Layovers can be divided into two categories at most airlines. "Short" layovers and "long" layovers.

Short Layovers
An example of a short layover would be like arriving in Ontario, California at 7:21pm tonight and departing Ontario at 7:00am the next morning. When we're in a city a short amount of time with an early pickup, we'll stay at a hotel reasonably close to the airport.

Staying nearby the airport, you afford the opportunity to minimize travel time which will help you maximize your rest. If you are lucky, there may be a few amenities around the hotel in order to find a late night snack or an early morning breakfast buffet before you pick up in the morning. Generally, on a short layover, I'm not too concerned with the city I'm staying in, just as long as I can wind down after a long day and get some rest.

A short layover in Baton Rouge, Louisiana is about the same as a short layover in Las Vegas, Nevada. The reason is that there really isn't a lot of time to go meander around the city exploring unless you function well on just a few hours of sleep.

How Short is Short?
Layovers, as per the FAR's can be planned as short as 9 hours, depend on how much flying time you are scheduled for. Now, before you think that sleeping for 9 hours isn't really all that bad, let's look a little closer at a 9 hour layover.

As an example, let's say your flight lands in Portland, Oregon at 11:30pm. You are not schedule to fly out again until 8:30 the next morning so getting at least 8 hours of sleep shouldn't be a problem right? Not exactly.

After arriving in Portland, you greet passengers as they deplane which takes about 10 to 20 minutes. Also, you're required to complete a "Termination" checklist if the aircraft isn't flying again within about 4 hours which takes about 3 to 5 minutes depending on the aircraft type you are flying. After "putting the aircraft to bed" as it is commonly referred to, you may have to wait another 5 to 15 minutes for your ride to the hotel to arrive at the airport, load everyone's luggage and drive between 5 and 20 minutes to your short layover hotel.

Once you reach the hotel, it takes about another 5 minutes to check-in, obtain your room key and arrive in your room. At this point, if you arrive on time, you're already 1 hour and 5 minutes into your 9 hour layover. Some people are able to reach their rooms and go right to sleep, but for most people, after buzzing around the skies all day and probably executing a challenging approach at night in inclement weather, it takes another 15 to 45 minutes just to wind down enough to be able to go to sleep.

Generally, we'll pick up at the hotel at a time in which to arrive at the aircraft one hour prior to scheduled departure. So if our next flight is scheduled to leave at 8:30am and we have a 15 minute ride to the airport, you'll plan to meet in the lobby at 7:15am

Since you wear a uniform, you need to plan to get up at a time to take a shower, arrange your epaulets (the captain or first officer stripes) on your shirt, affix your wings straight on your shirt and grab a cup of coffee. It takes me about an hour before our prearranged hotel "pick up" time to be able to function properly.

If you look at the time line, you'll see that an FAA-legal 9 hour break not including breakfast, if available, can turn into about 5 hours of sleep very easily.

Long Layovers
A good example of a long layover is on one of the Dallas trips arrives in San Diego, California at 9:37am the first morning and departs at 7:00am the next day. So essentially, you have roughly 21 1/2 hours in San Diego. Of course the airline could arrange for a hotel nearby the airport with only a gas station mini market across the street out of pure economic concerns, but our pilot union contract dictates that we should have basic amenities available for a long layover.

The trip to the hotel we stay at in downtown San Diego is about 15 to 20 minutes away from the airport. However, the hotel we stay at is absolutely terrific in a fantastic area of San Diego with access to shops, malls, restaurants, easy transportation to the San Diego Zoo, steps from the beach and nearby a sailing club that a few captains that I know rent sailboats from during their layover.

What about the other Crew Members?
Sometimes we layover with the flight attendants and other times, we'll layover and the flight attendants will continue onto another city. When you have a long layover, the flight attendants may have a short layover because they're assigned an earlier flight the next day and may stay at a different hotel. Generally speaking, when flight attendants and pilots lay over in the same city, we'll usually try to go to dinner or lunch as a group.

The airline profession seems to attract a certain type of person. Generally, we can all tolerate being on the road for two to four days at a time, but it can be difficult because unlike people involved in more traditional careers, at the end of the day, you retire to a hotel room in a city you don't know a whole lot about. Believe me, sleeping in your own bed, waking up late and opening a can of Chef Boyardee Ravioli in your own kitchen may sound like commonplace to regular folks, but to pilots and flight attendants, it's absolutely heaven.

Sometimes you may meet the rest of the crew for a cocktail, a movie or dinner and other times, you may decide to "ditch" the other crewmembers and venture out on your own because they're driving you ballistic. Largely, most people get along very well, even thought there may be vastly different ages, backgrounds and personalities.

I think it would be safe to say that you could categorize your fellow crewmembers layover behavior into three different categories:

The "Slam-Clickers". This is a euphemism for the people who hit the layover city, and no matter how long or short the layover is, or how exciting the city, the only thing you hear the the "slam" of the door and the "click" of the dead-bolt lock. Generally these are people that have little alone time at home and go on trips to get away from the cacophony of normal life at home.

The "Moderates". Usually, the moderates are people that like to meet later on for dinner or a cocktail, but generally don't venture too deep into the layover city. Sometimes they meet for fun activities, but sometimes spend the first few hours of a long layover paying bills online with their laptop, checking on the families at home or catching up with CNN. A good example of this would be checking into the hotel at 1pm and arranging to meet the captain at 5:30pm for dinner.

The "Outdoorsmen". I fall into this category myself so I can describe this category in "first person". I loath watching television and tend to enjoy exploring the city I'm laying over in. After I check into the hotel and change out of my uniform, I'll look for something fun to do and somewhere with a little local flair for lunch and/or dinner. My theory is that I spend quite a large portion of my life on the road in and out of hotels so I might as well use the time wisely to broaden myself and have some fun. I like to rent mountain bikes and play blackjack in Reno, ride the subway downtown on New York City layovers and search for tasty microbrews in Boston.

Pointers for a fun layover:
1. Always check to see if the other crewmembers are interested in meeting for activities. You could miss an opportunity to hang out with some very interesting people.
2. Leave your political affiliations at home. There is nothing more annoying having to listen to someone parade their political philosophies assuming that you feel the same as they do.
3. Venture out. Even though a 15 hour layover in Great Falls, Montana doesn't sound very exciting, you'll never know what a fun city it actually is until you start exploring.
4. Do a little research. Before a long layover, spend a little time and research on the Internet about what's to do in a particular city. It also might save you some embarrassment down the road also. I still remember when I was a new flight engineer walking back from a Mexican restaurant down by "The River Walk" in San Antonio, Texas and we pass this familiar-looking building. I said, "Hey, that building looks just like 'The Alamo'" to the other two pilots and three flight attendants. It was.

Time away from home is what you make it. If you're homesick and bitter about being away from your home during a trip, you're not going to enjoy your career. If you try to make the best out of the city during your stay, you'll have a much more enjoyable time working in the airlines.