dordal

In fairness, the commercial pressure is real. They presumably want a long term business, and that means renewals. That means there has to be some substantially large number of people who think the service is worth the money.

With the changes so far, they've grandfather people in for their term; e.g. the people who had free helis still have free helis until they renew, at which point they can make the determination if the service is still worth it. But, of course, they're not putting that in writing, so they can legally change things at any time.

And changes are coming. I noticed this in the membership agreement last night, which I don't think was there before:
Section 8; see for yourself: https://jetsmarter.com/legal/membership-agreement/

backdoc

Reservations on some flights, such as transcontinental Jet Shuttles, will require a requisite number of Shuttle Tokens and additional payment.

Just when I thought that we would renew. LA/NY are the only shuttles that we use. If they start charging $500 on top of the membership and $350 for heli, we are out.

I'd much rather scout for $599 JetBlue Mint fares between LAX-JFK than feel like we're being swindled.

Steve

oenophilist

I must admit, T-1 day and I am still on the fence.

Sykes

Has JetSmarter eliminated the "Access" (formerly "Social") membership tier? I have a friend that is interested, but the membership tiers page on the website now redirects to https://membership.jetsmarter.com/, which only has pricing for the "Smart" membership tier.

dordal

Wow. I literally looked at this last night and Access was still listed. It looks like they may have gotten rid of it though.

imperialg

Well that was quick! The offerings for this company seem to change daily!

dordal

Really? Renewal due tomorrow and you're not sure?

Personally I wouldn't hesitate right now... It's next year that's the big question. Right now though I think the value prop is still good; lots of empty legs and free shuttles ( at least if you're LA or NY).

oenophilist

Well I was possibly going to downgrade, but looks like that option is out. So I guess I'm on for another year...

Gabrca

WOW, if true that's crazy. Will check with my rep

millions

Glad to hear it, if true. Though they never should have offered it in the first place. As I said at the time, seemed like a short-sighted cash grab that would inevitably devalue the product.

Gabrca

On the flip-side, I saw it as the only somewhat viable part of their business model.

Shuttles have a very high fixed cost, no matter how many members are on it. JetSmarter are chartering the plane and paying a pretty penny for it.

Since Empty Legs are flights that are repositioning anyways, JetSmarter can negotiate, what I assume, are very cheap rates to operators with a guarantee of buying at least X amount of empty legs per year.

millions

Offering access to empty legs to members at a cost makes great sense. Offering them at such a low cost that fills up every plane with often unsavory characters rather than offering a private jet like experience for a smaller group of a higher paying customers (especially when you've already established that higher-paying group) devalues the product for the higher paying members.

If they thought they could get three times as many access members in perpetuity than smart members, more power to them. But that was not going to be sustainable under the current policies.

As I sit here right now, there's an empty leg from LA to Denver on a Falcon 2000. As a smart member, I'm alotted 2 seats, which is the same number an access member would receive. For smart members who signed up mostly for the purpose of the empty legs, where's the value there?

Gabrca

I understand your point here, I guess the ideal solution in your case would be to downgrade your membership and save the $6k, if that's still possible!

mwood20

Did anyone else see all this new wording they added in the "legal > membership agreement" section of the app regarding the membership fee?

"JetSmarter reserves the right to increase the membership fee from time to time, which increases will apply to existing members upon renewal of Membership for subsequent terms unless expressly agreed otherwise by JetSmarter".

How can they just change that, when they clearly said when a lot of us signed up that we were grandfathered in for the membership fee. Another excerpt mentioned being able to increase it to reflect inflation as well. Are they ever going to get it together? Things change on a weekly basis.

Apache137

The new tiers and rate changes and all these new changes really make it difficult to enjoy.

I signed up in march of this year when there were no "tiers"

The introduction of tiers kind of nullifies the point of "locking in" the rates you're paying now for every year to come.

That they constantly change the terms is pretty frustrating.

So they're removing the free heli transfers entirely now? Or am I misunderstanding this?

If so, in new york for example, is the convenience of no lines and no security and so on now outweighed by having to make your way to and from teterboro?

^Regarding the post above mine, I believe they have expressly agreed to the people that signed up when they were agreeing to grandfather us in....
I think all that means is they are no longer grandfathering in new customers from this point on, or at least they're building in a legal out for new customers.
If it is meant to apply to all customers, and they implement it on anyone that "bought in" before the date they updated this, then I smell a heavy class action.