For the rich, their standard travel perks are the everyman's dream vacation.
Flexjet is one of many private jet operators competing for the best perks to boost customer retention, as reported by Business Insider. For spending six figures on Flexjet's Chairman Club, you get perks such as free luxury accommodations at five-star hotels with a private fireworks display, horseback riding, and private tasting menus from world-renowned chefs.
Other private jet companies, including NetJets and VistaJet, have offered suites at the Formula One Grand Prix, Super Bowl, Yankee Stadium, and more.
"It's like the gladiators going after each other," Doug Gollan, the founder of Private Jet Card Comparison, told BI. "You are spending hundreds of thousands, millions to join. No dinner with a chef makes sense if you join the wrong program."
The flights themselves cost $7,000 to $23,000 per hour, and the club operates like a timeshare for private jets.
Private jet usage has increased since the pandemic, as the wealthy have pursued individual luxury accommodations to bypass COVID-19 restrictions and border closures, according to the Washington Post. There has also been an increase in ultra-high-net-worth individuals in the U.S. who are spending close to $30 billion annually on private yachts and jets.
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Even though the No. 1 reason people fly private is to get from point A to point B faster and in more comfortable accommodations, the environmental impact is too great to justify the convenience.
Private jets release more carbon pollution than any other kind of transportation. In just two hours of flying, private jets match the pollution of an average person for an entire year, according to a Communications Earth & Environment journal.
It's disproportionately irresponsible when a quarter million of the super wealthy population release as much carbon pollution from their private jets in one year as the entire population of Tanzania.
It's also telling that the average age of the private jet customer has decreased, indicating that younger generations — who are more aware of the environmental implications for our planet than ever — are still making damaging choices.
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Definitely 👍 The more perks that become available, combined with social media status, access to Ivy League private tours, and other perks that the average person cannot even fathom, it's hard to justify flying commercial when you're rich.
"We give them something they never want to get rid of," says Matteo Atti, the CMO of Vista Global, VistaJet's parent company.
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