The secret group chats where the rich score seats on private jets

Mint

2 days ago

Nick Molina was in the American Express Centurion Lounge at New York's LaGuardia Airport, chatting with a stranger about flight delays, when his fellow traveler asked if he'd considered flying private.
'She was telling me about this WhatsApp group," said Molina, a 57-year-old investor and former startup entrepreneur in Key Biscayne, Fla. 'She offered to get me added."
Which is how he ended up in 'S. Florida<->NY/Northeast," one of several active group chats where travelers, from the merely wealthy to actual billionaires, buy and sell seats on private flights. These invite-only chats focus on gilded routes—New York to Palm Beach, Aspen to Southern California, Texas to Cabo—and include thousands of members, at a time when delays and safety concerns have plagued commercial aviation.
'They'll go in a chat and say, 'Hey, I'm going to Aspen on August 1. Who wants to split a plane with me?'" said Peter Minikes, who runs private-jet charter company Priority One Jets.
Real-estate investor Enrico Scarda, 56, sold his own jet around a year ago but has not sworn off his habit of flying private. He's a member of the same 676-person group as Molina, which operates like a Craigslist for one-percent fliers moving up and down the East Coast. Through the group, he has flown on midsize jets including a Dassault Falcon 50 and a Hawker 800.
'I guess, at first, I was a little hesitant about having a stranger meet you on the plane," Scarda said. 'But after the three or four times that I either bought a seat or sold a seat, I realized it's all pretty much the same types of people."
Members of these chats hawk seats on their own jets to defray costs or charter planes and look for splitters. Some are simply passengers with an aversion to TSA lines. Private-jet brokers also pop in, offering their clients' inventory. That often means seats on 'dead-leg" flights—empty jets flying to pick up passengers.
Kaden Green, a 20-year-old private-jet broker, is active on many of these WhatsApp groups. He's found them to be valuable tools for generating client leads. 'It's free marketing," he said. 'It's not like you need to pay for an ad or anything."
Enrico Scarda and his family on a private jet. The real-estate investor is part of a group chat which operates like a Craigslist for one-percent fliers moving up and down the East Coast.
For some fliers, sharing cream-colored cabins with strangers defeats the purpose of flying private, stripping people of the ability to take to the skies whenever they wish. 'At the end of the day, you're still scheduling your day and your travel around a pre-booked flight plan," Molina said.
Green, who estimates as much as 30% of his business stems from WhatsApp groups, recently started his own chat dedicated to private flights between Europe and the United States. Arik Kislin, an investor, started a separate 23-person 'Turks Private Jet Group" for travelers to Turks and Caicos, the British archipelago where he owns a home. What fuels these groups is a blend of penny-pinching ways and a thirst for luxury.
'I do understand that sometimes you don't want to spend $25,000 to $30,000 going up to New York, but you're OK spending three or four [thousand]," Kislin said.
Scarda said most seats between New York and South Florida go for at least $2,000 in the WhatsApp group. Commercial airliners like JetBlue and Delta ferry passengers between the two areas for as little as a 10th of that.
Before the pandemic, many fliers between these ritzy locales offered seats free to those in their network, according to Minikes, the charter broker. But as the private-aviation market has expanded and a WhatsApp shadow economy has emerged, charging for seats has become more customary.
'It's a tight space," he said. 'Why do you want to be uncomfortable if you're not going to be compensated for it?"
Whether these trips comply with Federal Aviation Administration regulations is murky. Plane operators typically must be certified as Part 135 if they receive any money over their pro rata share of cost, according to aviation attorney Steve Taber. Part 135 is a section of the Federal Aviation Regulations, setting rules and safety standards for on-demand, nonscheduled operators. If aircraft operators are found in violation of these rules, they can face actions like monetary civil penalties, according to aviation attorney Mary-Caitlin Ray. Taber added that FAA officials have pursued Instagram accounts and Facebook groups where users sell private jet seats for profit.
For that reason, it might not be worth avoiding full-body scans and baggage fees. And there are other inconveniences that even the rich can't escape. Kislin said shared private flights often end up delayed because a majority of co-travelers prefer to takeoff later. 'Well, that doesn't work for me," he said. 'That changes my schedule."
But even if Kislin books travel elsewhere, remaining a part of these private aviation groups is valuable. For some jet-setters, it's as status-y as being a member of Zero Bond.
'It's a conversation starter, because that's how many people in the network of Aspen are in that chat," Green said.