Originally Posted by
BigLar
This is a little surprising, so maybe I misunderstood your answer.
Many years ago I worked for CO, back in the Frank Lorenzo days (note to youngsters: google him and see
). I wasn't flight crew, but I dealt with a lot of them. The airline had arrangements with hotels in every city they served, and when finishing a flight they usually headed off to said hotel where the room was paid for, or at least reimbursed. The price may or may not have included any meals.
As a side benefit, we all had company ID's, and that was usually good for an 'airline rate' at most hotels, car rentals, etc. that the airline had arrangements with, so I often used my ID on vacation to keep the cost down.
PS - never heard of 'Delsey dining', but I can imagine ...
Sorry, to clarify:
The company pays for the hotel rooms. We don't have to worry about that. The company has contracts with hotels for x amount of time. Crew pay for food/drinks/extras. Apart from breakfast on LGW routes (bar USA destinations). Flight crew don't get "free" breakfast". We do tend to get discounts on food (and sometimes beverages) in the hotels we stay in, usually 10%, which in most places is the equivalent of the dreaded "service charge".
Re Delsey dining - it's amazing what one can make with a kettle and an iron
