Online Scheduling

tonycondon

tonycondon

Gastons CRO (Chief Dinner Reservation Officer)
Joined
Mar 9, 2005
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15,470
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Wichita, KS
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Tony
After flying over at the club in Cedar Rapids, i fell in love with online scheduling. Ive been bugging the heck out of my FBO here in ames to get with the times and may be getting close with them. Ive convinced that they can actually get to the point where they have better control over who rents what when if they computerize everything. also it is MUCH more convenient for customers. We used www.aircraftclubs.com at Green Castle. What does your FBO/club use? Cost is a major factor, as well as features.
 
tonycondon said:
After flying over at the club in Cedar Rapids, i fell in love with online scheduling. Ive been bugging the heck out of my FBO here in ames to get with the times and may be getting close with them. Ive convinced that they can actually get to the point where they have better control over who rents what when if they computerize everything. also it is MUCH more convenient for customers. We used www.aircraftclubs.com at Green Castle. What does your FBO/club use? Cost is a major factor, as well as features.
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Tony,

My club uses aircraftclubs.com as well. It's a great system. And yes, we do pay extra so we have phone scheduling too. That's one thing that really sets it apart.

Wisconsin Aviation has their own server so they use a piece of (crap) software called Online Resource Scheduler. It took them a LOT of tweaking before they got it to not completely suck, and it's still not up to the standards of aircraftclubs.com BUT it is free IIRC.

Gran-Aire in Milwaukee (where I used to work) is now using FlightSchedule Pro. I don't know a whole lot about it, but since Gran-Aire was not only super-cheap but super-primitive (I'm still not sure if they even have their own web site), it's gotta be cheap and easy.
 
tonycondon said:
We used www.aircraftclubs.com at Green Castle. What does your FBO/club use? Cost is a major factor, as well as features.
Click to expand...

We use aircraftclubs. Very convienent, and we also have the option to dial in using their 800 number for scheduling when away from a computer. Works super well, and I like being able to see who has had the plane before me...
 
our club uses schedulemaster.com
Many of the fbos in the area use schedulepoint.com

One advantage the FBO may see is greater utilization as people can log on anytime to just probe for free planes at convenient times. We saw about a 20% increase:happydance: when we went from call up the FBO where we tie down during business hours to on-line scheduling.

Joe
 
Panorama, the FBO/School here in HPN uses "FBO Scheduler" which has a nice user interface including the ability to scroll over appointments or click on the name of the renter/student to see the appt.

Unfortunately, I can't find their website at the moment....

Jason
 
Aircraftclubs for the R44 and Cherokee. The R22 mostly only goes out for an hour or so, so scheduling generally isn't a problem with it.
 
Flying Country Club in Moline, IL uses www.schedulemaster.com. I thought it worked pretty well. Not the 'prettiest' GUI, but it worked nonetheless. I have absolutely NO clue as to what cost of operation is, though. It does come with 800 call-in number which I never used.

They really do need to get with the times there at *unnamed FBO*. That would definitely help fill their schedule. Students sitting in lab and say "Huh.. I wonder if the plane is available for a quick flight this afternoon." Boom -- there's an extra hour of flight time that might not happen if they have to call up and *heaven forbid* TALK to someone. Besides -- with ?6? planes on the ramp, they could use something more in-depth than the 'ol desk calendar.

-Chris
 
Aircraftclubs.com works great. I believe it costs about $15.00 per month per aircraft. I've used schedulemaster a bit also but think A/C clubs has the better of the 2 sites. There is a learning curve for using the 800# for phone reservations, but after a few tries, it works well too.
 
I set up a Yahoo group and we use that but it is only two of us so it is not a big deal.
 
We use Schedulemaster now and used ARSA for almost 10 years. Both systems are great by computer or phone, each access of which I use regularly.
 
tonycondon said:
After flying over at the club in Cedar Rapids, i fell in love with online scheduling. Ive been bugging the heck out of my FBO here in ames to get with the times and may be getting close with them. Ive convinced that they can actually get to the point where they have better control over who rents what when if they computerize everything. also it is MUCH more convenient for customers. We used www.aircraftclubs.com at Green Castle. What does your FBO/club use? Cost is a major factor, as well as features.
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Hi Tony
After bugging our club for a couple of years we got the board to agree to a 6 month trial of aircraftclubs.com. Well one and a half years later we still are using them. We love it, evrybody can log on and see when a plane is open. We use to have to call the saftey officer at his office and tell him what day and what plane you want to fly. I think everybody is happy woth aircraft club.com.

Regards Mike
 
tonycondon said:
We used www.aircraftclubs.com at Green Castle.
Click to expand...

Funny story. My sister got picked to be the scheduler for the two guest rooms in their hi-rise condo. She asked me how she might put the calendar on a website. I put her onto aircraftclubs.com. The condo owners have been happily reserving the guest rooms for their visitors now for going on three years!
 
thats pretty funny steve, i guess it is a good way to schedule any resources
 
hmmm google calendars looks cool (free) but i dont see any way to manage several aircraft, i guess you could make seperate calenders for each. but then how would you allow customers to make changes without being able to delete others?
 
tonycondon said:
hmmm google calendars looks cool (free) but i dont see any way to manage several aircraft, i guess you could make seperate calenders for each. but then how would you allow customers to make changes without being able to delete others?
Click to expand...

I think you would need one calendar per aircraft.

You would then share each calendar with specific users:

http://www.google.com/support/calendar/bin/answer.py?answer=37082

I have not found an answer to the question how you prevent users from deleting other users' reservations ...

You can now embed the calendar(s) into your Web site and add weather info, that's all pretty cool, but it still doesn't solve the issue.
 
yea thats what i found too tom. oh well...thanks!
 
Love the online scheduler. My last school used flightschedulepro. New place I will be renting planes (until I seal the deal on the Comanche :D), does not have one, yet. I will be pushing/suggesting it. Don't want to wait for return phone calls to schedule. I want to know when I want to know.
 
The club I'm in uses aircraftclubs.com. It works great. I like the system very much and have been pleased with it.

For the Mooney, we just use Google Calendar, but that is because free is important, and there are only two of us who use the plane. And when we're at the office we're about 100 ft away from eachother, so it's pretty easy to settle any questions or disputes on use of the plane.

I'd recommend aircraftclubs.com for your FBO, Tony.
 
I see the thread started two years ago...

...And Tony's FBO (which shall remain nameless) still doesn't have online scheduling. :dunno:
 
flyingcheesehead said:
I see the thread started two years ago...

...And Tony's FBO (which shall remain nameless) still doesn't have online scheduling. :dunno:
Click to expand...
Neither does mine, unfortunately. I know that a lot of us would really like to have it, but the front office feels they need the flexibility of being able to move people around in planes to maximize usage. I admit they have a point, but as a tech guy it still bugs me.
 
yea, its hopeless with my FBO. having supreme control over a paper schedule seems to be a main point with the desk. oh well
 
Tony,

CAVU Aviation uses SkyScheduler. I think it is set up well and I have no problems with it whatsoever. I have it linked to iCal on my Mac, so my online reservations transfer to my laptop's calender. I also linked it to my Google calendar, which I in turn feature on my iGoogle front page, so my flight lessons show up every time I open my browser.

I would go crazy without online scheduling. If my school didn't have something I'd probably invent my own.
 
yea, ive finally just started keeping a google calendar for myself. has saved me a bazillion minutes on the cell calling to the airport to see what time i fly in the morning.
 
tonycondon said:
yea, ive finally just started keeping a google calendar for myself. has saved me a bazillion minutes on the cell calling to the airport to see what time i fly in the morning.
Click to expand...

You just made me appreciate our online scheduler even more. I'd go nuts having to call in all the time.
 
Areeda said:
our club uses schedulemaster.com
Click to expand...
Ours does, too. One of the very convenient features is that you can access the system by 800- number telephone. If you return to the airport early, you can easily cancel the rest of your schedule and give someone else a chance.

-Skip
 
skyflyer8 said:
Tony,

CAVU Aviation uses SkyScheduler. I think it is set up well and I have no problems with it whatsoever. I have it linked to iCal on my Mac, so my online reservations transfer to my laptop's calender. I also linked it to my Google calendar, which I in turn feature on my iGoogle front page, so my flight lessons show up every time I open my browser.

I would go crazy without online scheduling. If my school didn't have something I'd probably invent my own.
Click to expand...
The first flight school I worked at used this one. Then the second flight school I worked at used Flight Schedule Pro. I much preferred SkySchedule. The user interface is much nicer than FSP, thats for sure. As far as costs and usability from the renter's side, I don't know, but as a user SkySchedule wins hands down.
 
tonycondon said:
yea, ive finally just started keeping a google calendar for myself. has saved me a bazillion minutes on the cell calling to the airport to see what time i fly in the morning.
Click to expand...

WOW!!!! A two year necropost and still no scheduler. I'm surprised you haven't just implemented it by now and put it on their desk.
 
Henning said:
WOW!!!! A two year necropost and still no scheduler. I'm surprised you haven't just implemented it by now and put it on their desk.
Click to expand...


This sums up Tony's situation completely (I can vouch for it):

tonycondon said:
yea, its hopeless with my FBO. having supreme control over a paper schedule seems to be a main point with the desk. oh well
Click to expand...
 
tonycondon said:
yea, its hopeless with my FBO. having supreme control over a paper schedule seems to be a main point with the desk. oh well
Click to expand...

Have they considered lost revenue from folks unwilling to go through the "hassle" of calling? A local FBO I used to rent from had their phoned manned by a person who would answer with the undertone of "why is this call so important that you had to pull me away from my game of computer solitaire?" Needless to say, I probably would have rented 3-4x more than I did.
 
tonycondon said:
yea, its hopeless with my FBO. having supreme control over a paper schedule seems to be a main point with the desk. oh well
Click to expand...

Y'know, they can still have supreme control over an online schedule. Heck, on aircraftclubs.com I'm an admin for my club. I can move reservations around, make maintenance reservations, bump Pete off 271G and make it look like he did it, etc. (Just kidding, Pete. ;) ;) )

Heck, they could have supreme control WITHOUT EVEN BEING AT THE AIRPORT. From what I can tell, I bet a certain someone who shall remain nameless (because I'm sure Tony and Chris both know who I'm talking about) would LOVE that.

Sam Doolittle said:
Have they considered lost revenue from folks unwilling to go through the "hassle" of calling? A local FBO I used to rent from had their phoned manned by a person who would answer with the undertone of "why is this call so important that you had to pull me away from my game of computer solitaire?" Needless to say, I probably would have rented 3-4x more than I did.
Click to expand...

Another sad example of FBO's not having a freakin' clue when it comes to attracting and retaining customers and making their experience a positive one.
 
For our club we use Flight Schedule Pro. Not as free as the free solution, but works great. 160 members + 13 airplanes in our club. You can reserve as standby in case someone cancels, make custom views (i.e. show me my instructor and my plane only), reserve instructor and plane at same time with instructor only time before/after plane time, announcements, gallery, bulletin board, e-mails alerts/reservations, shows when plane is in maintenance, etc.

Screen capture sample below. Note: I chopped off people's names to protect the guilty. When you hover over the appointments a pop-up appears which shows you the details.

fsPRO.JPG
 
JimSee said:
For our club we use Flight Schedule Pro. Not as free as the free solution, but works great. 160 members + 13 airplanes in our club. You can reserve as standby in case someone cancels, make custom views (i.e. show me my instructor and my plane only), reserve instructor and plane at same time with instructor only time before/after plane time, announcements, gallery, bulletin board, e-mails alerts/reservations, shows when plane is in maintenance, etc.
Click to expand...

Most of the online schedulers have those features, but I found FlightSchedule Pro to have the worst user interface of the bunch, at least within the context of the one FBO where I tried to use it. I couldn't find a way to even find out when my own reservations were, and names weren't shown on the reservations so you couldn't tell who had things reserved when, just whether or not they were reserved. Very klunky.
 
The school I taught at uses flightschedulepro, and it made a huge difference in the effective rentals. It allowed for each aircraft to be flown more hrs, and for the CFI's to better schedule themselves as well.
 
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