Why was my booking refused?
Every message AerScheduler gives when it will not create a booking, what it means, and the shortest way past it.
For owners, admins, dispatchers, instructors, students, renters and technicians
AerScheduler never trims a booking quietly. When it will not create one it says which person, which aircraft or which rule stopped it. This page lists every refusal and the shortest way past each.
No times are offered for the day I want#
The Start dropdown lists only 15 minute marks where the resource and every person on the booking are simultaneously free. When nothing overlaps, the list is empty and says "No open times on this date for everyone selected."
Underneath it there is a Next available link with a date and a time. Clicking it moves the form to that slot, which is usually faster than hunting.
Otherwise, shorten the list of people. Adding a second instructor or a fourth student intersects one more diary into the calculation, so removing somebody almost always opens slots. Trying another aircraft or another day does the same.
That person does not meet currency requirements#
"Jamie Smith does not meet currency requirements."
Somebody on the booking is not current for that aircraft. Open their currencies and look at all four counts, not just Expired. A currency that has never been signed off counts as not current even though nothing has run out, and that is the usual answer.
Some currency rules allow the flight with a current instructor aboard. If yours does, adding an instructor to the booking clears the refusal. Nothing on screen explains that this is what happened, so it can look as if the block was never real.
Somebody on the booking is grounded, archived or unavailable#
"Jamie Smith is grounded." or "Jamie Smith is grounded for unpaid invoices. Paying them lifts it."
The refusal always names the person. Two flavors:
- Grounded for unpaid invoices, which AerScheduler applies by itself. It says so, because paying the invoices lifts it with no admin involved.
- Grounded by an admin, where the reason is deliberately not quoted back. It may be personal, and the person reading the message is often not the person who is grounded.
Grounding only blocks bookings with an aircraft on them. A grounded member can still be booked into a ground lesson or a simulator session. Archived and unavailable people are named the same way.
The aircraft is grounded#
A grounded aircraft can be booked for Maintenance and for nothing else. That exception is deliberate: the maintenance booking is what gets it back in service, so blocking it would leave the aeroplane permanently stuck.
The airworthiness notice above the time picker is a separate thing. It reports the grounding reason and any open squawks so you know what you are booking. Open squawks on an aircraft that is not grounded are information, not a block.
See Why can't I book this aircraft?.
A solo has one pilot, a shared flight has none#
The personnel limits are per type, and they are refusals rather than warnings.
| Message | What it means |
|---|---|
| "A solo has one pilot. Book a dual if an instructor is flying with a student." | A solo carries exactly one person. This is regulatory, not a product limit: 14 CFR 61.87 defines solo as the student being the sole occupant, so a two-person solo would be a false record. |
| "A shared flight is two or more pilots sharing one aircraft. With one pilot, book a solo or a rental instead." | Shared means two or more pilots splitting one aircraft. |
| "A shared flight has no instructor. With an instructor aboard it's a dual." | The moment there is an instructor, it is a dual. |
| "Pick an instructor for this dual reservation." | A dual needs both sides filled in. |
| "Guest flights need an aircraft." | Guest is the one type that always needs a tail. |
| "Enter a valid email. The guest's invoice is sent there." | The guest's invoice has nowhere to go without it. |
| "A maintenance booking can't have anyone assigned to it." | Maintenance takes the aircraft off the line and carries nobody. |
If you are not sure which type you want, read Which reservation type should I use? once. Picking the wrong type is the most common reason a booking is refused.
That tier can book up to N days ahead#
"The Associate tier can book up to 7 days ahead. That booking is 12 days out."
The member is on a membership plan with a booking window. Three things people get caught by:
- It applies to every reservation type, so it limits ground school and simulator time as well as aircraft.
- It applies when staff book on that member's behalf too, because the rule is about whose membership it is.
- It applies only while the membership is active. A pending or lapsed membership has no window at all.
An admin can change or clear the window on the plan. See Booking rules and settings.
This booking would keep the aircraft overnight#
"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."
You have crossed local midnight at the airport. Note where the line is: a flight that ends exactly at midnight is fine, and midnight is the last slot the end-time picker offers every day. 12:15am is a night away.
An admin turns multi-day bookings on under WebSettings → Booking preferences, and cannot do it until the school has a time zone set. See Book a trip that keeps the aircraft overnight.
Add a payment method before booking#
"Add a payment method before booking. Open Payment methods in your profile, then try again."
Your school requires a card on file before a student or renter books themselves. Add one under WebYou → Profile → Payments and book again.
It only applies to somebody booking themselves into the student or renter seat. The front desk booking on your behalf is never blocked by it.
You are not checked out on that tail#
"You're not checked out on any aircraft." when you have no approvals at all, or a message naming the tail when you click a lane for one you are not approved on. The Aircraft field clears rather than letting you get further into a booking that would be refused.
A check-out is an explicit approval linking you to one aeroplane. Ask your school to approve you on the aircraft you can fly. It is granted from the aircraft record or from your own record and takes a moment.
That repeating booking cannot be made#
"That repeating booking can't be made" followed by how many dates conflict, up to five of them named, and "Nothing was booked."
A repeat is all or nothing. If one Tuesday in twelve has a clash, none of the twelve are created. Fix or avoid the named dates, or shorten the series, and book again. See Set up a lesson that repeats every week.
Bookings more than a year ahead#
Nothing can be booked more than 365 days out, by anyone. There is no error message: the date picker simply will not go there.
Other refusals worth knowing#
- "Nothing to book yet" on the Book page. Your account has no role that can book. Ask an admin to add student, renter, instructor or technician to you. Owner, admin and dispatcher do not count, because they book other people rather than themselves.
- Notes that will not save. Notes are capped at 200 characters and titles at 50. The web Notes box does not show a counter, so a long briefing note fails on save with an unhelpful message. Shorten it.
- One person in two seats. A booking cannot put the same person on both sides, for example as instructor and as student. A close-out waits on every distinct person, and somebody in two seats could never complete it.
Related#
The other half: refusals on a booking that already exists.
The page behind the most confusing refusal on this list.
For admins: which of these rules you turned on.
Still stuck on this?
Email support@aerscheduler.com and tell us what you were trying to do. We answer.