November 3, 2024
Peak days in jet card programs are just that. They are the dates with the highest demand. They’re typically around major holidays, sporting events, and school breaks. With surcharges ranging up to 67%, travel on peak days is best avoided. But, if you aren’t flexible on your travel dates, these North American programs won’t charge you extra to fly.
The good news is Airshare doesn’t have peak days or a peak day surcharge. The bad news is the Phenom 300 and 100 operator doesn’t guarantee availability. That said, executives claim to fulfill 97% of requests. When the booking can’t be fulfilled on-fleet, Airshare will arrange off-fleet charters as a paid option.
Start-up Ajax Jets doesn’t have a peak day surcharge. However, they don’t guarantee availability on 82 peak days for members who deposit $100,000 or $250,000. However, if you buy in at the $500,000 level for the Falcon 900 and Falcon 50 provider, there are no peak days, and call-out remains a120 hours. Even better, there’s one-way pricing to Hawaii.
Members of Clay Lacy Preferred get fixed hourly rates based on qualifying roundtrips. The good news is the rates are aircraft type-specific. And while there are no peak days and no peak day surcharges, reservations are as available. The deposit is $100,000.
General Dynamics’ Jet Aviation offers guarantee availability on 33 peak days – and no surcharge. The Call-out on peak days is 168 hours. Jet Aviation’s jet card program starts at just 10 hours and goes by category – light, midsize, super-midsize, and large cabin.
Executive and Enterprise level jet cardmembers of Jet Linx Aviation don’t pay a surcharge on 58 peak days. The lead time for reservations is 72 hours. Jet Linx serves customers within 175 miles of its bases in Atlanta, Austin, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Detroit, Ft. Worth, Houston, Indianapolis, Nashville, New York, Omaha, San Antonio, Scottsdale, St. Louis, Tulsa, Washington D.C. If you deposit $150,000, joining fees are waived.
Luxury Aircraft Solutions pay-as-you-go jet card requires a $3,588 annual fee. There are no peak days, no peak day surcharges, and just a six-hour call-out. The downside is the 120-minutes minimum, even on light jets and turboprops. Fixed rates are limited to the Continental U.S.
Boston-based jet card broker Magellan Jets offers jet cards in multiples of 25 hours and two levels of pay-as-you-go memberships The lead time for reservations varies from 8 to 168 hours based on program and number of hours purchased. Actual peak days range from 0 to 40, again based on program type and number of hours purchased.
Members NetJets’ Classic and Corporate Angel jet cards don’t pay a surcharge on 30 peak days, although in the second year, availability isn’t guaranteed. Another exception is super mid-cabin aircraft by Corporate Angel members who pay a 25% premium for international flights. Lead time for peak day reservations is 120 hours. The program starts at 25 hours. It offers the Phenom 300, Citation XLS, Lattitude and Sovereign, Challenger 350 and 650, and Gulfstream IV-SP. In addition, the Corporate Angel Card provides an XLS for flights under 3.5 hours and mission-appropriate super mid for longer flights.
Northern Jet Management serves clients in Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, and Wisconsin with a Learjet program. There are no repositioning fees within 180 miles of Naples, FL (APF), Grand Rapids, MI (GRR), and Chicago, IL (PWK). Lead time for reservations is 72 hours on just 5 peak days. The program starts at 25 hours.
OneFlight International has just a 10-hour booking window on 41 peak days. There’s no surcharge. However, peak day bookings are non-refundable. The Denver-based broker offers 75 aircraft-specific prices. The program starts at 25 hours.
Broker Outlier Jets is the latest to go to zero on peak day surcharges. Lead time for bookings is 96 hours on 22 peak days. The 2018 start-up offers two levels of membership across light, midsize, super-midsize, and large-cabin jets. Its program starts at 15 hours.
Top 10 charter operator Solairus Aviation has no peak day surcharge on 75 peak days with a 120-hours call-out. Fixed-rate service area is limited to the Continental U.S. The program starts at 25 hours.
Broker Star Jets International, Rick Sitomer’s return to private aviation after selling his stake in Blue Star Jets, has no peak days, no peak day surcharge, and just a 4-hour notice for bookings. Fixed rates are limited to the Continental U.S. with a 120-minute minimum.
Starflight Aviation offers a 24-hour call-out and no peak days or peak day surcharge. Its programs are cabin specific – light, midsize, super-midsize, and large cabin and start at 20 hours. Daily minimums start at 90 minutes, and fixed way pricing is limited to the Continental U.S.
Tradewind Aviation’s Goodspeed Pilatus PC-12 card serves customers within 300 nautical miles from Westchester County Airport (HPN) and 300 nautical miles from San Juan (SJU). There’s no lead time for bookings, but the program is as available.
Vault Aviation has a 120-hour booking window on 55 peak days but no peak day surcharge. Fixed rates are capped and limited to the Continental U.S. Daily minimums are 120 minutes.
Boutique broker Velocity Jets has a 168-hour lead time on 40 peak days and no peak day surcharge. Fixed rates are limited to the Continental U.S. and daily minimums are 120 minutes.
VistaJet doesn’t have a peak day surcharge, however, lead time for bookings in 168 hours on 29 days.
Keep in mind, surcharge or not, on peak days, cancelation terms vary, and providers reserve the right to move your flight +/- 3 hours, which can be an inconvenience, to say the least.
We recommend, when possible to avoid peak days. You can compare providers and programs on the comparison spreadsheet by filtering in Row 3 Column BU (Peak Day Surcharges), BY (Peak Day Advance Reservation Lead Time), BZ (Number of Peak Days), CA (Actual Dates), and CG (Peak Day Cancelation Deadline).
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