Critics of jet cards say it is “overpriced charter.” The flipside of the argument is that if you have a jet card with guaranteed availability at a contracted rate it means even during high demand periods, you know you are going to get an airplane and you know what it will cost. Different jet card sellers have their own standards and levels of oversight for the actual jet operators if they don’t operate jets directly. They also have minimum experience levels for pilots. Sentient Jet, as an example, verifies both aircraft and pilot data three times before departure.
"We're certifying every flight. We're certifying the jet. We're certifying the crew. We're culling over 100 million records to do that. Some are public. Some are proprietary," says Andrew Collins, CEO of Sentient.
The point is, when you make your reservation with your jet card provider, you know what you are getting. On the cost side, roundtrip pricing is supposed to be better with charter since it is less likely there will be any repositioning expenses, something that is baked into your hourly rate with most jet cards. At the same time, some jet card sellers also provide roundtrip discounts.
MMA fighter Connor Mcgregor poses on the scales during his weigh-in with boxer Floyd Mayweather Jr. (out of frame) on August 25, 2017 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. Mayweather, the 40-year-old undefeated former welterweight boxing champion, has been lured out of retirement to face McGregor, a star of mixed martial arts' Ultimate Fighting Championship. The two men meet in a 12-round contest under boxing rules on August 26th that is tipped to become the richest fight in history. AFP PHOTO / John Gurzinski
With multiple reports that hundreds of private jets are descending on Las Vegas this weekend for the Floyd Mayweather versus Conor McGregor fight, I figured would would put myself in the seat of many late planners and figure out what it would cost if a fictitious group of four wanted to go from New York to Sin City and back. The plan was to leave Saturday at noon to could catch the fight and return around 5 pm Sunday to be ready for work Monday and make sure the trip qualified for roundtrip pricing.
Using the comparison spreadsheets of Private Jet Card Comparisons, a website that compares over 100 programs by 65 variables where I am Editor-in-Chief, I looked only for jet card companies where there is guaranteed availability at a specific contracted rate. Some don’t guarantee availability. Others use dynamic pricing. I only looked at programs where the lead time for reservations is 12 hours or less so I could put off making a final decision as long as possible. From the charts, I added in Federal Excise tax where it wasn’t included in the quoted hourly rate, added charges for taxi time and any other applicable fees. I also deducted any roundtrip discounts. I didn’t compare every jet card seller. For example, I didn’t look at several where you have to also add in fuel surcharges, mainly for the sake of saving a few minutes work. I ended up comparing eight jet card sellers, including Air Partner, Concord Private Jet, Delta Private Jets, JetSet Group, Private Jet Services Group, Prive Jets, Sentient Jet and Wholesale Jet Club (chart below).
DGIn the battle of jet cards vs. on-demand charter for Mayweather vs. McGregor, jet cards scored at TKO
At the same time, on Friday morning, I asked for a quote from online broker Victor which says it only mark up the prices they get from operators by 10%. Around 3 pm I got a response and the three quotes ranged from $60,101 for a 1981 Dassault Falcon to $70,103 for a 2001 Hawker 800XP. I emailed back just after 7 pm to find out of the quotes were still valid. I never heard back. Most jet card companies have 24/7/365 customer service, and while the set-up varies, many have dedicated teams of customer service reps who you can get in touch with whenever you need something. Sentient has a sophisticated operations center tracking flights. Neil Impellizzeri, the founder and CEO of Concord Private Jet says he is a boutique provider, working with his wife and son. He tracks every trip and flight looking out for potential snafus personally. He says service is critical for him since he doesn't advertise, but depends on referrals.
During the day we also checked with Stratajet (below) which gives you instant pricing, although it states that pricing for flights inside of 48 hours is not confirmed, so we aren’t sure what would have happened if we had actually tried to book. Its lowest roundtrip price was on a 2004 Gulfstream 200 which came in at $60,182. From there it spiked up, with the next lowest price $83,182 for a 2007 Challenger 300.
DGThe best quote from online private jet broker Stratajet.
With only four of us possibly going, a Mid-Size jet would have served our needs, but clearly, there was a dearth of them available since most of the quotes we were getting back were for Super-Mid and even Heavy jets. If you have a jet card, this is a bit like when you hear economy class is oversold on a commercial flight. Maybe you will get an upgrade.
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Doug Gollan
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