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Pilot, Flying J wrap up merger
June 30, 2010
| by: Truckers News Staff
Pilot Travel Centers LLC and Flying J Inc. announced June 30 the completion of the merger of the two companies, creating a network of more than 550 interstate travel centers and travel plazas. The combination becomes effective July 1.
The new company, to be called Pilot Flying J, operates in 43 states and six Canadian provinces and employs more than 20,000 people. It is one of the top 10 privately held companies in the United States.
“We are now one great company, two great brands,” said Pilot Flying J President and CEO Jimmy Haslam. “Our new organization is a combination of two of the best-known brands in the travel center industry, both with strong family histories and shared values.
In July 2009, Pilot and Flying J announced a preliminary agreement to merge their travel center operations.
Customers will see the Pilot and Flying J brands on signage at the interstate facilities. Pilot has begun to accept the TCH card, and Flying J has begun to accept Comdata cards. This change gives the trucking community many more options of where to fuel that are not dependent on the card they carry.
Other plans call for enhanced restaurant offerings with national brands in all locations. Brand additions to Flying J locations in the new network include Denny’s, Subway and Pizza Hut. In addition, there will be upgrades to drivers’ lounges, new gasoline and diesel pumps, enhanced showers and remodeled restrooms at many locations.
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This is one of the sadest thing that could have happened to a truckstop!!! I bought 99% of my fuel at Flying J and enjoyed the people that worked there. It is too bad that pilot had to RUIN another great truckstop!!! None of my trucks will be allowed at a low class pilot. I will go back to the small truckstops that appreciate my business.
The absolute worst thing Pilot could do now is to replace Flying J Wi-Fi with Pilot brand Wi-Fi. The best thing they could do is destroy all Pilot Wi-Fi sites and replace them with Flying J wifi infrastructure.
At least with FJ you can always depend on great service. With Pilot? Slow, complicated hookup if you can get it to connect at all.
Overall I expect the entire Pilot Travel Center network to fail. They’ve expanded and assumed too much debt in the last few years to survive and thrive. This is what befell Flying J as well, their massive expansion to a full nationwide network of truck stops.
I hope that Flying J will improve the number of ppl at the fuel desk now that they have merged and maybe the pilot ppl will get the showers clean!!
Sorry about the unliked merger of the two companies…I’m new at working with the Trucking Industry..My Brother-In-Law has been driving for 20 years and tells us all the time “If you’ve got it, a truck brought it.” And he’s right..I just started working with a company called KleenOil and they have some fine additives and filtration systems. Bro-In-Law is getting set up on one of our Filtration systems, that just about eliminates oil changing…I understand that’s about $300 a shot….If anybody is interested in talking about one call me at 770-214-0018 or Email me..Tks, Tom
you have got a lot of nerve tom clune a lot of nerve to use a comment blog to advertise some product to sell what???? can’t afford traditional advertising??? have to use a blog in hopes of…..??? and being new to the industry it shows in bright letters…maybe being new to the industry you should have remembered what your trainer told you about keeping your ears open and your MOUTH SHUT!!!
Get the fuel cards straightened out.As it is right now,most flying j cards are no good now.The new cards should have been issued to the drivers before the old cards were cut off. You left alot of drivers just hanging.And when you call to inquire about a new card,not one person knows what is going on.That’s a heck of a way to run a company.
I used to buy almost all of my fuel from Flying J and have one of their Tabbank Mastercards. I am an independent owner operator and I deliver the truck that you drive. I bought $45,000 of fuel from Flying J last year. This year I have switched to Loves. They now take my mastercard and give me the cash price. Saves me about 2 cents over PilotFlyingJ. I will not buy fuel from Pilot. They treat me like I am a 5th class citizen. They don’t need my business. By buying Flying J Pilot certainly screwed up a fair to good truck stop. The same thing they did to the Williams Truck stops.
I currently work at one of the Flying J locations that was merged (purchased) by Pilot. In the past month I have been cursed by more drivers than I have ever been in my life. I understand that all are not happy about the merger and most do not like pilot, but what they do need to understand is that we are not the cause of the problem. We are working to support our families like everyone else and that we also have rules and regulations to follow. One of the largest problems we encounter is that if the customer is paying cash they have to come in and prepay. If we turn the pump on and the customer drives off the cashier is responsible. I love working at the truck stop and try to treat every customer with respect, but after so many cursings it gets alittle hard to keep a smile on and be polite.
I just retaired from 40years over the road and I remmember when 76 was the only place to fuel &flyinj has been a God sent to the truckers&I cannot see Flying J lowering there standards at all.To flying J truckers come first and this merger should make Pilot better for us.There are alot of good truckstops out there
But flyingJ will keep getting better &better.After 4million miles out there I should know where to Go.
Not quite, Pilot will bring down the Flying J portion, service will suffer and amenities will suffer as well. I’ve fueled at both before the merger happened and personally I hate PILOT, SERVICE SUCKS as well as the choices of restaurants they include within.
Flying J had a decent restaurant, where you felt like a customer and treated as one. Pilot’s are filthy fuel stops and nothing more, they want you to do your business and leave, it’s all numbers.
I always bought my fuel at Flyingj but not anymore. I hate Pilot. Tell me if when you go to Walmart they ask for the money in advance!
Oh by the way, i hate Danny’s factory food too.
i do not care for your dennys restraunt.they
have no buffet and no salad bar.there is no
seniors discount.they do not except points on
our payback card.how ever i will continue to
fuel at the pilot and flying j.you do have the
best coffee on the hiway.the new showers you have installed are nice but a little small.your
washrooms are kept very clean.
sincerly yours
gary kitchener-#7777-1064-6786-87
Being new to the industry I don’t have much validity to which truck stop is superior. However, I have found with my experience that pilot truck stops have been far cleaner than any other truck stop on the road. It seems every time I stop at a Flying J the restroom’s smell of day old shits festering on the inner walls of the toilet. As well as the punjunt smell of piss butter (You know what I mean; that discusting build up of pee) that has accumulated in the urinals(Flying J: Rawlins, WY x-209) I walked in, and right back out as fast as my legs could carry me. It never fails that every Flying J I go to the pizza is dried out and old. Being new to the industry is one hard pill to swallow is the ridiculous prices they charge for everything. I was dumbfounded! I know that conveinent stores prices are marked higher for “conveince” but give me a break, these prices are for lack of a better word….BULLSHIT!!!
Just my two cents
I don’t really care that Pilot took over Flying J. The only thing is that they should have left Flying J the way they where because when you go to Flying J you go there for there home cooked meals and the buffet, the home cooked cakes the nice showers and all the kool items to buy they had very nice things to buy and good equipment to send off for your companies. I do not like Denny’s, put in another buffet place like Golden Carrel or something don’t take away 1 good resturant and down grade
been trucking over 30 years. the j has been one of my best stops. no buffet,pay befor fueling,im old walking back and forth to fuel? kiss my kiester.im not going to stop there any more!
ALL TRUCK STOPS SUCK !!!!!!!!! OVERPRICED KRAPPY FOOD FILTHY SHOWERS ALWAYS STINKING NASTY KRAPPERS!!!! i avoid ALL OF THEM EXCEPT FOR FUEL AND SERVICE.
I dont mind the Fly J Pilots suck I just woundered what happen to all the Sinclair Truck stops, winn dixie truck stops those were always my favorite I always stoped at the fly j in gary indiana cause thts were my ex g/f i would have dinner an be able to visit for a while they got to know me by name and face in there and what ever happen to the waitress have the hospitallity they always seem rude. I know us truck drivers arent always in the best of mood when we come in to eat but i have alwys tryed treating every one like i like to be treated one fly j i walked into to hve bite to eat waitress was a true b*tch an i got up an walked out i havent been out on the road for a year or so im willing to see how the cange dose but i rather go back to the old mom an po truck stops
Flying J started the downhill slide after Jay Call died in the plane crash. If you know anything about the history of the company(Flying J) you would know that on many occasions Mr. Call would roll the dice, so to speak, in buying out companies(Husky). That culture was imbedded into his proteges. His chosen successor lost his bet on oil futures and could not recover due to bad economic times. I also do not care for Pilot but do not blame the Haslam clan for going after wounded prey(Flying J). It is called capitalism. It means only the strong survive. It does not mean only the best survive. I would love to see the Haslam clan adopt Jay Call’s commitment to customer service. Only time will tell. To any of you drivers that read I would highly recommend The History of Flying J. It tells the stories of Jay’s childood, his earlier partnerships with his Father, Osborne, his Uncle Ruell, and the history of the company. As some of the Western truckers may or may not know this company Jay’s Uncle and Father operated is called Maverick. Jay’s pop dropped dead of a heart attack in an Idaho Falls restaraunt in the early Sixties. Jay felt hamstrung as a minority stakeholder and struck out on his own. It is a great read. RIP Jay Call.
If they can keep them clean and good with food they might have a chance. I might put some people to work.
In some regards the merger wil be ok …on the other side of the coin…Pilot is now in position to increase 1-2 cents the fuel and will get a hefty profit …Flying J historiclly gave better prices than Pilot and Other Truck stops…but now those days are gone….all the Flying J services will be discontinued and we will see only Pilot brands all over…dont waste your time thinking that they will recreate Flying J brands thats over…
I don’t like Pilot TS’s because they take out the good restraunts and replace them with fast food! I come off the road after a long day I like to set and enjoy a sitdown meal!! not a micro waved dish of something.
A typical experience I had with Pilot truck stops is this: I and my co-driver stopped for a shower, and were given a shower with a broken door. We were igven 2 towels: one was torn almost in half and the other was oil-stained. When I complained to the manager about the conditions, I was invited to go elsewhere. When at all possible I have done so. I don’t know of a single instance where Pilot has taken over a truck stop that the facility or the services were improved in any way. I quit an otherwise perfectly good company when they changed their fueling policy and started to require their drivers to fuel at Pilots. No company who cares about their drivers would do such a thing. Of course, at that time we had the Flying J chain as an alternative. I have to believe that Jay Call is rolling over in his grave. This is just one more step in the disintegration of the industry.
I pulled into the Flying J off I-35 and US 50, exit 127, Emporia, Kansas, last night. On
2-3-2011 the restaurant had permanently closed. All the employees working there have to find new jobs. The Denny’s that was going to replace J’s restaurant had backed out of the deal. No plans for Denny’s or anything else for the time being. If you want a restaurant with good food, the TA at exit 135 is independently owned and operated. The food is exellent with real sit down booths and tables.
Also I was told that the plans for Denny’s to replace other Flying J restaurants fell through at 37 other locations. Denny’s decided not to honor their contract at ‘J’s in other parts of the country. I heard in Oklahoma, California and here at Emporia,Kansas.
I didn’t care for Flying J’s food, especially that quick service slop at the fuel desk. I also don’t care for Pilot and their insistence that I buy two 20oz Cokes, or two King size candy bars when all I want to do is tackle a little sweet tooth. Some of those clerks look at me like a fool when I refuse the offer.
Even though they look like a Pilot copycat, Loves seems to treat me better. Even in Memphis.
iv trucked for 10 years i can drive better than any of ya truckers
I was around when Flying J frist started Salt Lake City it was awsome,good RED FUEL, that made my V-8 3408 Cat purr,GOOD GOOD FOOD MORE THAT YOU COULD EAT and real cheap too.Well that was the good old days of trucking. but all good thing these days come to an end.