Flying in a private jet may not be as far out of reach as you think. Though it’s still not cheap, prices are rivaling first- and business-class tickets — and even, occasionally, coach — thanks in part to new Web sites, social media and a greater willingness by charter companies and private jet brokers to negotiate in an era of high fuel prices.
Here’s how you can land a seat on a private plane for less.
Search for last-minute, one-way discounts: Air Partner, a charter broker based in London, introduced emptysectors.com last year, to help fill so-called empty legs (when the aircraft flies without passengers back to base or between jobs) at discounted rates. Travelers can view which flights are available online but must call for pricing. Other brokers and private jet operators like JetSuite also make empty legs available to individual travelers, so it can pay to shop around.
“The dirty little secret of the industry is, about a third of our flights are empty,” said Alex Wilcox, chief executive of JetSuite, based in Southern California, which recently began posting last-minute $499 deals on Facebook for empty legs on the company’s four-passenger Embraer Phenom aircraft. “Say a Gulfstream pulls into San Francisco and is going back to Vegas empty,” he said. “A few years ago, if you were to say, ‘if I give you $500 will you take me and my family?’ you would get laughed at.” But the recession changed such attitudes, Mr. Wilcox said. Now, he said, more companies are saying, “Sure, it’ll help pay for the gas.”
But empty-leg flights involve a bit of a gamble. If the private jet owner’s arrangements change (say, the client they were planning to meet in Miami cancels at the last minute), you’re out of luck.
You also need to be flexible to get the best deals. Last month, Mike Lewis, chief executive of a property management company in Los Angeles, was able to score one of JetSuite’s $499 Facebook deals for himself and his girfriend for a last-minute empty leg on a four-passenger plane to Tucson. It was just six hours between the time he booked the flight and takeoff. Still, he said, the deal was so good — at roughly the same cost as he paid to fly back in coach on US Airways — without connections, security hassles and time lost waiting around at the airport, that he hopes to snap up similar bargains in the future.
“For $500 it’s a no-brainer to me,” he said.
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