June 29, 2025
Each year flyers wire billions of dollars to flight providers for future private jet flights via jet card programs and memberships. Here’s why.
Prepaid jet cards are sometimes referred to as a Ponzi scheme by detractors. And yes, when companies fail, program members are unsecured creditors. However, jet cards and memberships remain popular with flyers, and for good reason.
Ad hoc charter, sometimes presented as an alternative to jet cards, is a different beast, and has its thorns, too.
This time, we examine some of the reasons why flyers send billions of dollars each year to companies for future jet card and membership flights, and why more flight providers are launching jet card programs every month.
But first, there are essentially three styles of jet cards and memberships.
First, there are memberships and jet cards with dynamic pricing.
That means each trip is priced based on market rates at the time of booking.
The main benefits of these programs include not having to transfer money each time, as well as sometimes offering extra benefits such as catering credits or trip recovery guarantees.
Next, there are jet cards that guarantee rates but not availability.
In other words, you know how much you will pay on a per-hour basis.
However, you may need to be flexible in terms of when you want to fly.
Lastly, for this article, we will focus on programs that offer guaranteed availability and capped or fixed hourly rates, the traditional jet card.
Jet cards and memberships that offer contracted, capped, or fixed hourly prices enable you to determine the cost of a flight based on its duration within a primary service area.
Suppose your program’s light jet rate is $7,500 per hour. In that case, you know that a two-hour flight costs $15,000 anywhere in the primary service area, which is often the entire continental United States and sometimes includes international destinations as well.
This can be particularly helpful for businesses that need to budget for travel.
The capped or fixed hourly rates are desirable for flyers who want to use the most convenient airport or are flying to and from destinations with a low volume of private flight activity.
In addition to knowing how much you will pay, you know that as long as you book a specific number of hours before departure, the pricing and flight are guaranteed.
Of course, there are often more extended deadlines and more restrictions on peak days, which vary widely.
It’s one reason we encourage paid subscribers like you to take advantage of our Decider Custom Analysis.
You fly privately to save time. Jet cards save time in the booking process compared to on-demand charter or dynamic pricing. Because availability and price are guaranteed, booking is essentially like Uber or Lyft, which can be done via a call, email, app, or website.
Some De-Icing includes de-icing, an expense that can range up to $10,000 per incident.
When booking charter flights, you may be liable for de-icing charges and additional fees after your flight, if required.
In other words, if you are flying between winter weather destinations, a jet card that includes de-icing can save significant money.
While many ad hoc charter flights for one-way trips are non-changeable and non-cancellable after contract, most jet cards allow you to book and then change or cancel up to 24 to 96 hours before departure for non-peak days.
Again, a good reason to use our Decider Customer Analysis, which compares cancellation policies.
If a hurricane is headed your way or you need to relocate someone, having a fixed-rate, guaranteed jet card has long been a valuable tool to have in your pocket, particularly when others are bombarding brokers and operators trying to book a one-off trip.
The double-edged sword of having money at risk in the event of a failure also enables you to avoid credit card and wiring fees, and makes booking easier when banks are closed.
Many programs will also enable you to use funds for dynamic pricing charters outside the primary and extended service areas where fixed or capped hourly rates apply.
Dynamic pricing factors in the repositioning of the aircraft on both ends of your trip. The genius of most jet cards is that they only charge you for occupied hours, from takeoff to touchdown.
In other words, the flight provider is taking the risk that the costs of the repositioning flights will exceed your hourly rate pricing for the time of your flight, so long as you are within the primary service area where contracted rates apply.
In addition to your preferred aircraft category, many jet cards enable you to upgrade or downgrade to a bigger or smaller aircraft at contracted rates, allowing you to book with the same ease as your regular flights.
Again, this is something we track in the more than 65 comparison points we analyze, comparing the over 500 programs in our database.
Jet cards offer an experience similar to fractional or full ownership, with programs starting at as little as 10 hours or a $25,000 commitment.
While both ownership, whether full or fractional, provides many benefits, it also requires a longer and deeper commitment. In contrast, jet cards allow you to adjust your usage if your flying needs change.
Since different programs have different guaranteed service regions and types of aircraft, if your flying needs change, you can also change providers.
According to our annual subscriber survey, over 50% of our subscribers who own jets are also fractional owners and use jet cards for supplemental lift.
There are more reasons to like jet cards.
Some will refund the unused balance if you want to leave.
Many include recovery flights at the original price. That means you don’t need to get a requote as you would with ad hoc charters.
Some jet cards include catering, which can be pretty expensive.
Many also include complimentary WiFi.
There are also jet cards that will enable you to select specific aircraft types instead of categories.
While prepaid jet cards have downsides and risks, flying privately isn’t cheap, no matter which direction you go.
I recommend reading Comparing the 5 Ways to Fly Privately.
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