Flight Circle allows users to create backup reservations for a timeslot in which the plane is already booked by another user. What is a backup reservation? If the owner of the primary reservation (the one you usually see displayed in blue for reservations) cancels their reservation due to weather or other issues, the backup reservation becomes the primary reservation. This is a nice way of making a potential reservation during a busy weekend day if the weather might prevent a member from using their reservation.

A few words about reservations, etiquette, and guidelines before we show you how to make a backup reservation:

• If you have a primary reservation and you know you won't be able to use it, it is your obligation to the club to cancel as soon as you know you are most likely not to use the reservation. Why?
  • the club prices the planes based on expected utilization. Our data driven model uses a rolling 24 month average utilization.
  • We also consider human behavior and the weekends in particular are the expected busy utilization of the plane
  • When a plane goes from reserved to available at the last minute on a busy day. The whole club will eventually pay in higher fees over time.
  • Backup reservations are only useful if the pilot making the backup reservation has some advance notification
• Schedule the plane for the time you expect to use it. If you are briefing and de-briefing with an instructor on a training flight, schedule the instructor for the extra time rather than the plane. That way someone else can pre-flight or post-flight the plane while you talk with your instructor
• Backup reservations are a nice feature but you should only make one backup reservation during any time slot
• If you make a backup reservation, please be ready to use it if you have at least a couple hours of notice. If you won't be able to use the backup reservation or you want to go golfing or whatever, cancel your backup reservation just like you would the primary reservation.
• If and when you cancel your primary reservation and it has a backup reservation. It is common courtesy to contact the pilot personally and let them know. Contact information is available in Flight Circle.
• If the primary reservation is canceled and your backup reservation becomes primary, the Flight Circle administrators can examine the history of the reservations. In such cases we can avoid charging no-show fees for last minute primary cancelations. However if your reservation becomes primary with more than a few hours of notification, it is your reservation and your no show fee. So please treat your backup reservation as you would any regular commitment to use the airplane. Cancel if you know you won't use it or watch it with baited breath if you do plan to use it.

Ok, still interested? Here's how to make a backup reservation: