Elite Traveler Summer 2021

SENTIENT JET While these days, jet cards come in many forms, the original came from Sentient Jet, now part of Kenn Ricci’s Directional Aviation, the owner of Flexjet, FXAIR, PrivateFly and numerous other business aviation brands. Jet cards, created in 1997, provide many benefits of full ownership but only require minimal commitment. Typically, you buy in units of 25 hours. If you want more after you use your hours, you can buy more. If not, you’re done. The core benefit of jet cards like Sentient’s is one-way pricing combined with guaranteed availability. When you join, you get a contracted hourly rate, so unlike with on-demand charter, you know how much your flights will cost ahead of time, making cards popular with CFOs. What’s more, you can book your flight — or cancel if needed — with as little as 10 hours’ notice. If it’s going to rain this weekend in New York, call during breakfast Friday morning and you can be flying somewhere sunny by supper time. Sentient also allows you to switch the type of jet you want for each trip. If you are going alone, take a light jet. If you are bringing friends, book something bigger. In other words, for an investment of under $150,000, you have a fleet of private jets on call. sentient.com FLYEXCLUSIVE Unlike airliners that are flown over 10 hours per day, the typical private jet averages less than an hour. When owners of those airplanes want something new, Jim Segrave is giving their jets a second life, amortizing the manufacturing footprint over hundreds of new customers and extra years of service. After building Segrave Aviation and selling it to Delta Private Jets in 2010, he returned for a second act, launching flyExclusive in 2014. Its fleet of pre-owned private jets gets interior and avionics upgrades, including complimentary WiFi. It’s hard to tell that the airplanes are 10 to 20 years old once you are sitting inside. With used jets often selling for a fraction of their original sticker price, what is easy to see is the lower hourly rates from flyExclusive’s jet card program. flyexclusive.com

JETSMARTER Like Icarus, JetSmarter flew too close to the sun. After raising hundreds of millions of dollars and attracting high-profile backers from Jay-Z to Saudi Arabian investment funds, from its 2013 launch, it claimed a billion-dollar valuation. That was long gone before it sold itself to Vista Global Holdings in 2019, amid a string of lawsuits. Still, the company and its founder, Sergey Petrossov, did a lot to pave the way for future by-the-seat and sharing models. Mostly, JetSmarter will be remembered for offering an all-you-can-fly buffet of seats on scheduled private flights for under $10,000 annually, less than a single traditional charter flight. Members were able to snag empty leg repositioning flights at no additional cost, giving them the entire jet. Fans said they were able to get hundreds of thousands of dollars in value. Their social media posts from private jet terminals and on board helped spread the word. Customer lawsuits eventually replaced the adoring media coverage as free flights became less plentiful, surcharges were added, and membership prices increased, allegedly without notice. Both the ride up and then down attracted millions of dollars of media exposure, much of it positive and much of it providing a more accessible face for an industry often perceived as being off limits except to UHNWs, celebrities and CEOs. Today, JetSmarter’s technology forms Vista Global’s XOJET digital platform’s backbone, allowing users to buy seats or crowdfund their own flights.