Private Jet Card Comparisons: Our First End-of-Year Message

Private jet card programs are the closest you can get to the experience of full or fractional ownership without the larger investment and long-term commitment

As we near the end of 2017, since the launch of Private Jet Card Comparisons in April, you are one of over 130,000 visitors who found us, and so here’s our first opportunity to say an end of the year thank you for coming. When I launched Private Jet Card Comparisons it was truly an accident. In trying to research a comprehensive story about buying private jet cards for Forbes.com, I found that there were many more players than you typically search up via a quick look at Google. 

More than that, the programs had significant differences, from the places they would fly you to the way each sourced aircraft and flight crews and then fees and amenities, such as WiFi availability. While some programs guaranteed availability and rate, others didn’t favoring a dynamic pricing model. There wasn’t even a standard for the minimum age to send unaccompanied minors. Then there were key issues like being able to upgrade or downgrade the size of your plane, and being able to access more than one plane at the same time, particularly during peak periods.

There was also the issue of who you were sending your money to and what type of protection they provided. Then there was the issue of discounts for roundtrip and the definition of a qualifying roundtrip, which in private aviation varies by operator. In all, with a lot of help from the providers, I identified over 65 variables that will impact the program that is right for you.

Happily, I can report that we currently have a 100% satisfaction rate with our paid subscribers as measured by PayPal, and it has been fun to be able to communicate with many of you. Some people have said we provide too much information for free, although I believe if you are serious about buying a jet card, the $250 to access the spreadsheets essentially boils down what would be dozens of hours of research to where within an hour or less you can narrow down the companies that best fit your flying needs.

Prior to Private Jet Card Comparisons, the only buyers’ guides being published were by the jet card providers themselves, and to their credit, there was a lot of terrific material, although obviously each was positioned to show the company providing it in the best light. I also noted a couple sites with interesting material, but they were basically Lead Gen sights collecting your data and re-selling it. One thing has been clear is many of you want to do a bit of your own research before requesting information from multiple jet companies which generally triggers follow up from a salesperson, so this site definitely fulfills that need. Private Jet Card Comparisons does not sell or market your data to jet companies or third parties. We also don’t accept advertising from the jet card companies, relying on your subscriptions for our revenue.

While most of our subscribers are the users themselves, we also have a healthy amount of personal assistants, and folks from travel, finance and procurement departments who have been asked to do a thorough comparison of programs. With over 100 jet card membership programs in our database, our spreadsheets contain over 10,000 data points. If anyone wanted to duplicate our research, I don’t think they could because much of the data we have isn’t even included in the marketing brochures the companies send you.

Many people say jet cards are the closest experience to full or fractional aircraft ownership without the amount of money or commitment. It’s probably one reason the number of providers has more than doubled in the past decade, which has been a rock road for private aviation. Some estimate that the market for jet cards in the U.S. is between 1.5 to 2 million households and businesses, and more than ever, private aviation is more attractive for both business and personal flying.

In this first even message, I also want to thank Andrew Collins, CEO of Sentient Jet and Skyjet, Brad Stewart, CEO of XOJET, Alex Wilcox, CEO of JetSuite, Wheels Up CEO Kenny Dichter, Greg Raif, CEO of Private Jet Services Group, Joshua Hebert, CEO of Magellan Jet, Jamie Walker, CEO of Jet Linx Aviation, Adam Twidell and Carol Cork of PrivateFly, and Mathew Evins, of Evins Communications, whose PR company launched Marquis Jet, Wheels Up and now works with Jet Linx. Each of these very busy executives helped educate me on the questions I should be asking and offered lots of great advice.

Moreover, I want to thank the marketing and sales teams at each of the jet card companies who are tasked with providing us the information. To break it down into our spreadsheet format takes a lot of time on their part, and to me underscores their company’s commitment to helping educate you as the buyer. I also want to thank our small team, Lisa, and then our interns Jake and Tyra who are helping make the soon to be released 2018 Private Jet Card Comparisons edition even better!

To give you a bit of feedback, below you will find the Top 25 stories we published by page views.

With best wishes for a happy holiday season and a spectacular, high-flying 2018!

All the best,

Doug Gollan

Founder/Editor

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