Weve received lots of questions lately about the practicalities of booking private jets given the current travel environment. Thats not our area of expertise, but fortunately we have smart friends and readers who know a lot about this, and offered to share some insights on how to get the best deal when flying private.
Continue reading: How To Fly On A Private Jet (For Cheap!)
Share your questions, experiences, and thoughts below.
A clarification on the Delta program: Is the "membership fee" the entire amount you have to pay, and then you can book whatever inventory is available at no extra charge, or is there a base fee to get access to purchase inventory?
Unreliable scheduling, no lounges, leaving from private airports that aren't conveniently connected to transport hubs, small seats, higher chance of mechanical or weather delays, less safe than bigger jets, more expensive, bad IRROPS experience, and so on.
While I've taken many private planes when required (e.g. in interior alaska, or upper maine with spotty commerial service), I do not understand why anyone other than the super-rich/famous would willingly opt for a private jet if commercial service exists within a 2 hour driving radius). Even if you are rich and can afford it, its almost certainly a better proposition to buy a first-class flight 1-2 days before your trip (or even day-of).
I can't find information on SkyAccess. It seems you play a flat fee and you have access to empty leg flights? On the Delta Private jets website they are only selling the classic "you rent a plane" service. I don't see anything about taking advantage of empty legs.
Very interesting. Besides joy rides, I only flew on a private plane for one round trip. It had about as many frills as Uber but it was efficient. I drove to the airport, entered the FBO. Walked to the plane about 10 minutes later, departed and arrived. The reverse was the same except no waiting at the FBO, directly from the car to the parking lot to the building to the plane.
The plane had less headroom than a 737, more like a Jetstream 31 or Metro III. No food. Very much savings of time, though.
If you're rich and can afford it, then you're charting or outright own one. Scheduling would not be unreliable (it would, actually, be extremely reliable and on demand), you would be picking the airport most convenient and expense wouldn't be much of a consideration.
Is there a way to monitor what the "SkyAccess" empty flights look like for someone who's not a member (to gauge if you'd want to sign up)? I downloaded the app but it looks like you can't see anything unless you have a login.
SkyAccess just charges a super high fee for the privilege of accessing their limited fleet on a super short timeline, but you're still paying for the plane (albeit "discounted")
I've had better luck with empty legs using traversejets.com. They don't publish empty legs on their site but if you tell them what you're looking for they have access to thousands of operators and will keep an eye on it for you without a fee.
I was a JetSmarter member for 3 years and really got my money's worth by flying a lot of transcon and helicopters. I loved it, but didn't like the constantly changing rules and emergent fees. If something came out that offered something similar I'd do it again.
Doc Steve
Private jets are the limousines of the sky. Expensive and uncomfortable, but if you can afford them, convenient and glamorous.
I have zero interest in spending more money than a regular plain ticket just so that I can sit in an uncomfortable seat, which might be canceled at the last minute leaving me stranded. Until I win the lottery, I'll endure the TSA and other BS in exchange for some semblance of reliability.
For a semi-private jet experience, I’d recommend JSX. I had trouble finding a low cost BOS-PHX flight. Grabbed a cheap B6 Mint flight to LAS then took JSX to PHX. I think it was $99. Free drinks, excellent legroom, polishes service. Did the same thing, LAS-OAK for $59 which was a steal.
Flew with Vice Chairman of ATT from Oakland to Morristown, NJ in his G-IV. Was back in the 80’s during a “cost savings drive” when I and another minor employee were due to fly commercial from SFO to Newark. Travel put us on his jet to save costs.
Steward of that flight entertained us with his travels as steward of Air Force One with Nixon while the Vice Chairman entertained some sweet young thing in the forward cabin.
@Memento: Trump's flights are not free. WE pay for them. OPM is easy to spend.
What pissed me off most was when his cabinet minister (I forget which free-loader it was) flew R/T commercial between WAS and PHL for the stated reason of "not having to mingle with the public lest he be recognized". I think it was the $30,000 phone booth guy.
I would rather fly first class commercially than fly private. I like a Captain with gray hair and retired from the military.
Will agree with the Guest author and Doc. I loved JetSmarter while it lasted and we all knew it was too good to be true. Happy to have squeezed four years out of them. Amazing experience for an AV/travel geek.
It’s clear the author has some experience using JetSmarter/XO, But not much other private jet experience.
He/she talks about chartering a jet, and then lists NetJets as one such company. Nonsense. You can’t charter the NJ fleet.
The author is clearly able to take a lot of screenshot from the XO app, but does not have deep knowledge in this field. Fractional ownership, closed/open fleet, outright ownership, charter broker, all go unmentioned in this post. The very basics of flying private.
Remind anyone who wants to suggest a post here that when you get on board they are going to ask for your weight.........so perhaps if some think they are going to take extra baggage that just won't be possible!
One possible con to be aware of is that many life insurance policies only cover scheduled airline flights, not private flying (whether as a student/pilot or passenger). You can purchase additional or separate aviation policies but that would obviously be an unwelcome expense.
https://generalaviationnews.com/2017/04/06/pilots-and-life-insurance/
Really? ZERO mention of JetSuiteX? Theyre only one of the most popular private jet operator serving hundreds of affordable flights from the west coast.
There is another option, which is quite affordable ($$), the Hahn Air (H1) scheduled flights out of Dusseldorf (DUS) to Luxemburg (LUX) and Palma (PMI). Right now, they are suspended due to the pandemic, but given the business model of H1 it’s likely they will resume at one point. They are normal scheduled flights operated by a Cessna Citation, in case of the Luxemburg flights they even codeshare with Luxair (LG). However, as they are scheduled flights you have to go through security and you do have Lounge access (also if you book an Economy fare). On board there is a basket (yep) but with a small selection of high quality snacks (not packed crisps and peanuts).
No mention of toilet facilities, or lack thereof, on a small jet?
A friend of mine was invited to fly on a private jet. She asked if there would be a toilet on the plane, and they told her yes.
After boarding and taking a seat she looked around and didn't see a door leading to the restroom. She asked, "Where is the toilet?"
"You're sitting on it," was the reply...if she removed the seat cushion she would be seated on a "throne." There was a little curtain she could raise around her seat if needed for privacy.