Layover allowance
The fixed sum paid for each night or layover spent away from base, usually in the destination's currency and often tax-free.
Definition
A layover allowance is the payment crew receive for a night-stop away from base, set per destination or per night rather than per hour and usually paid in the local currency of the layover city. It is the European and Gulf equivalent of the US hourly per diem, and airlines publish tables that reflect the cost of living in each city. Because it is treated as expenses it is commonly paid without deduction of tax, even at airlines whose salaries are taxed.
What it means for you
Your layover allowance table is worth reading before you bid or swap: a 48-hour stop in Tokyo pays more than one in Cairo, and the difference between a turnaround roster and a layover-heavy one can be the difference between saving and not. Allowances also stop when a trip is cancelled or turned into a turnaround, which is a real pay cut on a disrupted month.
In practice
Emirates pays layover per diems in destination currency, so a crew member on a 72-hour São Paulo layover is paid in reais at that city's rate and on a 24-hour Frankfurt stop in euros the following week.
Related terms
4 terms- Per diemPay & benefitsAn allowance paid for time away from base — hourly at US carriers, per night or per destination elsewhere — to cover meals and expenses.
- LayoverRoster & schedulingThe rest period spent away from base between two duties, in a crew hotel, from a legal minimum overnight up to several days.
- Crew hotelCrew lifeThe airline-contracted hotel where crew sleep on a layover, chosen for transport time and rest quality and paid by the airline.
- Layover cityCrew lifeA city where a crew is rostered to rest between sectors — the reward of long-haul flying and the reason many people apply at all.