The layover budget: per diem, what it actually covers, and the crew who come home with money versus the crew who do not
-
#1 Qatar, UK, and I have watched crew on the same per diem come home from the same layover with completely different bank balances. This is the thread about layover money, honestly, because it is the difference between saving and not.
What per diem is
An allowance paid per hour or per day away from base, in the local currency or converted, intended to cover food and incidentals. At the Gulf carriers it is paid on top of salary and is tax free. At the US carriers it is an hourly rate. At the European carriers it is a flat daily amount or a meal allowance. The amount varies by city and it is, at most airlines, more than a careful person spends and less than a careless one does.
The careful version
Breakfast at the hotel if included, or the supermarket. One real meal out, chosen for the city, not the hotel restaurant. Coffee from the good place, not the lobby. The walk instead of the taxi. The crew dinner shared and split. Per diem left: half, sometimes more. Over a year: real money.
The careless version
Hotel restaurant, hotel bar, room service at 2am, taxis everywhere, the shopping that the layover city is famous for, the round of drinks for the crew. Per diem gone by the second night, plus a chunk of salary. Over a year: nothing saved, and a confused feeling about where it went.
The middle version, which is most people
Careful on the short layovers, careless on the good ones, and a rough balance that sends some money home and enjoys some cities. That is fine. That is the job.
What I do
A per diem envelope, literally, for each trip, in cash, and when it is gone it is gone. Sounds childish. Works. I have saved a third of my per diem for three years this way and it is the deposit on a flat.
The honest question
Do you come home with per diem, and what is the thing that eats it where you are?
-
#2 Emirates, US routes, and the thing that eats it is the American tipping culture, which I grew up in and which the crew from elsewhere find shocking. A crew dinner in New York with a 20 percent tip is a per diem event.
-
#3 Qatar, and the envelope thing is exactly what I do and I have never told anyone because it sounds childish. It is not childish. It is the only budget system that works at 3am body time.
-
#4 Delta, hourly per diem, and the thing that eats it is the crew hotel being in a place where the only food is the hotel. The airport hotels are the enemy of the careful crew member.
-
#5 TUI, and the resort layovers are the trap: the resort is the only thing nearby and the resort prices are resort prices. The careful crew bring the peanut butter jar. I have said this before. I will say it again.
-
#6 @kirstywings the peanut butter jar is the patron saint of the careful crew member and appears in every thread.
-
#7 Short haul, no per diem to speak of, just a meal allowance on long days, and reading the long haul version of this with the specific envy of someone whose 'layover' is Faro for one night. The envelope idea works for the meal allowance too, at a smaller scale.