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 customised 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.”

What’s more important than being a good employee right now? Looking like a good employee in the eyes of AI productivity trackers that more managers are using to evaluate their teams.

Employee-monitoring systems are especially popular at tech companies and are also used by other white-collar firms that want to probe how people spend company time. The scary thing: You might not even know you’re being watched because many states don’t require disclosure.

Metrics can include performance data that is undoubtedly relevant, such as sales results. But it also can employ dubious proxies like keyboard strokes and how often your computer screen goes into sleep mode.

We generally accepted, or at least understood, heightened surveillance during the work-from-home era. Back then it seemed reasonable for bosses to keep tabs on employees they couldn’t see.

Yet the oversight has only escalated, and tensions are rising, too.

A group of former Meta Platforms employees alleges in a lawsuit that the company used a “constellation of internal artificial-intelligence systems” when it began laying off about 10% of its workforce in May. Meta says humans make termination calls.

However that case shakes out, a couple of things are clear. Companies eager to gauge which employees are locked in now have sophisticated AI monitoring systems at their disposal. And they believe they have leverage in a tepid labor market.

So while we may chafe at having our worth reduced to numbers on the boss’s productivity dashboard, we have to play the game as it’s being played. Here are some tips, based on conversations with people who make employee monitoring systems—and others who game the systems.

Be meticulous about your calendar

Calendar integration is one way that productivity trackers have gotten more advanced and, ostensibly, fairer.

Let’s say you make an old-fashioned phone call or attend an in-person meeting. Your Outlook or Slack status may switch to “away,” making you appear as inactive as if you were taking an extended coffee break.

Employee monitors like one made by a company called Insightful cross-check your online status with your calendar to see whether there is a valid reason for your apparent inactivity. If that call or meeting is on your schedule, then the system will recognize that you are busy offline. If nothing is on the books, it could look like you’re slacking off.

Hit the activity sweet spot, around 80%

Let’s not go any further without addressing the underlying question: How much downtime is permissible during the workday? After all, people have been scared to let managers see anything non-work-related on their screens since personal computers first arrived in offices.

No one knows this better than Roger Wagner, who is widely credited with creating the first “boss button” in the early 1980s. He designed a keyboard shortcut to instantly display a spreadsheet if the boss walked by your cubicle while you were playing a computer game. Boss buttons have been features of countless diversions since. (I confess to using one built into a March Madness streaming app.)

Wagner, the founder of computer-education company 1010 Technologies, says his original design was a joke—more of a commentary on overbearing managers than a cover for lazy employees. Good bosses understand workers need mental breaks throughout the day, he says.

This matches what I heard from Insightful Chief Executive Ivan Petrovic. He says customers that use his company’s workforce-management platform don’t expect employees to stay on task 100% of the time.

“On average companies are aiming for 60% to 80% of your time being utilized for work during the day,” he says.

Go ahead and exhale. It’s probably OK to watch an occasional YouTube video at your desk.

And if you’re going to artificially inflate your activity level, be careful. Hitting 90% could look suspicious.

Get physical

So don’t leave your mouse jiggler on all day. Choose the right one if you must resort to shenanigans.

There are lots of software applications that mimic the movements of a computer mouse, so you can appear to be working while away from your desk. There are also devices that plug into computer ports and do the same thing.

Corporate cybersecurity systems increasingly block these apps and devices, and productivity trackers claim to be able to detect them. But some workers swear by mouse docks, like one made by Tech8 USA, that keep cursors moving. The company originally made mouse-moving software but now focuses on physical jigglers.

“People are drawn to mechanical solutions because they’re so simple and don’t require software,” says Tech8 Marketing Director Sam Matthews. “As monitoring technology becomes more sophisticated, that distinction has become even more relevant.”

Use AI, but not too much

Another popular metric for employee-monitoring systems is AI usage. Companies want to know who is embracing new tools, and it can be tempting to think more is better.

“There’s a performative aspect where employees overblow their usage of AI so that they appear relevant in the organization,” says Andrea Derler, principal researcher at Visier, which helps companies track and analyze employee work habits.

In a recent Visier survey of 1,000 U.S. workers, 48% admitted to exaggerating their AI usage.

This is already an outdated strategy. Using AI for everything used to score points for experimentation. Now it can seem wasteful because many companies are watching AI token spending more carefully.

Look, productivity theater has always been part of work. Most of us aren’t trying to cheat the system, but expectations are changing so quickly that we need to be savvy about what the latest employee trackers are looking for.

Sometimes it takes a little gamesmanship to get full credit for our contributions.

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

As AI productivity trackers reshape workplace evaluations, employees are learning how to manage calendars, activity levels and AI usage to ensure their contributions are recognized.

Be meticulous about your calendar

Hit the activity sweet spot, around 80%

Get physical

Use AI, but not too much