Pilot Flying J -vs- T/A

For me when it comes time to use your "points" at the flying j or pilot they just swipe your rewards card and deduct it accordingly.At T/A you have to go to the "machine and get a voucher to redeem your points.More convenient at flying j pilot

 

Now days you have to be loyal to the price and quality of the fuel more than brand.

 

I like that the showers earned stay longer with TA, so, I try to do a fuel stop there to keep shower points, Flying J has good soups and chili when your in a hurry or just gonna grab a quick meal on your thirty...

However, not all TA's and Flying J's are equal.. so, it is also gonna depend where I am and that areas particular Flying J or TA... for coffee.. I like Piolits coffee...

 

feel the same way. that and i HATE the angle parking at ta's. (maybe that's just me.)

there are def p/j that i stay away from. mainly because they are home to where the megas fuel route every truck to and it takes forever to get in and out. don't see that so much at ta/petro or even loves.

used to favor p/j but lately i seem to be routing myself to more loves or ta/petro.

 

Pilot/j, Getting triple point rewards = a minimum of $50-60 a month is well worth my loyalty.

 

For the "perks" ease in use and actually what you get, Pilots and J's, Amenities Petro's and TA's for the most part. Food, generally some of the older TS's have the best or better/cheaper food than the chains. Parking, Husband say's that the Older TS's and some of the small Mom & Pop places tended to have the easiest and more "open" spaces later in the evenings than the chains. ( potholes non-withstanding)

Fuel is usually who has the best/cheapest/quality, where the company he worked for got the best discount. When we had a choice, I would look up which fuel to get, often we would take our shower and have a fast food lunch and keep going for the day to stop at a small Mom and Pop that we knew had good food and park for the night.

Because we really liked alot of the older Mom and Pop places, we stopped at them whenever we got a chance. Fueling not usually being an option, we would eat, sometimes shower and buy presents for the "kids" mostly friends and family kids, ours are grown and didn't want a T-shirt from Boondocks or Flick's. ( Flick's was one of our favorite small TS's to stop at, food was/is always good to excellent and priced very good)

 

As a company driver, I'm stuck with PFJ and Sapps.

 

We are O/O for Landstar and we do most of our business with TA/Petro. Generally speaking, their showers are in pretty good shape, clean, well appointed and usually larger than a broom closet. We personally like the VIP parking they have come out with. Yes it is very controversial among drivers but here is out take on it....when we have been on the road all day and half the night, we like knowing we have a place to park. Kind of like making hotel reservations for us. Many of the TAs have buffets that are good. Great salad bars and a lot of choices. you do run across the occasional one that makes you wonder where they hid the cook but if you ever get to Seville, Ohio, go on in and eat. they have, I can say without any hesitation, some of the best food we have eaten anywhere in the country, and I think we have hit them all. As for fuel, well discounts are usually company dependent and we do best a TA//Petro. Here is the clincher for us. when we run into an issue, there is ALWAYS someone available to solve our complaints, concerns. They are very customer service oriented and have never failed to help us.

 

TA and most Petro's bathrooms suck compared to Pilot/Flying J and the fact that they charge an arm and a leg to park at various locations causes me to avoid them whenever feasible. It should be a mortal sin to charge hardworking professional drivers to park.