Billing Overview

Last updated 8/17/2026

Overview

Most flying clubs charge members based on how much they fly. The math itself is straightforward — hours times rate — but tracking it reliably across a shared fleet with dozens of members, variable rates, and fuel reimbursements is where things get messy. Paper logs get lost. Spreadsheets drift out of sync. Disputes arise when the numbers a member sees don't match what the treasurer invoiced. Centerline's billing feature eliminates that gap by tying charges directly to the flight data that generated them, so every dollar has a traceable origin.

Billing is an optional feature. Organizations that handle invoicing through a separate accounting system or don't charge per-flight fees can leave it off entirely. For clubs that do charge by the hour, enabling billing creates a single ledger that the account owner manages and every member can view — no more emailing spreadsheets or posting to a shared drive.

Enabling Billing

Billing is controlled by a feature toggle. To turn it on:

  1. Click Setup in the navigation bar
  2. Select the Data & Features tab
  3. Toggle Billing to on

Once enabled, three things change:

  • A Billing item appears in the navigation bar (visible to Account Owners)
  • The Finish Flight dialog gains a cost summary step that shows the calculated charge before the pilot confirms
  • Each member's profile displays a Charges tab with their personal billing history

Billing can also be enabled during initial setup from the Welcome to Centerline onboarding card.

Required Role

Only members with the Account Owner role can access the billing dashboard, create or edit billing entries, and manage aircraft rates. All other members can view their own charges on the Charges tab of their profile but cannot modify entries.

How It Works

The billing system has two layers:

  1. Aircraft Rates — Each aircraft can have one or more rate configurations, each with an effective date. When a flight is logged, Centerline looks up the rate that was in effect on the date of the flight and uses it to calculate the charge. Rates are configured per-aircraft in Setup, and are covered in detail in Aircraft Rates.

  2. Billing Entries — The actual ledger. Each entry records a date, member, description, and a charge and/or credit amount. Entries can be created manually for dues, fees, or adjustments, or generated automatically from a completed flight log. The billing dashboard and entry management are covered in Managing Billing Entries.

The Chart of Accounts

Every billing entry carries a category so your ledger sorts itself into the buckets an accountant expects:

  • Flight Time — Charges generated from a flight log. Set automatically.
  • Dues — Recurring membership fees. Set automatically by Monthly Dues billing.
  • General — Everything else: fees, deposits, adjustments. Manual entries default here, and you can override the category when creating one.

The billing list has a Category column and filter, and the QuickBooks Online export maps each category to the matching product (Aircraft Rental, Dues, or Other), so the numbers land in the right place on the other side.

Beyond Charges: Payments, Dues, and Reminders

Billing does more than record what members owe. Once it's enabled, several related capabilities become available under Setup:

  • Collecting Payments — Publish payment instructions (Zelle, Venmo, checks) and optionally connect Stripe so members can pay by card or bank transfer directly in Centerline.
  • Paying Your Balance — What members see on their Charges tab, including the Pay Now flow.
  • Monthly Dues — Set a flat membership fee and bill it to members in a single pass each month.
  • Past-Due Warnings — Automatically nudge members on their dashboard when a balance gets too old or too large.

What Members See

Members without the Account Owner role cannot access the billing dashboard or create entries. They can view their own charges by navigating to their Profile and selecting the Charges tab. This tab shows a chronological list of all billing entries associated with their account, including the date, aircraft (if applicable), description, charge amount, credit amount, and running total. Entries linked to a flight log include a link icon that navigates directly to that log entry.

The Charges tab is read-only. If a member believes an entry is incorrect, they should contact their club's account owner to request a correction.

Aircraft Rates