January 3, 2025
Jet cards often offer better cancelation terms than on-demand private jet charter flights. However, the fine print is critical.
One downside of booking private jet charter flights on an ad hoc basis is cancelation fees if your plans change. While many jet cards allow you to book and cancel with 48-, 72-, or 96-hour notice, the devil is in the details. Or better said, the devil is in the fine print in contracts spanning over 30 pages. The fine print typically doesn’t make it into the glossy brochures. You may not even know the different cancelation terms until you get hit by them. Here are some of the variables to look out for.
Peak days, high-demand days, or whatever the jet card provider calls them typically have different cancelation terms.
Be cautious because not every jet card seller names their peak days, and they may say we don’t have them.
However, those high-demand booking days have different cancelation terms.
In some cases, it is longer.
Sometimes, instead of being able to cancel without penalty 48 hours before, it’s 96 hours.
In other cases, it can be seven days or more.
In still other cases, bookings on peak days are subject to a 100% penalty if you cancel or change them after receiving the confirmation.
While the number of these days could be modest, if you get caught needing to change your plans after booking, the provider is entitled to charge you 100% of the estimated flight cost.
In some cases, Special Events such as the Super Bowl, Masters, and other notable gatherings fall under peak day terms.
That can include cancelation terms.
They also don’t necessarily apply to flights to or from the event.
Some apply to all flights during that Super Bowl event, for example, even if you aren’t flying near the big game.
Smaller brokers often offer jet card programs as a convenience to good clients who want fixed rates and a frictionless booking process instead of the time-consuming back-and-forth of ad hoc charters.
While the cancelation window may be 48, 72, 96 hours, etc., that may not be the whole story.
We often see that shorter window only applies to roundtrips.
However, a roundtrip in jet cards and on-demand charter isn’t the same as when you buy an airline ticket.
In jet cards and ad hoc charters, a roundtrip is when the same airplane and crew take you where you are going, wait for you while there, and then fly you back to your airport of origin.
Most jet card flights are, in fact, one-way. The crew drops you off, returns to base, or goes somewhere else to pick up other customers.
If you change or cancel a one-way flight in these programs after booking, you are again subject to a 100% cancelation fee.
Sometimes, a jet card contract contains a sentence stating that the terms are all well and good unless the operator’s policy is different.
In these cases, operator policy takes precedence.
The contract notes that “the terms and conditions and cancelation policy of the respective air operator shall apply, and the customer may be subject to a penalty or fee. Cancelation policies can be made available to customers prior to booking a flight upon request.”
As you can imagine, cancelation terms vary since there are over 600 operators in the U.S. with charter jets on their certificate and more than 1,000 if you include turboprops.
It is best to assume there could be a 100% cancelation or change fee after booking.
Some jet card providers list mountain and high-elevation airports that, at certain times of the year, require a fuel stop or the use of a nearby alternate airport.
The language – perhaps copied or written by the same attorney – says if the trip can be completed using the alternatives and you decline, cancelation penalties may apply if you cancel.
The extended Primary Service Area is typically used when you fly outside the Continental U.S.
Still, in some cases, regions in the U.S. can impose different cancelation terms even though your fixed/capped hour rates apply.
Many jet cards allow you to use funds for flights outside the fixed/capped rate area.
The cancelation terms here often revert to operator policy.
If not, they can be more stringent.
While the window to book your guaranteed flights is typically articulated in hours—as in 48 or 96 hours—cancellation is sometimes based on business days.
Three business days can mean 120 hours – or more if it is a holiday weekend.
Some cancelation policies enable the jet card provider to recoup any direct costs already incurred.
That’s even if you cancel outside the stated window.
Typical costs that can be charged are international permits, international trip planning fees paid to third parties, catering, or repositioning of the aircraft that has already taken place.
Make sure to cancel (or change) your flights adhering to the procedure articulated in your contract.
That could require canceling in writing or using a specific email address or department.
While you may feel you should be able to call your rep and cancel —and in many cases, the cancelation will be taken care of—you risk being charged for not following the stated procedure for canceling.
Many programs provide best-effort recovery when there is a mechanical, either at no additional cost or up to a specific premium.
For example, if the operator cancels, your jet card provider may cover the cost of a last-minute replacement aircraft, even if it costs more than you are paying.
Sometimes, there is a specific cap – 15% or 50% more than your estimated flight cost.
It can seem like purgatory.
Can you cancel while your provider tries to get a replacement aircraft?
If you are sitting at the FBO waiting to leave, you are within the cancelation window.
Are you subject to a penalty if you say you want to cancel because either you don’t want to make the delayed trip or found a better recovery option?
It’s not necessarily straightforward.
While it may be in the contract, many providers don’t want to charge cancelation fees unless they have to.
Most of the time, if it is a brokered aircraft, they are simply wiring your money to the operator.
Jet card providers, like ad hoc charter brokers, will often try to negotiate with the operator to waive or reduce the charge.
Operators typically work with brokers and other operators they know and do business with regularly to reduce the charge.
However, sometimes they passed up a bigger or better trip.
Other times, your one-way trip was connected to another flight they still had to fly.
Sometimes the owner of a managed aircraft refuses to waive the cancelation policy.
Crew and support staff, lease payments, and other expenses paid by the aircraft owner must be paid regardless of whether you cancel.
Very importantly, keep your cool, even if it is a significant amount of money.
We recently saw a jet card provider terminate a customer based on their behavior during a disruption.
Most importantly, before you sign a jet card contract, read the entire thing line-by-line.
They are written to protect the provider.
Providers adapt as they get burned by extra costs they didn’t anticipate.
We’ve seen trends such as adding the ability to add a fuel surcharge or special event fees.
If you have a couple of finalists, read each of the contracts.
We always recommend you request a contract template along with the proposal.
Reading one contract sometimes gets you saying, “I’ll never sign this thing.”
However, after you read several contracts, you realize that there are similar protections for the provider.
The key is to be aware of the fine print and how it will impact you—in this case, cancelations.
We also recommend having an experienced business aviation attorney review the contract before you sign it.
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