The Entrepreneur Forum | Financial Freedom | Starting a Business | Motivation | Money | Success

Welcome to the only entrepreneur forum dedicated to building life-changing wealth.

Build a Fastlane business. Earn real financial freedom. Join free.

Join over 80,000 entrepreneurs who have rejected the paradigm of mediocrity and said "NO!" to underpaid jobs, ascetic frugality, and suffocating savings rituals— learn how to build a Fastlane business that pays both freedom and lifestyle affluence.

Free registration at the forum removes this block.

New private jet company set to take off!!!

AJGlobal

Contributor
Read Fastlane!
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
21%
Aug 14, 2007
174
36
Phoenix, AZ
Hey guys, my partner and I have been searching for a year or so now to try and find a private jet service that was affordable for those of us that are making money but can't afford to spend what a fractional ownership costs or even fly with a card that has hours on it. Everything we looked into was way to expensive and not cost effective.

Recently I had a friend of mine tell me about a company that was in the works called jumpjet. The idea was to create a service that flew you privately from non-commercial airports for near what a first class ticket would cost. I, of course was like.....yeah..... right. Well at the beginning of June they flew 50 successful flights. They had so many more people sign up than anticipated that the reservation system could not handle the load. So they sent an e-mail out to everyone saying they would be refunding June's dues and would be pulling the system off line to re vamp it and they would be back on line again by mid august. They in fact did come back on line 2 weeks ago and will resume flights as of Sept 10th. I have booked 2 fights so far.

The system works like a commercial airline booking. You do need to plan 14 days in advance and be able to be somewhat flexible as there may not be a plane available to take you where you want to go on certain days. If there are other people flying to where you are going you will share the private jet with them but you will not stop anywhere along the way. All flight are direct. There is 3 levels of membership with the highest allowing a 5 day reservation booking time and the most amount of flight per month. Silver, Gold , Platinum and corporate are the different levels. My partner and I are attempting to establish a corporate membership but they are so green right now its still up in the air so we signed up for silver memberships. Go to the website and check it out. I think most of you will be surprised at what you read and how it works. The base membership requires a 3 month commitment at $2,500 a month. That price drops to $2,250 if you commit to 6 months and $2,000 if your commit for a year. Its billed monthly not all at once. For that level you get 1 to 2 flights per month and are allowed to take up to 2 or 3 people with you. You can add more people for an additional fee. There are no fuel surcharges or anything else. Everything is included in your monthly fee. Your name gets run through the TSA and once you are approved you are done for the life of your membership along with who you add to fly with you. You arrive 15 minutes before wheels up and you go. No security or BS.

A few of the catches are

1) There are only certain cites that they call "originating cites" that you have to live in or fly out of to be a member. Right now I think there are 30 or 35, but they fly to over 5,000 cities nationwide.

2) You can only fly within 1,800 nautical miles (about 2,100 regular miles) from your originating city, if you need to go further you can pay the additional fee.

3) If you don't use your flights within the month, you lose them. Its a use it or lose membership, the only exception to this is if you book a flight and cannot get one with a day or two of when you need to fly, you will then be re-reimbursed with an additional flight at the end or your membership or whenever you need it.

If any of you do sign up please reference my name as I will get some bonus flights for anyone that signs up using me as a referral. Anthony Pavone is my full name.

Even if you do not sign up or are interested, I still suggest checking it out as it fits right in with what this forum is all about. The founder is Wil Ashcroft and was the pilot for air-force one during the Regan admin. I've spoken to him on the phone a few times in the past couple weeks and this guy is on the ball. He was telling me everyone in the industry thought he was crazy and said it wouldn't work. He has so far proved them wrong with his 50 successful flights already flown and said he is in the process of figuring out a way to protect his idea so no one else can steal it. Don't know if thats going to work but we'll see. He also has yet to get flights off the ground again. My first flight is booked for Sept 13th and we are going up to our place in Utah and we will fly in to a small airport 10 minutes from our house vs. flying into Salt lake which is a 1 hour and 15 minute drive. My second flight is to Chicago in Oct. to a marketing show. I'll keep you all posted on how it goes for me.

The website is jumpjet.com
 
Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

biophase

Legendary Contributor
FASTLANE INSIDER
EPIC CONTRIBUTOR
Read Unscripted!
Summit Attendee
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
474%
Jul 25, 2007
9,121
43,261
Scottsdale, AZ
So $24,000 gets you 12 private flights for up to 4 people? Sounds pretty good to me. It's $500 a ticket per person.
 

AJGlobal

Contributor
Read Fastlane!
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
21%
Aug 14, 2007
174
36
Phoenix, AZ
So $24,000 gets you 12 private flights for up to 4 people? Sounds pretty good to me. It's $500 a ticket per person.

Well when we signed up back in May the member ships we as follows.......Silver 2 per month with up to 3 people plus you. Gold, 3 per month with 4 plus you and platinum, 4 per month with up to 5 plus you and with platinum you could do coast to coast and your booking time is reduced to 5 days instead of 14. The price points for the membership levels are $2,500, $3,500 and $4,500 and that is for the 3 month commitment. Its drops $250 at each level if you commit for 6 months and then another $250 if you commit for a year. We have commited for the 3 months at silver membership.

Since his 50 first flight, the membership have been revised a bit in thier favor and I'm sure it due to costs but because my partner and I signed up before the first flight ever took off we are grandfathered in with that membership criteira as as long as we stay members. There is a one-tim membership fee which was $500 when we signed up. Right now its $538 and as of Sept 1st it will be $1500. So any interested can save $1000 by siging up tomorrow. I also have not been billed for any of my flight nor will I get billed until I fly. Only thing I've been charged so far is the $500 fee.
 

Peter2

Fastane Legend. RIP.
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
50%
Aug 2, 2007
408
206
Palm Beach, FL
The terms you have to put up with would never work for me, but I would never use any of the large established companies where you buy prepaid cards either. They are all overpriced marketing ploys.

It's better, more flexible and less expensive to charter a plane when you need it. I only pay when I fly, and that's it.

BTW, personally I do not think Jumpjet has a viable business model, but thank you for sharing.
 

MJ DeMarco

I followed the science; all I found was money.
Staff member
FASTLANE INSIDER
EPIC CONTRIBUTOR
Read Rat-Race Escape!
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
Summit Attendee
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
445%
Jul 23, 2007
38,082
169,503
Utah
BTW, personally I do not think Jumpjet has a viable business model, but thank you for sharing.

Cheap, discount private aviation scares me.
 

Peter2

Fastane Legend. RIP.
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
50%
Aug 2, 2007
408
206
Palm Beach, FL
Cheap, discount private aviation scares me.

The planes are not the problem here. This company is just an agent for a charter company, so they are all FAA Part 135 certified.

Their business plan is incredibly flawed, unless their whole purpose is to collect as many prepaid fees as they can before they go out of business.

I give this company less than six months before folding.
 
Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

AJGlobal

Contributor
Read Fastlane!
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
21%
Aug 14, 2007
174
36
Phoenix, AZ
The planes are not the problem here. This company is just an agent for a charter company, so they are all FAA Part 135 certified.

Their business plan is incredibly flawed, unless their whole purpose is to collect as many prepaid fees as they can before they go out of business.

I give this company less than six months before folding.

Like I said, so far my only investment has been the membership fee. After speaking with the founder he said he will not be billing anyone until the flights actually take place. So for the time being I have nothing to loose in checking it out. You are correct, they do not own the planes and everyone is very skeptical but you never know !!!! Sometimes ideas and plans like these are the ones that can turn into something no one every dreamed of. The skepticism that I even have reminds of the founder of Fed ex and how turned the company into what it is today. Also the guy that I know that told me about it is a multi-millionaire 10 times over and uses today and in the past maquie jets and net jets and said his business partner was one of the first 50 sucessful flight and said everything went smooth as with the other jet servies they have used on the past.

Also I posted this not to get free flight for referrals but to see what everyone's ideas and thoughts on the business plan and how its set up to work. As of speaking to him last week there werer 850 members signed up already. I think there is a niche in the market for something like this, making it work and making it profitable at the same time is where someone with the experience and knowledge of years of being in the business comes into play.

I have a friend I went to high school with who also looked at the site and he is a commercial pilot. He was inpressed with the idea and knows how chartering flights works. There are a lot of people who are out there that own jets that sit idle a lot of the time so they lease them out when they are not in use.
 

Peter2

Fastane Legend. RIP.
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
50%
Aug 2, 2007
408
206
Palm Beach, FL
Anything that sounds to good to be true scares me as well. I like to keep an open mind however.

There is nothing to be scared about. The flights will be just as good and safe as with any other charter company.

It's the business model that is flawed. It will cost around $3000/hour to operate an average small to mid size jet. That will include fuel, maintenance, pilot salaries, insurance and landing fees. Lets assume the average person only flies a short distance. Lets say 1.5 hours. That's 3 hours roundtrip, not counting dead legs.(Empty flights) If they opt to wait at your location, there will be lodging costs for the pilots.

So 3 hours x 2 flights/month=6 hours, or roughly $18,000 in operating expenses during optimal conditions. This will fit in with the most expensive "platinum plan" that cost $4,000/month. This plan allows 2-3 extra passengers for free. Lets say the average person only brings one.

They would have to have 4.5 paying members on each flight in order for them to break even. The 4.5 paying members would have 4.5 non paying gusts. That's 9 people on each plane just to break even. That's hard to do considering most of their planes only seat 6-8 passengers, and the likelihood that they can find people that want to go to the same destination as you at the same time and date is slim to non.

Add marketing expenses, reservations people and other employees plus remaining overhead costs, and you have a business that can never make any money under these conditions.
 

AJGlobal

Contributor
Read Fastlane!
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
21%
Aug 14, 2007
174
36
Phoenix, AZ
There is nothing to be scared about. The flights will be just as good and safe as with any other charter company.

It's the business model that is flawed. It will cost around $3000/hour to operate an average small to mid size jet. That will include fuel, maintenance, pilot salaries, insurance and landing fees. Lets assume the average person only flies a short distance. Lets say 1.5 hours. That's 3 hours roundtrip, not counting dead legs.(Empty flights) If they opt to wait at your location, there will be lodging costs for the pilots.

So 3 hours x 2 flights/month=6 hours, or roughly $18,000 in operating expenses during optimal conditions. This will fit in with the most expensive "platinum plan" that cost $4,000/month. This plan allows 2-3 extra passengers for free. Lets say the average person only brings one.

They would have to have 4.5 paying members on each flight in order for them to break even. The 4.5 paying members would have 4.5 non paying gusts. That's 9 people on each plane just to break even. That's hard to do considering most of their planes only seat 6-8 passengers, and the likelihood that they can find people that want to go to the same destination as you at the same time and date is slim to non.

Add marketing expenses, reservations people and other employees plus remaining overhead costs, and you have a business that can never make any money under these conditions.

I see your angle..........I believe however they have access to whatever size plan is needed and thier idea behind this is to get as many people going from your location to your same destination so that you are sharing the plane with others, which is fine by me. I believe that is why your dates need to be somewhat flexible and the service is only being offered in cities with large populations that have a demand for private travel.

Do you have a picture of a cat that would fit well in this thread??? :rofl::rofl:
 

MJ DeMarco

I followed the science; all I found was money.
Staff member
FASTLANE INSIDER
EPIC CONTRIBUTOR
Read Rat-Race Escape!
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
Summit Attendee
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
445%
Jul 23, 2007
38,082
169,503
Utah
Thread moved to off-topic - doesn't tell people how to improve their financial scorecard.
 
Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

cantwait2

Silver Contributor
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
716%
Aug 15, 2007
79
566
-
:lol2: :lol2: :lol2:

$500 is worth the risk as long as you are only paying for flights when you fly...

I do think it's a shaky model...low prices and private jet travel don't normally share the same sentance as people who want private travel normally don't want to be that flexible.

I think it could work but I wouldn't buy a large amount of flights up front just to be on the safe side as it is un proven :)
 
Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

AJGlobal

Contributor
Read Fastlane!
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
21%
Aug 14, 2007
174
36
Phoenix, AZ
:lol2: :lol2: :lol2:

$500 is worth the risk as long as you are only paying for flights when you fly...

I do think it's a shaky model...low prices and private jet travel don't normally share the same sentance as people who want private travel normally don't want to be that flexible.

I think it could work but I wouldn't buy a large amount of flights up front just to be on the safe side as it is un proven :)

And we didn't. We commited to the 3 months silver level which is $7500 total for the 3 months. I've already booked two flight, one of which would have cost $1400 on southwest to fly 4 of us and another 1st class for 2 to chicago that would have costed close to $2k.
 

AJGlobal

Contributor
Read Fastlane!
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
21%
Aug 14, 2007
174
36
Phoenix, AZ
So today was suppose to be the first day back in operation. I had a flight booked to leave on the 13th (this week) to go to our home in Utah and from what I've been told so far its been cancelled. not sure why yet. They did let us know that it may be a bit rough in the begining and some of us may have flights cancelled. I'm guess that my destination is not carrying anyone esle besides us and they could not get a jet available to take us. I was expecting this which is why I booked my first flight to not be an important one. We'll see what happenns next as my partner and I have another booked for next month to go to Chicago for a marketing show.
 
Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

Diane Kennedy

Bronze Contributor
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
25%
Aug 31, 2007
780
193
I think their biz model is based on "breakage." That's the biz term and has nothing to do with the safety of the aircraft, so you can start breathing again.

Basically the idea is to lock people into a monthly fee and make profit when they don't use the service.

There was something really similar to that for IRS representation that a guy was doing before the IRS went after him (for something unrelated). He sold AMEX on the idea of providing guaranteed IRS rep for a ridiculously low amount - like less than $20 per month.

It was bundled with other AMEX services that a lot of people signed up for...so he received a lot of income, but rarely had to fulfill because really and honestly there are few audits done, looking at it statistically. The term for that is "breakage." He sold a service with high breakage.

I'm guessing that is the model for these guys too - although the fact that you couldn't get a flight when you wanted one is disturbing. If they are able to keep putting you off, you might never get your flight at a decent time.

When I first saw your post I was very excited, though. I'd go for something like this in a heartbeat. We keep looking at the feasibility of sharing a plane. The waits in airports are ridiculous and cost me real income.

Biz lesson here: What guaranteed service could you develop & sell that had a high breakage?
 

Z5 FILMS

Contributor
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
18%
Aug 13, 2007
461
81
The Woodlands, TX
Biz lesson here: What guaranteed service could you develop & sell that had a high breakage?


Tanning. I used to own a salon. It's all about breakage. Get as many EFT contracts as you can get and then pray for foul wealther and personal bad luck and bad memory for the customers so they don't come tan or get reminded when they see their CC got charged again even though they have not been in months.
 

JesseO

Contributor
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
6%
Jul 25, 2007
542
33
Phoenix, AZ
Tanning. I used to own a salon. It's all about breakage. Get as many EFT contracts as you can get and then pray for foul wealther and personal bad luck and bad memory for the customers so they don't come tan or get reminded when they see their CC got charged again even though they have not been in months.

...boy that sounds like me and my gym membership :smx4: Pay $10 each month to go run on a treadmill once a week or so. I am an ideal customer.
 
Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

AJGlobal

Contributor
Read Fastlane!
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
21%
Aug 14, 2007
174
36
Phoenix, AZ
I think their biz model is based on "breakage." That's the biz term and has nothing to do with the safety of the aircraft, so you can start breathing again.

Basically the idea is to lock people into a monthly fee and make profit when they don't use the service.

There was something really similar to that for IRS representation that a guy was doing before the IRS went after him (for something unrelated). He sold AMEX on the idea of providing guaranteed IRS rep for a ridiculously low amount - like less than $20 per month.

It was bundled with other AMEX services that a lot of people signed up for...so he received a lot of income, but rarely had to fulfill because really and honestly there are few audits done, looking at it statistically. The term for that is "breakage." He sold a service with high breakage.

I'm guessing that is the model for these guys too - although the fact that you couldn't get a flight when you wanted one is disturbing. If they are able to keep putting you off, you might never get your flight at a decent time.

When I first saw your post I was very excited, though. I'd go for something like this in a heartbeat. We keep looking at the feasibility of sharing a plane. The waits in airports are ridiculous and cost me real income.

Biz lesson here: What guaranteed service could you develop & sell that had a high breakage?

Its funny you should mention this as the founder of the company has brought on a gentleman by the name of Mickey who is also a memeber but has a consulting company of some sort. Wil, wh is the founder brought on Mickey to help contact other memebers (so far there are 600) and smooth things over with questions and bookings etc etc. One of the things he mentioned in the coversation him and I had last week was what you described here as "breakage" I believe he told me that they had 1.1 million in revenue for flights scheduled to fly but currently $1,050,000 in flights booked or that were in line to be booked. It will be interesting to see what happens as one of the things I was very frustrated with was I had not gotten an e-mail confirmation about my flight not being cancelled. What if I had not called ??? Thier system is having problems delivering messages to AOL customers and according to thier IT dept the e-mails went out but yet when I log into my account it shows my flight leaving this thursday !!!! I've yet to hear from them again as I put another call into him today.
 

WheelsRCool

Contributor
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
14%
Aug 12, 2007
436
59
Peter2, you sure seem to know a lot about airlines and planes! Will be interesting to see how this concept turns out.
 

aptohosting

Contributor
Read Fastlane!
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
21%
Aug 16, 2007
360
76
North Carolina

AJGlobal

Contributor
Read Fastlane!
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
21%
Aug 14, 2007
174
36
Phoenix, AZ
Well 25 successful flight took off the week of the 10th which is when they went back up and running after the new reservations system went back on line. Last week I think they had 35. A letter was sent out to all the members this past week saying that some actual members that had signed up to use the service have now invested into the company and given it the capital it needed to give it a better chance of succeeding. I have two flight booked with in the next month. We'll see how it goes and if they get confirmed.
 

MJ DeMarco

I followed the science; all I found was money.
Staff member
FASTLANE INSIDER
EPIC CONTRIBUTOR
Read Rat-Race Escape!
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
Summit Attendee
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
445%
Jul 23, 2007
38,082
169,503
Utah

SteveO

Legendary Contributor
FASTLANE INSIDER
EPIC CONTRIBUTOR
Summit Attendee
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
456%
Jul 24, 2007
4,228
19,294
As I suspected, you are a spammer and you are banned. Your one sentence posts have added nothing here.

Why do I enjoy this so much?.. :rofl:
 

Post New Topic

Please SEARCH before posting.
Please select the BEST category.

Post new topic

Guest post submissions offered HERE.

Latest Posts

New Topics

Fastlane Insiders

View the forum AD FREE.
Private, unindexed content
Detailed process/execution threads
Ideas needing execution, more!

Join Fastlane Insiders.

Top