Let’s say chartering the entire private jet at $4,000 to $20,000 per hour is out of your budget. You don’t want to try your luck with discounted, but apt to cancel empty legs. Yet you yearn to reduce potential COVID-19 exposure by flying with fewer people. Jet sharing might be your best option.
XO allows you to book single seats on scheduled flights operating from private jet terminals.
Jet sharing comes in a variety forms, and there is nuance to the options. In all cases, the common denominator is that you get the private travel experience on the ground.
In other words, you don’t have to go through the main terminals at airports along with tens of thousands of other passengers. Instead you use FBOs or other private departure and arrival lounges.
In terms of jet sharing options in the U.S., you can:
If the good news is there are quite a few different options for shared private travel, the bad news is the action is still fairly limited. You can try to crowdsource flights anywhere, however, most of the activity appears to be in a few specific areas.
Here are the routes you will most likely find semiprivate flight options:
Pricing to buy seats on scheduled and confirmed flights can be in line with economy class tickets on the airlines, sometimes.
JSX prices start as low as $79 per seat for flights from Las Vegas to Phoenix. Tradewind Aviation flights from Westchester County Airport to Martha’s Vineyard start at $382 for a seat. Blade prices range from $2,450 to $2,950 each way for flights between New York and Miami. Member rates on XO confirmed flights between New York and Los Angeles range from $2,500 to $3,500 per seat.
When I looked to see how much it would cost to start a shared flight from Miami to Dallas on XO’s website, my non-member price was $2,890 per seat. It would take selling all additional seven seats on the light jet to confirm the flight.
From New York to Aspen I found a crowdfunded flight with a non-member rate of $4,390 for a seat. Member rates are $395 less and it costs $595 to join, so something that would pay for itself with the second flight. Two seats had been sold, and an additional six seats needed to be purchased in order for the flight to takeoff.
Surf Air mainly focuses on memberships. There is one type where you pay $2,500 per year and then can buy seats starting at $500 per flight. All-You-Can-Fly memberships cost $1,950 per month, but you can fly as much as you want at no additional charge.
Wheels Up offers an entry-level Connect membership. The first year you pay $2,995 with renewal at $2,495. After joining, you access a community bulletin board where other members post sharing opportunities. You can negotiate how many seats you want, what you are willing to pay and departure times as well as airports.
Jet Linx Aviation also offers a sharing program, however, it is more targeted at its jet card members and managed aircraft owners who typically use the entire aircraft, but from time to time, wouldn’t mind offsetting expenses by sharing.
Blade and XO flights between New York and Florida use a reconfigured CRJ-200 with 16 first class-style lounger seats arranged one-by-one facing forward. It’s similar to an airliner, just with more room and all single seats. On these flights, there is a flight attendant and meal service. Blade taps into renowned restaurants like BLT and Carbone.
Tradewind and SurfAir use the Pilatus PC-12, a popular turboprop. Its corporate shuttle configuration has eight seats in four rows in a one-by-one forward-facing layout.
In the case of the CRJ-200, the cabin height is over six feet. For PC-12s, it’s four feet, 10 inches, so most of you will have to duck as you walk to your seat. With flights typically under one hour, you won’t need to get up and move around, and in fact, there is limited room to do so.
JSX uses Embraer ERJ 135s and 145s that previously flew for regional airlines with 36 seats. In the JSX layout, seating is still one-by-two. After taking out six seats, you get 36 inches between rows, similar to first class on a domestic flight. There’s also a flight attendant and you get packaged snacks.
For crowdsourced flights, you are likely to find yourself on a more typical private jet with club seats facing each other as well as divans.
While you can share flights anywhere you can find willing participants, in terms of where you can book confirmed and scheduled flights, that’s limited. Here’s a rundown.
Through the beginning of November, XO has confirmed flights from Westchester County to Fort Lauderdale International Airport on Thursdays and Sundays. Northbound flights are Fridays and Sundays, with schedules subject to change. These flights use the CRJ-200s.
There are also a couple flights between New York and Los Angeles listed as confirmed through the end of September. The Gulfstream GIV being used shows the cabin with 14 seats, all in a one-by-one layout, with three sets facing each other, and one set facing the back of the seat in front of you, much like a typical airliner.
I also found a single confirmed flight from Aspen to Los Angeles this Friday with a return Sept. 8. The non-member fare is $1,490 each way and you would be flying on a private jet similar to the ones your favorite celebrities use. In this case, there are two compartments, including a three-seat couch, and a full table with a pair of seats facing each other. You can book online at FlyXO.com.
JSX was formerly known as JetSuiteX, but rebranded last year. It operates more like an airline. While it has dramatically scaled back routes and frequency due to COVID-19, its scheduled flights from Las Vegas branch out to Seattle, Oakland, Burbank, Phoenix and Orange County. From Burbank it also flies to Phoenix, Concord in the East Bay and Oakland. There are also flights between Oakland and Orange County. You can book online at JSX.com.
JSX offers you a private jet experience on the ground and corporate shuttle seating in the air … [+]
While Surf Air also sells seats on other carriers, its flights are mainly within California. It lists 10 flights per week between Hawthorne and San Carlos, four flights to Oakland, and three flights to Santa Barbara. There’s also a weekly flight between Austin and Dallas. You need to join before you book.
Better known for its shared helicopter services, Blade has also dipped its toes into fixed-wing scheduled jet flights by the seat. Flights between Westchester County Airport and Miami’s Opa Locka Executive Airport will start after Labor Day with plans to resume New York to Aspen flights for the winter. In addition to its own terminals in New York and Miami, you can helicopter between Westchester County Airport and Manhattan. You can also buy books of tickets to save money, and there is a free hotel offer in conjunction with the Faena Miami. You can book online.
In the Northeastern U.S., Tradewind offers by-the-seat confirmed flights from Westchester County Airport to Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket with up to three flights per day. You can book online.
An air taxi operating the Cirrus SR22, Hopscotch Air is now selling single seats as well. On Fridays and Sundays you can fly between Block Island and Providence, Rhode Island, or Westchester County, with fares $175 and $650, respectively.
There are other small air taxis around the country like Hopscotch, but for the most part, if you want to get a confirmed semiprivate flight and don’t want to charter the entire aircraft, options are limited both in routes and frequency.
In the past Wheels Up scheduled shuttle flights around major college football games so fans could go out and come back the same day. Think routes like New York to Syracuse or South Bend.
A spokesperson for JSX says, “Current flight activity is about 20% of pre-COVID levels, and it changes every week with little predictability thus far.”
Yet, there are signs of possible new offerings.
“At XO, we are always evaluating new routes and working on something new, but we don’t have anything to announce quite yet,” says Allison Silverstein, general manager at the company.
Andrew Schmertz, Hopscotch’s CEO sees new opportunities as a result of the COVID-19 travel crisis. He says, “We’re also applying for commuter air carrier status, which will allow us to provided unlimited scheduled service. Our plans include the appropriate aircraft for regional service.”
He notes, “Three or four regional airlines have announced they’re going out of business. That leaves many cities unserved or underserved.”