Fly Private Jet

Handfuls of web pages and private jet businesses follow management of hoteliers and hotelier web pages, providing last-minute offers for untapped stocks, and others are altering the pricing of private airfare to make it much more accessible. Recent deal numbers have include a four-person ticket from Los Angeles to Cabo San Lucas for $499 (that's about $124 per capita, which involves U.S. consumption tax and fees), a four-person ticket from Orange County to Chicago for $536 (that's about $135 per capita) and a six-person ticket from Teterboro (in New Jersey, near New York City) to Nassau, Bahamas for $1,074 (that's about $179 per capita).

In all the above cases, in order to obtain the price per passenger, you must reserve all places on the aircraft. Even if they are not promoted, customers can also get large last-minute deals simply by phoning a private airline within a few working days of departure and asking if they have done business.

There are other choices for those whose timetables are not suitable for last-minute bookings, although they may be more expensive. The West Coast carrier Surf Myair offers unrestricted private aircraft to and from certain California locations such as Los Angeles and Santa Barbara for $1,599 per month plus a one-time introductory charge of $500, which covers all charges; if you make four or more trips with the carrier, these fares may be less than the costs of similar buses or seat reservations for bus travel.

FLITE Air Taxi provides private aircraft a la cart at competitive prices: From Boston to Saratoga, N.Y. a ticket is $541 per passenger (you need six to fill the aircraft, i.e. $3,250 for the entire flight), as well as one from New York City to Martha's Vineyard and from Block Island to Worcester, Mass; this does not involve consumption tax (7.5% of the ticket cost), but other charges.

"More than 40% of private air travel has free seats," says Steve King, co-founder of the private jet-chartering firm by the name of AiroIQ. Often these planes just reposition themselves to collect travellers in another town, and the airlines would rather get some cash from the travellers than no more.

Businesses like Surf Air and FLITE Air Taxi can recharge less than reputable rivals, in part because they use different aircraft - such as single-prop turbos - which are less expensive because they consume less gas than bigger aircraft. "Operating costs can be a small percentage of those of other aircraft," says Justin Hart, VP of Surf Airhips.

In order to be sure, there are some significant added reservations to discourage private airfare. Frequently, these offers are only for one-way trips, so they must then find an alternate way back. It is also important to note that there may be charges in addition to airfare - such as airports or landings - so please refer to the agreement to see what is and is not in it.

For example, de-icing charges can be significant and pass on to the consumer, says Jeff Trance, the SVP of private jet operators for the USA for jet charterer Air Partner. Usually, you can't just buy a rebate pass for these aircraft; they will want you to cover the entire costs of the aircraft, so you need to find a group that goes with you to make the most of your economies.

Plus, if you want to make big savings, you probably won't get a new Primojet as they tended to be more expensive. Charter private aircraft have a tendency to suffer more falls than airliners - although they are still much more safe than automobiles. The majority of small aircraft incidents were due to a pilots fault, so call the private jet firm to find out how many flight maneuvers your pilots have.

In spite of these disadvantages, the attractiveness of private air traffic is still great, as both the airports and the flight experiences have become unpleasant. Trance says that if you are agile in both flight and flight, you will probably get the best deal. Phone the airline and ask about the difference in costs between e.g. a Saturday and a Tuesday and see if you can fly to a local airline.

Friday and Sunday are usually the most costly travelling seasons, says Justin Sullivan, co-founder of FLITE Air Taxi. And of course last minute deal can be significant, so it can be rewarding to wait until about 72 ours before you want to fly to find deal, Trance says, although of course this is dangerous.

Northeast stores, California, and the Northeast Florida trade lanes usually have the most last-minute deals, says Bob Diener, cofounder of Hotels.com and Getaroom.com. Dienster advises visiting FlyVictor.com as it calculates the costs of private jet trips between different airline companies. They may also consider having a realtor do the hard hoisting for you, says trance; realtors usually work on provision, so ask them what their provision is before you book and how you are paying them, and tell them your all-in pricing tolerances early.

According to Trance, if you are travelling with a group of seven or fewer people, you can often make significant savings because you can choose a smaller - and often less costly - aircraft. Probably you don't want a group of two because most private airlines ask you to hire the whole private aircraft (typically four or more seats).