MMU ramp fee

"Peter Gottlieb" wrote:
To them, small GA planes are an annoyance and in order to make
their target minimum profit per plane they have to either charge a large
amount for fuel or hit you with a significant ramp fee...
...One of the line guys said it was very quiet there with not many
planes showing up.

See, that's what I don't understand: I've never been in an FBO that I would
describe as "busy." Why would they want to discourage our business?
--
Dan
C172RG at BFM

"Gary L. Drescher" wrote in message
et...
"Tom S." wrote in message
...

"Gary L. Drescher" wrote in message
et...
"Tom S." wrote in message
...

"Peter Gottlieb" wrote in message
news The FBO is Signature; I stopped (place was fairly empty, there was
only
one
other plane there that was not tied down), went in, looked at the
weather
terminal, called FSS, and went back to the door. Surprise! It
was
locked.
I pressed buttons, nothing. Then a lady came to the counter and
informed
me
there was a $22 fee for coming there and I could leave as soon as
I
paid
it.

Most places that's called "unlawful detention".

Only if the front door's locked too.

In reading it again, I don't see any other door mentioned.

Well, there's no mention of walls either, so I guess Peter could've just
walked around the locked door.


There might have been an unlocked front door but the only door to the ramp
(and my plane!) was definitely locked.

"Rosspilot" wrote in message
...
If I ever find myself stopping at
Signature again I am sure as heck getting my money's worth out of them in
services.

Hard to eat $22 worth of popcorn. G

True, even at movie theater prices.

Peter Gottlieb wrote:

There might have been an unlocked front door but the only door to the ramp
(and my plane!) was definitely locked.

In most places in the USA it's illegal for an exit door to be locked during
business hours. Violates the fire code.

--
Jim

carry on

"Mike Rapoport" wrote
More likely because its unprofitable.

Probably. So for everyone in the area - here's how you can get back
at them.

Thinking about shooting some practice approaches? MMU is a good place
for it. Thinking of going someplace to get those controlled field
landings in? Maybe some pattern work? MMU is a good place for it.

Controller status (including pay) is determined by the NUMBER of
operations at the facility, not the type. Every time that controller
tells you "Cleared for touch&go" that's two operations. A good
controller can really keep that pattern hopping. Of course that's
exactly the kind of place the bizjet pilot prefers to avoid - and he's
the guy Signature is depending on.

So make it a point to make MMU the center for student training. Get
that operations count up. The controllers will love you. As for
Signature - well, they don't care about us, so why should we care
about them?

Michael

I think my answer fits better. Given fixed costs, etc., how would selling 50
gallons instead of 300 gallons be "unprofitable"? It's not like the "big
iron" is going to have to wait in line and then leave.

I've seen quite a few snotty FBO's when we were flying a Twin Commander 690.

Ego and the American work ethic.


"Mike Rapoport" wrote in message
...
More likely because its unprofitable.

Mike
MU-2
See, that's what I don't understand: I've never been in an FBO that I
would
describe as "busy." Why would they want to discourage our business?

Ego.

Jim Herring wrote in message ...
Peter Gottlieb wrote:

There might have been an unlocked front door but the only door to the ramp
(and my plane!) was definitely locked.

In most places in the USA it's illegal for an exit door to be locked during
business hours. Violates the fire code.

I've seen this quite a bit recently. Not to extract $$s from
pilots, but by order of the TSA on ramps that serve both GA and
commercial traffic. I don't think the TSA worries about fire codes.

John Galban=====N4BQ (PA28-180)

"John Galban" wrote in message
om...
Jim Herring wrote in message
...
Peter Gottlieb wrote:

There might have been an unlocked front door but the only door to the
ramp
(and my plane!) was definitely locked.

In most places in the USA it's illegal for an exit door to be locked
during
business hours. Violates the fire code.

I've seen this quite a bit recently. Not to extract $$s from
pilots, but by order of the TSA on ramps that serve both GA and
commercial traffic. I don't think the TSA worries about fire codes.

Large airports have always locked passenger-terminal doors that open onto
the ramp. I doubt there's any fire-code violation, as long as they're not
marked as exit doors and as long as enough unlocked, marked exit doors
exist.

John Galban=====N4BQ (PA28-180)

On Mon, 04 Aug 2003 21:17:42 -0500, Jim Herring
wrote:

Peter Gottlieb wrote:

There might have been an unlocked front door but the only door to the ramp
(and my plane!) was definitely locked.

In most places in the USA it's illegal for an exit door to be locked during
business hours. Violates the fire code.

True, but on all of the airports that have commercial traffic I think
you will find any door to the ram from the outside to be locked. I
know that all are at MBS and you need an escort to your plane.

Roger Halstead (K8RI EN73 & ARRL Life Member)
www.rogerhalstead.com
N833R World's oldest Debonair? (S# CD-2)

"Mike Rapoport" wrote in message
...
More likely because its unprofitable.



Perhaps unprofitable compared to the higher end of GA and based on the
number of "transactions," however, I do not believe the $22 fee maximizes
their income. A lower fee would result in enough extra volume to pull in
more revenue. My visit there cost them nothing at all as I used no
consumables.