Days vs. Hours: Which Program Gets You More for Your Private Jet Travel?

The private jet market continues to grow, with new entrants into the space each year. With more and more operators offering jet cards and fractional programs, and the hourly rate of jet cards continuing to increase quarter to quarter, it’s becoming harder and harder for customers to find the best value. The patchwork of fine print makes it a maze for travelers to find the right fit for their travel habits.

A standard jet card might advertise 50 occupied hours per year. However, when you add taxi time, de-icing holds, repositioning fees, and empty legs, those “50 hours” can disappear fast. What looks like a simple pay-for-what-you-fly pricing often turns into a meter that’s always running–even when you’re on the ground.

That’s where “days-based” programs turn the industry standard model on its head. Instead of counting minutes, you purchase a bank of days. Each time you book a trip, the aircraft and crew are yours for the day. Whether you pack multiple legs into one trip, fly out and back in a single day, or go on a cross-country trip, it’ll use up one day. During your day, you will be billed only for the time you are actually on the plane.

There isn’t a one-size-fits-all solution, but for some travel patterns, a days-based program can unlock far more value than a conventional hours-based plan. Here are a few ways days can give you a massive travel advantage.

Multi-leg Single Day Trips

Under a days-based model, multi-leg single day trips are easy. Itinerary changes, control over departure times, and flexibility are simpler than other models since it's the same plane and crew for the day.

Efficiency on Short Trips

With most programs having a minimum of 1 hour, your 30 minute flight won’t cost you 60 minutes under a days model.

Your Plane for the Day

When you use one of your days, you get access to your jet for the whole day. That means you don’t have to worry about aircraft availability, and the crew will be with you for the entirety of the trip.

Simplicity

All Jet OUT programs, except for the Co-Lease 10, have no blackout days, peak days, or flex days. When you book a trip, it's truly your plane for the day.

Empty Legs Benefit

Jet OUT programs offer the opportunity to sell your empty legs. If we can find a match for your empty leg, we will sell it and give you a share of the profits and you’ll get 0.5 days back to your days allotment.

Showcase: Three Travel Patterns Where Days Win

To help see if a day's program is the right fit for you, here are 3 examples of trips where days win over hours.

Trip #1: The Multi-City Business Roadtrip.

• Itinerary: A CEO and their team need to leave from Chicago Executive Airport for a morning meeting in Indianapolis and another meeting in Grand Rapids later that afternoon. A packed itinerary with little room for delays.
• Days Model: 1 day used and 3 flight hours billed. No repositioning fees since Chicago is within our no-repositioning radius.
• *Estimated Cost: $6,600 billed at our estimated hourly rate.
• Benefits: Since the aircraft is yours for the day, your travel planning is simplified. This keeps your occupied costs down, you can fly directly to your business meetings, without the risk of aircraft availability or delays causing you to be late to your meetings.

Trip #2: The Long Weekend Family Ski Trip.

• Itinerary: You and your family are leaving from Scottsdale on Friday for a ski trip in Bozeman, with a return trip home on Monday.
• Days Model: 1.5 days used (Friday & Monday), 9 hours and 20 minutes of flight time billed round trip. 1 empty leg sold.
• *Estimated Cost: $20,500 billed for round trip at our estimated hourly rate.  
• Benefits: We’ll pick you up at your preferred airport, and we’ll leave whenever you’d like, letting you enjoy your relaxing weekend without travel stress. Since your destination is a popular route, we can likely sell your empty leg, netting you back 0.5 days and helping offset your travel costs.

Trip #3: A Bucket-List Day Trip

• Itinerary: You have a tee time for you and 3 friends at Whistling Straits in Kohler, WI. You leave from Fort Lauderdale in the morning and land at Sheboygan Airport. After a round of golf and dinner, you head back home.
• Days Model: 1 day used. 6 hours and 40 mins of flight time billed.
• *Estimated Cost: $14,650 billed at our estimated hourly rate.
• Benefits: You and your friends can be dropped off right by the course, play 18 holes of golf, enjoy dinner, and fly home, all while using only one day.

Jet OUT’s Co-Lease and Co-Ownership programs use a day-based model, with options for 10 or 20 days. If you’re curious about how our pricing compares, use our cost calculator to see what your travels would cost under a day-based model with Jet OUT.

*All billable flight hours and costs mentioned above are examples and not actual costs.