Private Jet Guaranteed Rate Jet Cards Are Back And So Are The Deals

Forbes

30-04-2025

Remember when private jet flight providers shut off their jet card programs for new members – Sentient Jet, Jet Linx, Jets.com, Jet Aviation, Flexjet, Airshare, Dreamline, and so forth? While Wheels Up and VistaJet never stopped selling their versions of jet card programs that guarantee availability and hourly rates, each put restrictions on flying during your first 90 days.
In the case of the industry behemoth NetJets, which has the world's largest private jet fleet, it has also stopped renewals for its current customers. Other jet card sellers just gave up trying to live up to guarantees on prices and availability. They returned funds to members and put their programs on hiatus.
When you called a broker – if you got a callback, prices were sky high, and available aircraft were vintage 1990s.
Those days of 2021 and 2022 are now firmly in the rearview mirror.
New players are entering the jet card segment while existing players are expanding their offerings ... More and rolling back the number of restrictive peak days.
While there are no official numbers on the number of jet card members, the number of jet cards sold, or even flight hours—jet card flying is a former of charter—the debit-card-like flight product invented by Sentient back in 1999—programs are once again proliferating.
So are jet card deals—think free first flights, waiving membership fees, flight credits, and free hours.
The jet cards, which fill the wide gap between chartering trip by trip and the commitment of fractional ownership (generally at least 50 hours per year and a five-year commitment), could also benefit from economic uncertainty and tariffs.
Especially telling is the addition of new players offering fixed and capped rate jet cards that guarantee availability.
Most rate guarantees last at least 12 months, so it means the flight providers are confident they can cover the cost of flying you and still make a margin.
Current providers are easing restrictions they implemented during the Covid era when demand outstripped supply.
At the same time, flight providers are protecting themselves with fine print.
More jet card contracts have clauses that enable fuel surcharges (added after the Russian invasion of Ukraine) and special events fees (which can reach five figures for F1, Kentucky Derby, etc.).
Other changes include what's covered.
Sellers increasingly limit the amount they will pay for recovery flights, a traditional jet card benefit.
Unlike ad hoc charter, jet cards typically provide a replacement aircraft at your original contracted price when the aircraft assigned to you has a mechanical issue.
Requotes, as they are called, can mean a price increase of as much as 50%. You can pay and fly or get a refund, but then you still have to figure out how you will get where you are going.
For new flyers who are used to being rebooked by airlines, the idea of paying more for a delay that they had nothing to do with is often an unpleasant welcome to the expenses associated with an already expensive form of transportation.
Still, the jet cards are getting more flexible, with fewer peak days and lower daily minimums.
Peak days are dates when you must book farther in advance; cancelations are more restrictive; there are often surcharges and flight providers can shift your confirmed departure time by as much as four hours in either direction.
According to Private Jet Card Comparisons, the average number of peak days dropped to 35.4 days at the end of Q1 2025, down from 44.6 days at the end of 2024. It is also down from 55.7 high-demand days at the end of 2022.
Daily minimums are the flight time you pay even if you fly less in a single day. They are back to 2019 levels.
Large operators have been particularly active of late.
NetJets, the industry's biggest player, has been inching back into the jet card segment over the past two years and now offers nearly a dozen different options, although they all have at least 90 peak or blackout dates.
Others have been jumping in.
Jetvia, a large Lear 60 operator, launched a jet card last year.
Airshare expanded its jet card program nationwide.
Fly Alliance reduced callouts—the minimum advance booking window to get your guaranteed rates—to just eight hours.
It also reduced peak days by half.
Last week, it announced a new Citation Reserve program for the XLS Next Gen, Latitude, and Longitude in partnership with Thrive Aviation.
Fly Alliance will sell the program. The two operators' Textron Aviation fleets will provide aircraft.
Jet Linx, another larger player, cut membership fees and now guarantees Wi-Fi for super-midsize and large cabin aircraft.
PlaneSense, which traditionally adhered to fractional ownership, launched jet cards on its Pilatus PC-24 and PC-12 fleets. However, you must use your 25 hours within 12 months.
Northern Jet, which had only offered a midsize jet card option in the past, now offers guaranteed access and rates on light jets and super-midsize airplanes after merging with SpeedBird in 2023.
SpeedBird didn't have a jet card program.
Tradewind Aviation has expanded beyond the Caribbean and Northeast U.S. to Florida and the Bahamas, bringing its turboprop jet card along.
Ventura Air Services launched its first jet card last year, a regional program for flyers east of the Mississippi River.
Brokers are jumping in as well.
FlyUSA, Bitlux, Jet365, Principal Aviation, and Porter Jets have each debuted jet cards that offer guaranteed availability and pricing.
Jets.com, a longtime player, cut peak days earlier this month and reduced daily minimums as part of a rebranding.
Magellan Jets, an established provider, has a first-flight free promotion running through the end of May.
OneFlight International, know for its BAJIT televesions commercials, is offering a limited number of large cabin jet cards priced at $10,000 per hour. According to Private Jet Card Comparisons the industry average was $15,197 per hour at the end of Q1.
This month, BC Flight, a boutique broker, offered five hours free when you buy 25 hours under a "Take 5" promotion.
Outlier Jets gave jet card buyers a $7,295 Ryvid e-motorcycle during the holidays.
Others are joining but without the guarantees.
Monarch Air Group launched its first formal membership. However, it uses dynamic pricing, where flights are priced trip-by-trip.
Stratos Jets, which offers a wholesale pricing membership, cut the markup in a recent promotion.
Of course, the jet card deals come with risks.
Both Volato and Verijet, two previously ranked top 20 operators, are facing litigation from former members who allege they paid but didn't receive their flights.