How to Book a Private Jet: The Five-Step Concierge-Approved Process

Most people who book their first private jet do it wrong.

Not by a lot. Not in a way that costs them friendship with their concierge or causes a missed flight. But in small ways that add up. They overpay for the wrong cabin. They book at the wrong time. They miss obvious savings on empty legs. They sign membership contracts that don't match their flying patterns.

This guide is the antidote. It's the same five-step process our concierge team walks every new client through on their first call. Follow it once and you'll book the right jet at a fair price for the rest of your flying life.

Step 1. Decide what kind of trip you actually need

The first question every concierge asks is the most important: where are you going, how many of you are there, when do you need to be there, when do you need to come back?

This sounds simple. It's the question most clients answer wrong on their first try.

The most common mistake is asking for a larger jet than the trip requires. A family of four going from New York to Miami doesn't need a Challenger 350 — a Citation XLS+ does the same job for 30% less. The cabin upgrade doesn't get you there faster and doesn't buy you more comfort. It mostly adds cost. Our fleet page breaks out hourly rates by cabin so you can see how the math shifts.

The second mistake is asking for the wrong dates. Tuesday and Wednesday departures average 12% less than Thursday or Friday. Holiday weekends carry positioning surcharges that disappear two days later. Flex your dates by even a single day and you'll save real money.

The third mistake is asking for an exact aircraft. Operators have multiple tail numbers in any given cabin class. If you're flexible on the specific airframe, you give the concierge freedom to pick the most efficient option on the day. That savings flows straight back to you.

The right answer to step 1 is a flexible answer. Be specific about your dates and locations. Be flexible about everything else.

Step 2. Get a real quote with a full breakdown

There are three ways to get a real quote.

1. Online. Most of our quotes start through the website tool. You enter the cities, dates, and passenger count. The system gives you a realistic price range in seconds. It's fast, private, and the right starting point.

2. By phone. The number is on every page of our site and is answered by a real concierge 24 hours a day. We use the phone for trips that don't fit the online tool — multi-leg charters, time-critical departures, trips with special requests like pets or oversized cargo.

3. Through your existing concierge. Members have a dedicated team. They text us. We respond inside 30 minutes any time of day or night.

Whatever channel you use, the principle is the same: ask for the breakdown. The breakdown should show the hourly rate, fuel surcharge, federal excise tax, landing fees, and concierge fee as separate lines. A quote that comes back as a single number with no detail isn't a real quote — it's a sales pitch.

Step 3. Read the quote like a buyer

The third step is reading the quote. Most clients skim it. Smart clients study it.

There are five lines on every quote:

1. Hourly rate — the cabin you chose multiplied by block time. The largest single number on the page and the lever you can move the most by changing your cabin selection.
2. Fuel surcharge — usually 8% of the hourly base. Tracks the price of Jet-A.
3. Federal excise tax — 7.5% on the air transportation portion of every domestic U.S. charter. International flights follow different rules.
4. Landing and ramp fees — airport-specific. Depends on the size of the jet and the airport you fly from.
5. Concierge fee — what the broker charges for managing the trip. Our standard fee is $850 per trip. Members don't pay a concierge fee.

Once you understand these five lines, you can read any quote in the industry. You'll start to spot the operators who hide fees and the ones who don't. The transparent ones win our business by a wide margin, and they'll win yours too. We did the full line-by-line breakdown of a real $42,000 quote in a separate piece if you want to see this in practice.

Step 4. Decide on charter or membership

The fourth step is the long-term decision: are you a charter client or a membership client?

The math is straightforward.

• Under 25 hours per year → on-demand charter. The membership deposit becomes dead capital, and you don't generate enough volume to recover it.
• 25–50 hours per year → an entry-level jet card pays back through fuel surcharge waivers and rate locks alone.
• 50+ hours per year → the card pays for itself many times over.

A card removes the fuel surcharge. It locks the hourly rate against market moves. It gives you a dedicated concierge team. It typically waives most peak-day surcharges. For frequent flyers it's the largest single piece of value in the industry. We've written the full jet-card-vs-charter math if you want to see the break-even numbers.

There are three things to look for in any card contract: locked hourly rates, waived fuel surcharges in writing, and cabin-upgrade flexibility for trips that justify it. If your card doesn't include all three, you're looking at a deposit account dressed up to look like a card. Walk away.

Our membership page lays out the three AeroPrime tiers and the math behind each.

Step 5. Book and brief

The fifth and final step is the booking itself.

Confirm by replying yes to the quote. Most concierge teams need an explicit confirmation before they hold the aircraft — until you say yes, the slot isn't yours.

Once you confirm, we send a trip brief. The brief is a single-page document with everything you need: departure time, aircraft tail number, crew details, FBO address, catering selections, ground transport details. Read it.

24 hours before the flight, the concierge calls to confirm any last-minute requests. This is the right time to ask for anything you forgot — a specific catering item, a wheelchair at the FBO, a cake for a birthday party in the air. We do all of these regularly. We just need notice.

On the day, you arrive at the FBO 90 minutes before scheduled departure. That's enough time for parking, walking inside, and saying hello to the captain on the ramp. No security line. No queue at customs. No boarding announcement. You walk to the aircraft and take your seat.

Wheels-up is typically within 10 minutes of boarding.

That's it.

What happens next

The five-step process is the same for every trip whether it's your first or your fiftieth. The difference is what happens around it.

A first-time client gets a longer briefing. A returning client gets the same trip brief in three lines because we already know the preferences. A member skips the quote step entirely because the rates are locked and the booking happens by text in two messages.

Whatever stage you're at, the right answer is the same: use the process. Ask for the breakdown. Read the quote. Decide on charter or membership at the right scale. Book and brief.

If you have a trip in mind, our quote tool is the right place to start — it uses the same five-step process behind the scenes and is the fastest way to see real numbers for your specific trip.

If you fly often enough to consider a card, our membership page lays out the tiers and the math.

And if you haven't flown private before, our FAQ page covers the things that come up most often on a first call.

The process works because it's built on the same questions a concierge asks every new client. Follow it once and you'll book private jets the right way for the rest of your flying life.