# Book a trip that keeps the aircraft overnight

> Multi-day bookings are off until an admin turns them on, and they cannot be turned on until the school has a time zone, because the number of nights decides the bill.

Source: https://www.aerscheduler.com/docs/scheduling/overnight-and-multi-day-trips
Section: Scheduling and dispatch. For: Owners, Admins, Dispatchers, Renters, Instructors.

Multi-day bookings are off until an owner or admin turns them on under
`Settings → Booking preferences` (web console), and the switch stays
disabled until your school has a time zone set. Once on, the booking form asks when the
aircraft goes out and when it comes back, and each night away can bill a minimum number
of hours.

## Turn multi-day bookings on

**Who can do this:** Owners, Admins

Go to `Settings → Booking preferences` (web console) and turn on
**Allow multi-day bookings**.

![Settings, Booking preferences](https://www.aerscheduler.com/docs/booking-preferences-tab.png)

Until it is on, any booking that crosses local midnight is refused, wherever it was made
from:

> This booking would keep the aircraft overnight, and multi-day bookings are turned off for this organization. An owner or admin can enable them in Settings, under booking rules.

Dispatchers cannot change this. The whole Settings area is admin only.

## Set a time zone first, and why

The toggle is disabled, not merely warned about, until your school has a time zone. Set
one under `Settings → Organization` (web console), and give each field its
own zone under Facilities if you fly from more than one airport. The panel tells you what
is still missing.

> **Important:** This is a money rule, not a technicality. A trip's bill depends on how many nights it
> spans, and nights can only be counted in the airport's own zone. With no zone set, the
> count would fall back to whatever device the reader is on, and two people booking the same
> trip would be quoted different amounts.

More on the underlying rule in
[Why the schedule shows airport time](https://www.aerscheduler.com/docs/scheduling/airport-time-and-time-zones).

## Book across days

With the setting on, the date row on the booking form changes. **Date** becomes
**Out on**, and two new fields appear: **Back on** and **Back at**.

![Booking form with multi-day on](https://www.aerscheduler.com/docs/overnight-booking-fields.png)

Pick the departure date and start time as usual, then move **Back on** out to the return
day. The picker keeps the time of day where it can, and offers only end times that fit
inside the free window the booking starts in.

## What midnight means

A booking that ends exactly at local midnight is an ordinary same-day booking. Midnight is
the last slot the end-time picker offers on any day.

| Booking              | Multi-day?             |
| -------------------- | ---------------------- |
| 10:00 PM to midnight | No. An evening flight. |
| 10:00 PM to 12:15 AM | Yes. A night away.     |

That fifteen minutes is the difference between a booking that works with the setting off
and one that is refused.

## How nights are counted

Nights are counted at the airport, in the airport's zone, never on your device. A late
flight that lands before midnight local is not a night away, even if it is already
tomorrow where you happen to be sitting.

## The overnight minimum on the bill

An overnight minimum is a floor on the hours billed per night the aircraft is away. Set
the school's figure under `Settings → Billing` (web console). An individual
aircraft can override it on its own rates: leave it blank to inherit the school's figure,
or set it to zero to exempt that tail.

AerScheduler discloses the effect before the invoice exists, twice.

On the booking form, as you extend the return date:

> This keeps N12345 out for 2 nights. Your school bills at least 2.0 hours per night away, so this booking will bill a minimum of 4.0 hours even if you fly less.

And again in the ramp in modal, live, as the ending Hobbs is typed:

![Ramp in modal, overnight notice](https://www.aerscheduler.com/docs/ramp-in-overnight-notice.png)

> **Careful:** A weekend trip that flew 1.5 hours can bill 4.0. That is the minimum working as intended,
> and it is why the notice is repeated at close-out: the person ramping the aircraft back in
> is often not the person who booked it.

A booking that comes back the same day is never affected. See
[Charge a minimum for overnight trips](https://www.aerscheduler.com/docs/billing/charge-a-minimum-for-overnight-trips)
for the billing side.

## The aircraft is gone, not free overnight

A multi-day booking overrides the aircraft's normal operating hours. The aircraft is
unavailable for the whole span, not free again at 8:00 AM the next morning, because it is
physically somewhere else.

That is the behaviour you want, and it is also why nobody else's Start dropdown will offer
those days.