Caveat Emptor: Avoiding private jet scams, bankruptcies, and shutdowns

Zetta Jet

New and veteran private jet flyers have discovered that if it seems too good to be true, it may well be. Here are some of the sad stories we’ve covered in the past five years

Summerset Maugham once wrote about the French Riveria it is “a sunny place for shady people.” While private aviation has a lot of great people, and I enjoy covering the industry, I have to admit I was surprised that, looking back over the past five years, there have been over a dozen private jet scams, bankruptcies, and shutdowns. To me, that seems like too many.

UberJets denies ties to defunct jet card broker JetCard Plus

JetCard Plus, a private jet charter broker, closed earlier this year after it was hit by a $220,000 judgment in favor of Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin

Paul M. Svensen is registered as manager of UberJets LLC in Massachusetts and listed as CEO on its NBAA membership page. His LinkedIn profile still lists him as sales director of JetCard Plus

Paul A. Svensen Jr. was CEO of JetCard Plus, which is no longer an active company, and before that, COO of Jet Network LLC, a jet card seller that went into bankruptcy around 2007

In 2016, Paul A. Svensen Jr. registered another aviation business at the same Hingham, Massachusetts, address where Paul M. Svensen registered UberJets LLC, in August 2017

FlyUberjets.com promises members savings on full aircraft charters and empty leg flights

UberJets LLC denies any affiliation to Paul A. Svensen Jr. or JetCard Plus

UberJets LLC, a charter broker selling private jet memberships from a Park Avenue address in New York City promises “unlimited access to book and travel worldwide to luxury lifestyle destinations.”

It denies having any affiliation to a private aviation company that closed earlier this year amid litigation and a top executive, Paul A. Svensen Jr., who was CEO of that company and COO of another that also failed.

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