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[US71]

Pilot/Flyng J is changing their name to Pilot Co. The company claims they will not rebrand Pilot and Flying J travel centers, but I'm thinking they eventually will.

[Buck87]

The company claims they will not rebrand Pilot and Flying J travel centers, but I'm thinking they eventually will.

Would be a bit redundant at exits that already have one of each, but then again, I guess there are already plenty of places with two gas stations of the same brand close to each other.

[US71]

The company claims they will not rebrand Pilot and Flying J travel centers, but I'm thinking they eventually will.

Would be a bit redundant at exits that already have one of each, but then again, I guess there are already plenty of places with two gas stations of the same brand close to each other.

Russellville, Arkansas has both. Pilot has a Wendy's, Flying J has Lenny's Denny's, and pizza.  Both has dirty restrooms.

[seicer]

Less competition but to be honest, both have really upped their game lately. Nice, clean (and modern) showers for when I'm on the road, decent food options, and a place to layover.

[US71]

Less competition but to be honest, both have really upped their game lately. Nice, clean (and modern) showers for when I'm on the road, decent food options, and a place to layover.

I have their Rewards card which never works. They tell me it has never been activated, but I've activated it 3 times.

[kevinb1994]

I’m okay with this, as I’ve already stopped at a good amount of Pilot locations (usually when driving out-of-state, but only if there is multiple states to pass on through before reaching my intended destination) and have never referred to them by their soon-to-be former full name.

[kphoger]

Less competition ...

How so?

[roadman]

Pilot/Flyng J is changing their name to Pilot Co. The company claims they will not rebrand Pilot and Flying J travel centers, but I'm thinking they eventually will.

IMO, the more likely scenario would be that the new company will end up selling off either Pilot or Flying J locations to other vendors where they currently have both in the same area.  That's what happened when Exxon and Mobil merged.

[jeffandnicole]

Pilot/Flyng J is changing their name to Pilot Co. The company claims they will not rebrand Pilot and Flying J travel centers, but I'm thinking they eventually will.

Technically, nothing is changing.  They are simply changing the corporate name from one name to another.  They aren't acquiring more brands, diverging brands, buying or selling anything.  They've been one company for quite a while.  As shown further down, there's actually a lot more brands under the corporate umbrella, but for travelers the Pilot and Flying Js are the most visible of their brand names.

Pilot/Flyng J is changing their name to Pilot Co. The company claims they will not rebrand Pilot and Flying J travel centers, but I'm thinking they eventually will.

IMO, the more likely scenario would be that the new company will end up selling off either Pilot or Flying J locations to other vendors where they currently have both in the same area.  That's what happened when Exxon and Mobil merged.

That was a merger condition by the Federal Trade Commission.  In this case, the company remains the same. There's no merger happening - it occurred 10 years ago, and the FTC didn't have any conditions in this merger similar to Exxon and Mobil's merger.

[roadman]

[quote author=jeffandnicole link=topic=26315.msg2473232#msg2473232 date=1579811867

IMO, the more likely scenario would be that the new company will end up selling off either Pilot or Flying J locations to other vendors where they currently have both in the same area.  That's what happened when Exxon and Mobil merged.
[/quote]

That was a merger condition by the Federal Trade Commission.  In this case, the company remains the same. There's no merger happening - it occurred 10 years ago, and the FTC didn't have any conditions in this merger similar to Exxon and Mobil's merger.
[/quote]

Thanks - appreciate the clarification.

[PHLBOS]

IMO, the more likely scenario would be that the new company will end up selling off either Pilot or Flying J locations to other vendors where they currently have both in the same area.  That's what happened when Exxon and Mobil merged.

Side bar: When the Exxon-Mobil merger took place, many of the Mobil stations in at least southeastern PA became Lukoil stations; a brand that nobody in the area heard of prior to that point.

[roadman]

IMO, the more likely scenario would be that the new company will end up selling off either Pilot or Flying J locations to other vendors where they currently have both in the same area.  That's what happened when Exxon and Mobil merged.

Side bar: When the Exxon-Mobil merger took place, many of the Mobil stations in at least southeastern PA became Lukoil stations; a brand that nobody in the area heard of prior to that point.

After the merger, most of the Exxon stations in the Boston area, including a couple that were still the mid-1960s Esso station design, just closed.  A couple became independent stations, the others were torn down.

[kevinb1994]

IMO, the more likely scenario would be that the new company will end up selling off either Pilot or Flying J locations to other vendors where they currently have both in the same area.  That's what happened when Exxon and Mobil merged.

Side bar: When the Exxon-Mobil merger took place, many of the Mobil stations in at least southeastern PA became Lukoil stations; a brand that nobody in the area heard of prior to that point.

Oh dear, that was not what we expected in NJ! I don’t like what happened back then through looking back from today.

[kevinb1994]

IMO, the more likely scenario would be that the new company will end up selling off either Pilot or Flying J locations to other vendors where they currently have both in the same area.  That's what happened when Exxon and Mobil merged.

Side bar: When the Exxon-Mobil merger took place, many of the Mobil stations in at least southeastern PA became Lukoil stations; a brand that nobody in the area heard of prior to that point.

After the merger, most of the Exxon stations in the Boston area, including a couple that were still the mid-1960s Esso station design, just closed.  A couple became independent stations, the others were torn down.

Sounds like someone famous could’ve made a hit out of that incident.

[SectorZ]

Good. The name is dumb anyways. It sounds like a sex act on an airplane.

[D-Dey65]

Time for us to grab a whole bunch of Flying J merchandising then.

[US71]

Good. The name is dumb anyways. It sounds like a sex act on an airplane.

Pilot / Flying J because Flying P just didn't sound right. 

[oscar]

IMO, the more likely scenario would be that the new company will end up selling off either Pilot or Flying J locations to other vendors where they currently have both in the same area.  That's what happened when Exxon and Mobil merged.

That was a merger condition by the Federal Trade Commission.  In this case, the company remains the same. There's no merger happening - it occurred 10 years ago, and the FTC didn't have any conditions in this merger similar to Exxon and Mobil's merger.

Just to clarify, when Pilot and Flying J merged around the time I retired from the FTC in 2011, the FTC required the merged company to spit out some overlapping stations. Many of them wound up with Love's. But what's going on now is just a rebranding of some of the stations the merged company was allowed to keep. Neither the rebranding, nor any additional stations sold or closed by the merged company, are required by the FTC, which got what it needed many years ago.

IMO, the more likely scenario would be that the new company will end up selling off either Pilot or Flying J locations to other vendors where they currently have both in the same area.  That's what happened when Exxon and Mobil merged.

Side bar: When the Exxon-Mobil merger took place, many of the Mobil stations in at least southeastern PA became Lukoil stations; a brand that nobody in the area heard of prior to that point.

After the merger, most of the Exxon stations in the Boston area, including a couple that were still the mid-1960s Esso station design, just closed.  A couple became independent stations, the others were torn down.

In other areas of the country, including my own, the Mobil brand lives on, along with Exxon stations in the same market.

Meanwhile, north of the border, Esso in Canada never changed over to Exxon, and the Esso brand is still going strong.

[D-Dey65]

Pilot's official website is still calling the nearest franchise to me a Flying J:
https://locations.pilotflyingj.com/us/fl/dade-city/29933-state-road-52

In other areas of the country, including my own, the Mobil brand lives on, along with Exxon stations in the same market.

Meanwhile, north of the border, Esso in Canada never changed over to Exxon, and the Esso brand is still going strong.

Do Esso stations in Canada (and other parts of the world) accept Exxon-Mobil credit cards, debit cards, and gift cards?

[stridentweasel]

There used to be a general impression that Flying Js were generally bigger (and better?) than Pilots, but there are so many counter-examples (both big Pilots and small Flying Js) that I think the distinction is irrelevant.  Also, exits with two Pilots aren't unheard of.  Examples: Exit 6 on I-65 in Kentucky, Exit 28 on I-71 in Kentucky, and Exit 167 on I-94 in Michigan.

I'm wondering if TA/Petro will do the same thing.  Petro's logo is so boring and tired, it looks like it's just waiting to fade away.  However, in my experience, I actually have noticed Petros to be generally bigger than TAs, and the distinction of having an Iron Skillet at Petro and a Country Pride at TA is fairly common, but again, there are exceptions where they have different restaurants.  (As a side note, breakfast buffet at Iron Skillet is possibly my favorite dining experience ever.)  I was about to mention the Petro at Exit 2 on I-10 in Texas having a tiny store with only a Subway, and having to walk across the street to get from the truck parking lot, but I just looked it up, and they've re-branded it as a TA Express, so they actually are making an effort at consistency between brand distinctions.

Edit: I meant I-10 in Texas, not New Mexico.  Damn brain farts!

[US71]

There used to be a general impression that Flying Js were generally bigger (and better?) than Pilots, but there are so many counter-examples (both big Pilots and small Flying Js) that I think the distinction is irrelevant.  Also, exits with two Pilots aren't unheard of.  Examples: Exit 6 on I-65 in Kentucky, Exit 28 on I-71 in Kentucky, and Exit 167 on I-94 in Michigan.

Russellville, AR Flying J is larger (and IMO) cleaner than Pilot. Flying J has Lenny's Denny's and pizza, Pilot has Wendy's and Subway. Flying J is easier to get into and out of than Pilot.

[stridentweasel]

There used to be a general impression that Flying Js were generally bigger (and better?) than Pilots, but there are so many counter-examples (both big Pilots and small Flying Js) that I think the distinction is irrelevant.  Also, exits with two Pilots aren't unheard of.  Examples: Exit 6 on I-65 in Kentucky, Exit 28 on I-71 in Kentucky, and Exit 167 on I-94 in Michigan.

Russellville, AR Flying J is larger (and IMO) cleaner than Pilot. Flying J has Lenny's Denny's and pizza, Pilot has Wendy's and Subway. Flying J is easier to get into and out of than Pilot.

There are many Flying J locations without a Denny's or any full-service restaurant.  Many Pilots have PJ Fresh Pizza.  One Pilot I've been to even had a Denny's.  Flying Js aren't always easier to get into and out of than Pilots.

Sure, at one time, one would reasonably expect to see a Denny's (or a Huddle House) and maybe better parking at Flying J, but there are several Flying Js without a full-service restaurant and with truck parking so constrained a sane person wouldn't even want to bother trying.

I really think the brand distinction here is meaningless.  Also, in the past few years, the chain has been introducing the upgraded PJ Fresh food service to several locations.  I'm guessing the "PJ" stands for "Pilot" and "[Flying] J."

(Offshoot topic perhaps more appropriate for the "Travel" board, but I can think of several hotel companies where brand distinction among sub-chains is essentially meaningless, and they'd probably be better off consolidating.)

Oh yeah, this is totally precedented if you look at car companies.  GM, Ford, and Chrysler shed their Oldsmobile, Pontiac, Mercury, and Plymouth brands after brand distinction among those divisions had lost most of its meaning (Saturn and Eagle are perhaps special cases).