The number of jet card providers more than doubled since the Great Recession, with over 60 companies offering 300+ programs, so there are many choices. What’s more, what a jet card is, is also changing target.
Traditionalists say a jet card is a private flyer’s versions of a debit card. You deposit money, typically between $50,000 and $500,000, although in some programs, it’s in the millions.
In return, the provider offers you fixed one-way hourly rates and guaranteed availability.
Does a Jet Card make sense? We look at the pros and cons.
Hourly rate means you know in advance how much you are going to pay, unlike on-demand charter where you get and compare quotes for each trip. In fact, one way to think about a jet card is that it is prepaid charter.
If your hourly rate is $6,000 per hour, a two hour flight will cost around $12,000. There can be extra charges, so it’s not quite that straight forward, but that’s the gist.
One-way rates mean you don’t have to pay for ferry flights, also referred to as empty legs. Those are the flights to get the airplane you will be flying to the airport you are departing or to wherever it needs to be next after it drops you off.
If you call up a charter broker or operator and ask for quotes, as they look at options to source your trip, they have to bake those costs into your quote.
Guaranteed availability means that if you call outside that booking deadline, your jet card provider will get you a plane at your contracted hourly rate.
There are jet cards with fixed one-way rates where lead-time to book flights is as low as six hours.
In other words, you can call up after breakfast, and by the afternoon be flying to see a client or for a quick getaway.
It’s not unusual if the weather forecast for the weekend is rain, jet card users decide to head someplace where the sun is shining or the slopes have lots of powder.
Jet cards are typically sold in blocks of 25 hours or dollar denominations – $100,000, $250,000, etc., although there are programs that start at 10 hours and $25,000, so you don’t necessarily have to plunk down six figures to start. There are also programs that use a days-based formula (Airshare) or even mileage (Airstream Jets).
Directional Aviation’s Sentient Jet, Delta Private Jets, NetJets, with both its Elite and Marquis Jet cards, and Flexjet, would be high profile examples of the over 40 providers that offer fixed rates and guaranteed availability in the traditional package.
Dynamic Pricing Jet Cards
There are also jet cards that use dynamic pricing. That’s the same as if you called a broker to get quotes. Your flights are based on market demand when you call. The most prominent is Vista Global’s XO, a combination earlier this year of XOJET and JetSmarter, although Directional’s PrivateFly does something similar.
While you don’t know pricing upfront, you don’t have to worry about transferring funds at the last minute, and you typically get extra benefits compared to on-demand charter. Those perks include catering credits, as well as aircraft recovery guarantees.
If you just book a one-off charter flight with either a broker or operator, if there is a mechanical, the aircraft gets delayed on the way to you, or a pilot calls in sick, you generally have to pay the different if the replacement flights are more expensive. You might even need to front the money while you wait to get a refund for the flight that never took place.
When you buy into a jet card that uses dynamic pricing, the company will specify the requirements for the aircraft they provide, so you understand what type of experience your pilots will have and any minimum requirements from third party safety ratings agencies.
With dynamic pricing you may see lead time for booking at 24 hours, but many will guarantee getting you a jet in as little as four hours or less. After all, the sourcing isn’t locked into a contracted price.
Pay-As-You-Go Jet Cards
In terms of jet cards, today there are also pay-as-you-go providers. You pay a membership fee, and while you can deposit money, generally you put down a credit card which is billed for your flights as they take place, or you can transfer funds as well. Wheels Up and Jet Linx Aviation are two prime examples of this model, both offering fixed one-way hourly rates and guaranteed availability.
If you buy a jet card that comes with a membership fee like the pay-as-you-go programs, don’t forget to divide that cost by the number of hours you plan to fly. If you plan to fly 25 hours and a membership is $10,000, you should add an extra $400 to the hourly rate when trying to compare pricing with other providers.
Deicing
Another reason to buy a jet card is you do a lot of winter weather flying and you are tired of deicing bills that can range in the thousands of dollars. In some cases, I’ve heard about double deicing charges. Your chartered jet needs to be deiced for the ferry flight to pick you up, and due to conditions at your airport, needs to be deiced again before you fly.
A number of jet cards include deicing, so it’s something to factor into your decision. The savings can be significant.
Upgrading and Downgrading
Many jet cards will allow you to specify the cabin type of aircraft you want for each flight, and they simply deduct from your account based on the hourly rate for a larger or smaller aircraft.
Roundtrip Pricing
First of all, it’s important to understand roundtrip pricing in the world of private jet charter is different from the airlines.
To get roundtrip pricing you typically need to have at least two billable flight hours in a single day departing and returning to the same airport. Because of crew rest requirements, you generally have to complete the trip within 12 hours of departure. In other words, if you leave at 8 am, you need to land back at your airport tat origin by 8 pm.
Coming back the next day will often score you roundtrip pricing, again with two billable hours per day the magic number.
Conventional wisdom is if you can find a good charter operator at your home airport, you can beat jet card pricing for roundtrips, although you then lose guaranteed availability, you’ll have to pay for deicing, catering, included in many jet cards is extra, and you also have to worry about getting a replacement flight if your provider can’t fulfill the mission.
While some jet cards don’t give any roundtrip discounts, others reduce hourly rates as much 40%, so even if you do lots of roundtrips, it’s still worth looking at card programs, particularly if you are flying on business and make last minute reservations.
Reasons to Buy a Jet Card
In addition to all of the above, flying with a jet card is easy. You make one call, often can use an app, or even email and text to your provider to book, so long as you are outside the deadline for reservations.
Most providers keep detailed preferences, so they know what type of soda or spirits you want aboard. More importantly, you know what you are getting – not just in terms of plane and pilots, but whether or not you will have Wi-fi, if you can bring pets (many charter aircraft don’t allow pets), plus you can effectively budget how much you are going to spend.
Do I save money with a Jet Card?
I never thought you would ask! Many folks assume since they are buying in bulk, like Costco, they are getting a better price than just calling a broker for each trip. That’s not necessarily true.
You do save time.
Most folks who charter on-demand have two or three brokers they use, which means for each trip you have to contact several companies. You then have to wait for them to come back with quotes, and for each quote you need to take a look at the operator and the terms of that quote.
Most brokers simply pass along the terms of the operator based on that aircraft, so if three brokers give you 10 quotes, you then need to understand how far in advance payment is due, what are the penalties for canceling or changing, and then typically who is the operator. Do their pilots get extra training for mountain airports if you are planning ski trips, and so forth.
You can look at two Gulfstream GIVs, and see pricing thousands of dollars apart. While it’s easy to think one broker is trying to make a bigger profit, it’s more likely there are differences in not only the planes and repositioning costs, but who is operating and flying them for your trip. Are the pilots full time or just on a short-term contract?
The best brokers – like great travel agents – are like gold. It reminds me of the Van Halen story about having in their performance contracts specific colored M&Ms required backstage. Their theory was that running around between dangerous pyrotechnics and heavy stage equipment, if the logistics company couldn’t get the right type of candy, maybe they weren’t paying attention to more important thing!
By doing your homework before you buy a jet card, you don’t have to spend the time to do due diligence for each trip.
So, to start, a jet card should save you an hour or two of time each time you book, unless you have strong trust in your broker and are happy to delegate everything to them.
Is a Jet Card cheaper than On-Demand Charter?
After all, you just gave the company $250,000. You should get lower pricing, right? What you will find is the more you deposit, you can get a lower hourly rate. That said, you can often beat jet card pricing by calling several brokers and getting quotes.
Of course, it goes back to not all GIVs are created equal.
You are most likely to be able to beat jet card pricing if you are flying between airports with a lot of private jet activity, for example Teterboro in New Jersey to Palm Beach. It’s more likely that there will be planes sitting there that fit your needs, and less likely the plane will have to fly in to pick you up.
By the same token, when you get to Florida, there is probably somebody who wants to charter that same aircraft for their trip.
If you can plan a week or more in advance, want to take the time to do the due diligence on various operators, and are OK with the payment policies, you can save money.
At the same time, you might save money on three trips, then give it back on a fourth because by the time you wanted to book, prices were higher than a jet card, or you get hit with a couple deicing bills, and that wipes out your previous savings.
Jet Card advice
Research I did earlier this year with subscribers of Private Jet Card Comparisons, a website where I am editor, found about 70% of readers had multiple solutions, which leads me to giving you my best advice.
Just like your financial portfolio, you want to have balance. A number of jet cards are refundable, and you can typically get your rates locked for 12 to 24 months. If you think you will be flying privately more than 10 hours over the next two years, having a jet card, particularly one with fixed rates and guaranteed availability probably makes sense.
With jet cards – and it varies – there are ones that allow you to cancel or change your flights within 24 hours or departure, or even less. At the same time, having a jet card doesn’t mean you can’t check out charter quotes from your favorite brokers when you think you can do better on price, and you won’t need the benefits your card provides.
