Jet Cards
The Jet Card Agreement: A Buyer's Checklist
A jet card is a prepaid contract for future flights. The rate is the least important thing in it. Here are the terms that decide what the card actually costs, and what happens to your money if something goes wrong.
Tyler Hults
Founder & Managing Principal, TRH Aviation
In brief
Jet cards are sold on a headline hourly rate and a guarantee. The agreement behind them is where the economics live: peak-day rules, notice requirements, minimums, repositioning, expiry, fuel and tax treatment, recovery obligations, and, above all, where your deposit sits and who else can reach it. This checklist works through each term in the order it bites, with the question to ask and the answer to look for. It applies to operator-issued cards, broker-issued cards, and membership programs alike, because the contract mechanics are the same under every logo.
What a jet card actually is
Strip away the marketing and a jet card is a prepaid deposit that buys the right to book flights at a fixed hourly rate, under a set of rules, for a period of time. Some are issued by the operator that will fly you. Some are issued by a broker that will source the aircraft from operators. Some are memberships that layer an annual fee over pay-as-you-go pricing. The structure differs; the questions do not. The jet card guide covers how cards fit against other structures. This checklist is about the paper.
The deposit
Deposit, escrow, and refundability
What it does
Sets how much you prepay, where it is held, whether it is segregated from the issuer's operating funds, and under what conditions you can get it back.
Why it matters
In an issuer's insolvency, a deposit held in operating accounts is typically an unsecured claim. Segregation, escrow, or a bank guarantee changes your position entirely. Refundability decides whether an unused balance is yours or theirs.
What to ask
- Is my deposit held in a segregated or escrow account, and can you show me the arrangement?
- Is the unused balance refundable, on what notice, and with what deductions?
- What happens to my balance if the company is acquired, restructures, or ceases operations?
Where risk hides
The most expensive words in a card agreement are "non-refundable" and "commingled". Published failures in this industry have left cardholders as unsecured creditors recovering a fraction of their deposits.
Expiry and rollover
What it does
Sets the period in which the funds or hours must be used, and what happens to the remainder.
Why it matters
An expiry converts your unused money into the issuer's revenue on a date. Rollover, extension, and top-up rules decide whether that date is a deadline or a formality.
What to ask
- When do funds or hours expire?
- Can expiry be extended, at what cost, and does a top-up reset it?
- What is the smallest amount I can add to keep the balance alive?
Where risk hides
Buyers who fly less than planned lose the balance to expiry, then top up to protect it, then fly less again. Size the deposit to the flying you will actually do.
The rate and what moves it
Hourly rate, escalation, and rate lock
What it does
Sets the price per occupied hour, whether and when it changes, and what is included in it.
Why it matters
A rate that is locked for the deposit's life is a different product from one the issuer can adjust on notice. Inclusions decide whether fuel, taxes, and fees ride on top.
What to ask
- Is the rate fixed for the life of the deposit, or adjustable, and on what notice?
- Does it include fuel, federal excise tax, segment fees, and landing or handling fees?
- How is the rate quoted: by aircraft category, or by a specific type?
Where risk hides
An adjustable rate on a non-refundable deposit lets the issuer reprice money you have already paid.
Daily minimums and short-leg billing
What it does
Sets the minimum hours billed per flight or per day, and how multi-leg days are counted.
Why it matters
A short-leg pattern bills far more hours than it flies. Minimums are the single largest gap between the headline rate and the effective rate for many flyers.
What to ask
- What is the minimum billed per leg or per day?
- How do two legs in one day bill?
- How would my last twelve months of trips have billed under these rules?
Where risk hides
A one-hour hop billed at a two-hour minimum doubles the effective rate for that trip. Run your real pattern through the minimums before comparing rates.
Repositioning, ferry, and service area
What it does
Defines where the card's rate applies without positioning charges, and what is billed when an aircraft must travel to or from you outside that area.
Why it matters
Rates that look inclusive are often inclusive only inside a primary service area. Outside it, repositioning can exceed the occupied time.
What to ask
- What is the primary service area, and what applies outside it?
- Are repositioning legs billed, and at what rate?
- Are there airports or regions where surcharges apply?
Where risk hides
A flyer based near the edge of a service area, or who travels to secondary airports, can pay for empty aircraft time on most trips.
Peak days and surcharges
What it does
Lists the days on which the guarantee is limited, notice requirements are longer, or surcharges apply.
Why it matters
Peak calendars run from a handful of days to several dozen. Your actual holiday pattern against that calendar decides whether the card works for you.
What to ask
- How many peak days are there, which are they, and can the list change?
- What notice is required on a peak day, and what surcharge applies?
- Is availability guaranteed on peak days, or only offered?
Where risk hides
A card that is guaranteed on 320 days and priced attractively can be the wrong instrument for someone whose flying is concentrated on the other 45.
The guarantee
Availability guarantee and notice
What it does
Commits the issuer to provide an aircraft of the contracted category with a stated notice period, subject to exceptions.
Why it matters
The guarantee is the product. Its notice window, its exceptions, and the recovery obligation when it fails are what you are actually buying.
What to ask
- What notice is required, on a normal day and on a peak day?
- What are the exceptions: weather, mechanicals, crew, airport constraints, force majeure?
- If you cannot provide the aircraft, what do you owe me: a substitute at the same rate, a refund of the difference, or nothing?
Where risk hides
A guarantee with a broad exception list and no recovery obligation is a best-efforts promise dressed as a guarantee.
Aircraft category, substitution, and interchange
What it does
Defines the aircraft you have paid for, when the issuer may substitute, and how upgrades or downgrades are priced.
Why it matters
Category definitions differ by issuer. Whether a downgrade is credited and whether an upgrade is at your discretion or theirs decides what you fly and what you pay.
What to ask
- Which specific aircraft types fall within my category?
- If you substitute a smaller aircraft, is my rate reduced?
- Can I interchange to other categories, at what conversion?
Where risk hides
"Or similar" language lets the issuer put you in an older or smaller aircraft at your contracted rate.
Cancellation and changes
What it does
Sets the windows and penalties for cancelling or changing a booked trip.
Why it matters
Life moves. A card whose cancellation window is longer than your planning horizon charges you for trips you do not take.
What to ask
- What is the cancellation window on normal and peak days?
- What is the penalty inside the window: full hours, partial, or a fee?
- How are changes to time, routing, or passenger count treated?
Where risk hides
Cancellation penalties on peak days can approach the full cost of the trip.
Who is flying you
Operator, certificate, and safety standards
What it does
Identifies who operates the flights: the issuer under its own Part 135 certificate, or third-party operators the issuer sources.
Why it matters
An operator-issued card puts one company's safety culture and certificate behind every flight. A broker-issued card puts the broker's vetting standard behind operators you may never see.
What to ask
- Do you operate the aircraft under your own certificate, or source them?
- If sourced, what minimum safety standard do operators meet, and can I see the audit status for my flights?
- Who is responsible when a sourced operator fails to perform?
Where risk hides
The word "fleet" on a broker's website often describes access, not ownership. Ask who holds the certificate.
Taxes and fees
In the United States, air transportation is subject to a federal excise tax of 7.5 percent of the amount paid, plus a per-passenger, per-segment fee that is adjusted annually. Whether those are included in the quoted rate or added to it changes the effective rate materially. Ask, and ask how the tax is applied to deposits versus flights. The mechanics are covered in the taxes and fees that are not in the rate.
The checklist
Before you fund a jet card
- 01Confirm in writing where the deposit sits, whether it is segregated, and whether it is refundable.
- 02Read the expiry and rollover terms and size the deposit to real usage.
- 03Establish whether the rate is fixed for the deposit's life and what it includes.
- 04Run your last twelve months of trips through the minimums, repositioning rules, and peak calendar to get the effective rate.
- 05Read the guarantee's exceptions and recovery obligations, not just the notice window.
- 06Identify who holds the operating certificate for your flights and the safety standard applied.
- 07Compare two other cards, and independent charter, on the same twelve months before signing.
None of this is exotic. It is the ordinary diligence anyone would run before prepaying a large sum to a company for a service delivered later. The cards that survive it are good products. The program review runs it on the card you hold today.
Key takeaways
- You are prepaying for flights you have not taken from a company whose balance sheet you have not seen. The deposit terms are the first thing to read, not the last.
- The effective hourly rate is the headline rate after minimums, peak surcharges, repositioning, taxes, and expiry are applied to your actual pattern. Two cards with the same rate can differ by a third on real trips.
- Guarantee clauses have exceptions. The exceptions, the notice windows, and the recovery obligations are the guarantee.
- Cards from operators and cards from brokers are different instruments with different risks. Know which one you are buying.
Put this to work
Where this decision goes next — the advisory guides and head-to-head comparisons behind it.
Source notes
- Federal excise tax: 7.5 percent of amounts paid for taxable air transportation, plus a per-segment fee adjusted annually (IRS; NATA summary of Rev. Proc. 2025-32, which sets the 2026 domestic segment fee at $5.30). Tax treatment varies with the structure and should be confirmed with qualified tax counsel.
- On deposits in insolvency: JetSuite's Chapter 11 filing (April 28, 2020) disclosed roughly $50 million in SuiteKey card balances and anticipated no distribution to unsecured creditors; members were later offered a fraction of their balances in credits with an affiliated carrier (Private Jet Card Comparisons, April–June 2020; FlightGlobal, May 2020). Described further in "Is My Jet Card Deposit Safe?"
- Clause analysis reflects the author's practitioner experience building and selling membership programs. No specific issuer's terms are described.
Educational, and deliberately general. Your situation turns on specifics — routes, hours, and terms — which is what an engagement is for.