause, then the second,
pause, third, pause and finally fourth.

Well, that's a bad interface and / or implementation, but it's not an
argument against online scheduling as such. The browser-based interface
we use has a small set of pull-down menus on the reservation form for
start and end date / times, and that's it unless you want to add a note
(like destination, etc.). Maybe ten seconds to do a normal booking,
perhaps fifteen for a complex booking. The reservation is usually
confirmed within a second or two of submitting the form.

Another rather pleasant feature is being able to do a backup booking
"behind" an existing reservation; if the original booking is cancelled,
your booking automatically becomes the current booking, and you're
notified in email. And for sudden maintenance bookings -- where you may
have to drop a dozen existing reservations at a moment's notice --
things like notifications, etc., are trivial and usually totally
automated. Our maintenance guys just love this system...

Hamish

Hamish Reid wrote in message ...
In article ,
Greg Esres wrote:

Our flight school is currently trying to move to an online, internet
based scheduling system, using a service provided by "MyFBO".

You might want to try http://www.fyreflyte.com/, it's cheaper, has a
very nice interface, fast, and is easy to use. I much prefer it to
Aircraftclubs.

-Malcolm Teas

Greg Esres wrote:

Our flight school is currently trying to move to an online, internet
based scheduling system, using a service provided by "MyFBO".


youcanbookit.com

It's what my FBO uses and it's FREE! We love it.

Best,

Randy Wentzel
KSTS