September 5, 2024
Upgrades to Wheels Up’s online charter booking make it easier to find low prices and track progress to flight credits and Delta elite status.
Wheels Up has added several functions for users of its on-demand charter booking tools. At the same time, members can now see direct savings realized from their memberships.
Wheels Up Charter customers can track their progress toward earning flight credits and see how far they are from Diamond Medallion status on Delta Air Lines.
Last month, Wheels Up restructured its flight offerings, separating memberships and on-demand charter.
Booking flights on a one-off basis no longer means paying a membership fee or facing a surcharge.
Instead, the Delta Air Lines-backed flight provider seeks to attract more ad hoc bookings.
It now offers non-members to earn Diamond Medallion status on Delta by spending $125,000 on charter flights.
It also offers ad hoc customers flight credits based on spending.
Both are now tracked in an airline-style frequent flyer account display (image at top).
“Over the last few years, we at Wheels Up have proudly placed transparency and customer value at the center of our brand promise,” said Kristen Lauria, Wheels Up Chief Customer and Marketing Officer.
She added, “We’ve previously illustrated that commitment by being the first in our industry to publish operational metrics and are proud to extend that visibility to our dynamic pricing rates and individual flier progress towards reward redemption.”
Members can now track savings by having guaranteed capped rates.
For example, if the capped rate for a flight was $15,000 and the dynamic rate would have been $21,000, their account page tracks the $6,000 savings.
Members can see how much they saved on a year-to-date basis. The display also shows the percentage of flights on which their capped hourly rates saved money versus market prices (below).
An improved calendar function introduced last year lets users see price differences between specific dates over the coming months (image below).
Previously, peak dates were marked, but you had to click the date to see flight costs for a specified day.
Instant booking pricing is available for up to 12 months out.
Instant booking pricing is offered from turboprops to super midsize jets, mirroring the Wheels Up fleet.
Large cabin jets remain as requested pricing.
After you click a date (below), a new flexible travel plan integration that offers the option to fly to alternative airports for less money appears.
Lauria says the latest changes are “delivering realized value on a flight-by-flight basis.”
In one booking example, after selecting a specific flight date between Miami Opa Locka Airport and Morristown Municipal Airport, I was offered a savings of $446 to fly from Palm Beach International instead.
The interface notes that PBI is 55 miles from OPF, which is a nice feature.
The flexible travel function provides savings by aircraft category.
For example, if there wasn’t a lower light jet price, it showed me “savings” on a King Air.
That’s despite the turboprop being more expensive than a light jet for the route.
In other words, remember that the savings are shown by aircraft category—turboprop, light, mid, and super-midsize.
Since most prices are instantly bookable—not quote requests—the new interface will mean Wheels Up is now, like Vista Global’s XO charter brokerage, a good place to get a quick read on current pricing for specific routes and dates.
In a way, they are complimentary.
The Vista Members Fleet strength is light jets, super mids, and large cabin aircraft.
Wheels Up is focused on turboprops, light jets, and super mids.
You can set up free accounts with both.
Like most online on-demand booking tools, there is room for improvement.
For example, searching for one-way flights between Van Nuys and Teterboro yielded a price of $29,164.16 on a super-midsize jet, including taxes and fees.
That’s great.
However, flexible pricing offered me a light jet with a fuel stop to Morristown for $35,170.99, over $5,000 more than the cost to fly nonstop to my preferred airport (see below).
There was also an “exclusive discount” of $38,289.29 all-in on a midsize jet, which would require a fuel stop.
While experienced buyers of on-demand charters would dismiss this nit-picking, it won’t make much sense to a broader audience.
One could wonder why a smaller airplane that has to make a stop is more expensive.
Also, why is the more expensive midsize jet, which also requires a fuel stop, labeled as an “exclusive discount?”
The bottom line is that tracking spending and savings and offering relevant airport options with lower-cost flights are all welcome.
It’s all presented in an easy-to-navigate, user-friendly format.
However, for those of you who are tracking private aviation’s digital booking evolution, it seems clear that instant booking is still the domain of fleet operators like Wheels Up and Vista’s VistaJet, and XO, or guaranteed rate products, i.e., jet cards, like those of Sentient Jet, NetJets, FlyExclusive, VistaJet, and Wheels Up.
In other words, don’t be confused by brokers and platforms claiming to be the Uber or Expedia of private jets.
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