When It Comes to Private Jet Perks, the Sky’s the Limit

With competition among private aviation firms as fierce as ever, the perks available to new and existing customers keep getting bigger. Gone are the days when complimentary transfers and customized in-flight amenities moved the needle. The industry’s top providers have entered into a virtual arms race, trying to out-do one another with one splashy offering after the next.

“The partnerships with celebrity chefs, VIP access to famous vineyards and sporting events, being invited to play in golf pro-ams … these comped memberships and perks valued at tens of thousands of dollars are part of a tried and tested marketing strategy among private jet companies,” says Doug Gollan, president and editor of Private Jet Card Comparisons, a buyer’s guide that tracks pricing, rules, and policies for more than 80 jet card, membership, and fractional providers.

Jet cards are a way to charter a private flight by pre-paying into a company’s program; a membership requires customers to pay an annual fee to unlock private aviation services; and fractional ownership allows individuals or businesses to share the cost and use of a private jet.

Key players such as NetJets, Flexjet, VistaJet, Wheels Up, and OneFlight have hospitality areas at in-demand events such as Formula 1, the Masters, and the Super Bowl, “places customers want to go, and where you want to make sure you are getting the VIP treatment because the crowds are overwhelming,” Gollan says.

Among the newest curated experiences and events for VistaJet members include a luxury cacao travel experience in Ecuador.
Courtesy of VistaJet

Though the perks don’t motivate users to pick a company, they play an important role for the jet companies, Gollan says.

“The perks don’t drive savvy [ultra-high-net-worth] consumers to choose one company over the other. However, they generate awareness of the companies via media coverage; they spark interest via partnering with luxury partner companies—fashion houses, private vacation clubs, luxury hotels, and automakers—and they allow the partners to market to each other’s clients,” he says. “They also allow executives to mix with their customers.”

This is important because there is a high cost of acquisition when it comes to finding potential clients who can afford private aviation. According to Gollum’s latest subscriber survey, around 40% said they were considering switching providers.

“That’s in line with previous years,” he says. “The perks and the personal interaction can be important in getting renewals.”

Earlier this year, flyExclusive announced that eligible customers will be granted one 12-month complimentary membership to Inspirato, which allows participants to book luxury travel experiences—including five-star vacation homes from Breckenridge, Colo., to Bordeaux, France—without paying a membership fee.

“We do see a wide variety of short-term perks offered in today’s market to win business,” says Brad Blettner, flyExclusive’s chief revenue officer. “We work to build relationships and lean into what our customers value—time, choice, and control—because every minute matters.”

Since becoming a flyExclusive client in 2020, a Delray Beach, Florida-based CEO of a software company who declined to be identified, has attended a number of private member events, from fishing trips and the 2024 U.S. Open at Pinehurst—where flyExclusive hosted around 100 guests in a luxury suite—to the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg, Fla..

“In terms of the additional stuff, it’s icing on the cake. We’ve had amazing experiences,” he says. “It’s more than just a jet card. It’s like joining a real club with events you can look forward to. The perks definitely enhance customer loyalty.”

Another provider famous for its events is Wheels Up, whose members receive an invitation to join the brand every year for the Masters. During the golf tournament, the “Wheels Up Clubhouse” offers an array of luxury hospitality, including food, beverages, and entertainment.

Sentient Jet, which is celebrating its 25th anniversary, has added 12 partners—ranging from high-end hotels to luxury leather goods brands—to its latest “Exclusive Benefits Guide,” an annual premium perk available exclusively to its jet card owners.

Now in its 11th edition, the guide includes benefits across the worlds of travel, food and beverage, wellness, sporting events, and beyond. The estimated total value exceeds US$225,000, including exclusive discounts and partnerships with brands such as Auberge Resorts, Human Longevity Wellness & Medical Testing, and the Little Nell in Aspen.

“Sentient’s Exclusive Benefits Guide is like the Neiman Marcus holiday catalog, except everything is free or discounted. It’s impressive,” says Gollan of Private Jet Card Comparisons.

The provider’s best-known perk can be enjoyed every May through its partnership with the Kentucky Derby. (Sentient was the first private aviation partner of Churchill Downs beginning in 2016.) Card owners enjoy a “behind the gates” experience including access to Sentient’s private suite, where they can mingle with celebrity guests. A highlight is the annual Derby Day breakfast, a French-inspired bash in the Hotel Distil hosted by celebrity chef and Sentient Jet brand ambassador Bobby Flay. (As an extra perk for new card owners, Sentient offers a complimentary hour of flight time and a US$2,500 betting voucher.)

“Our longstanding partnership with the Kentucky Derby and Bobby Flay goes beyond a hosted breakfast—it’s a reflection of how we like to curate experiences for our card owners,” says Kirsten LaMotte, senior vice president, business development, partnerships and events at Sentient Jet. “We are proud to help our card owners focus less on the stress of getting to their events, and more on helping create unique travel memories.”

Card owners enjoy a “behind the gates” experience at the Kentucky Derby including access to Sentient’s private suite, where they can mingle with celebrity guests.
Meagan Jordan

VistaJet offers its biggest perks through its “Private World” portfolio of bespoke adventures crafted by the provider and its network of hundreds of trusted partners. In 2023, member requests more than doubled from the previous year, and 2024 is on track to surpass this, according to the company.

“We view Private World as a valuable enhancement to our members’ lives that extends beyond their time spent in the air,” says Matteo Atti, VistaJet’s chief marketing officer. “Private World is more than hedonistic; it’s a testament to our dedication to our members’ lives, in the air and on the ground.”

Notable examples include personalised wine tours, rejuvenating wellness retreats, and ultimate Formula 1 packages—a benefit of VistaJet’s partnership with Ferrari—featuring private dinners with drivers Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz.

The newest curated experiences and events for VistaJet members include a luxury cacao travel experience in Ecuador, and a humpback whale helicopter safari in Mozambique.

Like most providers, VistaJet refrains from commenting on specific customers.

Nearing 25 years in business, Flexjet has introduced its “Red Label” program. Offered to super-midsize aircraft fractional owners and above, key features include flight crews assigned to a single, specific aircraft, custom cabin interiors, and exclusive experiences such as the inaugural “Chairman’s Club” event. Clients have jetted to the likes of Anguilla and Lake Como, where they’ve been hosted by Flexjet’s chairman Kenn Ricci and CEO Mike Silvestro. (The only caveat was that the owners were required to use their fractional share to travel to the destination—the rest of the trip was complimentary.)

At the Anguilla event, 12 couples enjoyed accommodations at Cap Juluca, a Belmond Hotel, along with golfing and spa experiences, an exclusive luncheon on a private island, and a fireworks display that concluded the extended weekend. Earlier this year, 15 couples were hosted at Lake Como’s Villa d’Este while enjoying one-of-a-kind experiences including shopping with a Vogue fashion editor and a helicopter excursion to Lake Iseo where they enjoyed a private tour of Ferretti Group’s Riva shipyard (a tour not available to the public).

Next year, Ricci and Silvestro will be hosting the next Chairman’s Club event in San Miguel, Mexico.

According to David Gitman, CEO of Monarch Air Group, a Fort Lauderdale-based private jet charter provider, the private aviation industry has been experiencing a correction following a surge of interest during the pandemic.

“As the market cools off, the consumer has many more choices now as there are more available aircraft, compared to the shortage we experienced a few years earlier. This causes charter companies to provide more perks to the consumer,” he says. “In my opinion, the main perk that is happening right now is the competition between the various private jet providers. Clients that are not locked in to an agreement are benefiting from this market correction.”

AI agents like Muse can already find you the cheapest hotel room in Paris. But they can’t locate a cheaper version of that Catskills cabin you’ve been eyeing, because it might only be available on Airbnb ABNB -1.43%decrease.

Investors should pay attention to that distinction. When Meta Platforms META 3.38%increase launched its Muse agent last month, travel stocks including Booking Holdings BKNG -1.19%decrease, Expedia and Airbnb all fell sharply.

Airbnb, though, has a real chance to emerge as a winner from the upheaval. The catch: Its stock already reflects above-industry growth. To justify its valuation, Airbnb will need to turn repeat customers into loyal ones.

Online travel companies make much of their money by simplifying search and collecting fees on bookings. AI agents threaten that model.

But not all travel marketplaces are equally exposed. Booking and Expedia largely sell hotel rooms that travelers can also book directly or through competing sites. If an agent can find the same room elsewhere, it has little reason to favor either Booking or Expedia.

Booking and Expedia also sell sponsored listings that steer travelers toward particular properties. Wells Fargo estimates those will account for about 8% of Expedia’s revenue and a much higher percentage of profit next year.

Airbnb has more ways to adapt. More than half its listings are available only on its platform, and more than 90% of its traffic comes directly to its app or website.

The customer relationship doesn’t end after booking, either. Bernstein analyst Richard Clarke notes that 90% of Airbnb guests go on to message their hosts about arrival times, keys or local taxes, giving Airbnb a connection to both sides of the transaction.

How the companies have responded to the possible agentic future is telling.

Expedia quickly signed on as a Muse partner. Airbnb hasn’t, and Chief Executive Brian Chesky says AI chatbots have so far been a boon, sending customers to Airbnb’s website.

Chatbots might work for buying paper towels, he quipped at a Skift conference last month, but people enjoy planning trips. He argued that browsing dozens of homes isn’t something a text-based chatbot is well suited for.

Still, the AI jitters arrived just as Airbnb was persuading investors it deserved its pricey multiple. For years after its 2020 initial public offering, the stock—which trades around 25 to 30 times forward earnings—went nowhere. Investors saw a mature operator trading at a growth premium.

This year, Airbnb growth seems to be accelerating. The stock jumped in August after the company raised its full-year revenue-growth guidance with its second-quarter results. Wells Fargo analyst Ken Gawrelski credits a run of product improvements under a revamped leadership team.

Among the changes: letting guests reserve now and pay later, adding hotels, and a redesigned home page and app. Investors were also betting on what comes next, including thousands more hotels, car rentals and, eventually, advertising.

The irony is that some of those growth drivers push Airbnb closer to the kind of business Booking and Expedia run—the kind of business AI agents could threaten. Even if AI agents capture a large share of travel planning and booking, Airbnb would capture the demand. But it and others would slowly lose control over how customers find and choose properties.

That would undermine the advertising opportunity investors are counting on. The bigger point for Airbnb and other marketplaces is that losing control of customer acquisition could mean surrendering some of their pricing power and margins.

To bulletproof itself, Airbnb might look to another e-commerce giant that has so far kept AI agents at arm’s length: Amazon.

Like Amazon, Airbnb has a loyal customer base and hard-to-match supply. But it has nothing like Prime membership to make customers think twice before taking their business elsewhere.

That is where loyalty comes in. Business travelers stick with Hilton or Marriott because enough nights earn them perks. Leisure travelers rarely accumulate stays with one chain. Airbnb has millions of listings and plenty of repeat customers, but no broad rewards program. It has begun experimenting with credits on hotel stays, but it should make loyalty a priority, not just a promotion.

Airbnb also plans to launch its own AI agent next year. But travelers using an agent might still want it to search Airbnb, Vrbo, Booking and hotel websites alike, rather than limit itself to one company’s inventory.

Eventually, Airbnb might have to strike deals with agent makers, using its unique homes as leverage to negotiate favorable terms, says Gawrelski. Such deals, along with rewards for loyal guests, could over the long term eat into the company’s roughly 13% take rate, he adds. But if they bring in enough additional bookings, the trade-off could be worthwhile.

History offers a reason not to panic. The shift from desktop to mobile unsettled investors in Alphabet and Amazon, but both emerged as major beneficiaries. Companies with valuable assets can come out of a platform shift stronger, if they adapt quickly enough.

Airbnb has homes the bots can’t easily replace. Now it needs to give guests a reason to insist on booking them there.

When It Comes to Private Jet Perks, the Sky’s the Limit

AI-powered travel agents are challenging online booking platforms, but Airbnb’s exclusive listings and direct customer relationships could give it an edge. Its next challenge: turning repeat guests into loyal customers through stronger rewards and innovation.