Apr 16, 2016, 7:33 am
Last edit by: elitetraveler
JetSmarter is a membership program that allows members to fly on empty legs of private jets (JetDeals) and seats on scheduled private jet shuttles (JetShuttle).
JetSmarter - discussion and experiences
May 16, 2017, 10:18 am
#1261
Join Date: Apr 2006
Posts: 469
Yes, which is why I asked the OP what value he assigned to the yearly membership. You know, before you interjected your thoughts on that question only he could answer?
Last edited by millions; May 16, 2017 at 10:31 am
May 16, 2017, 11:34 am
#1262
Join Date: Jul 2011
Location: ATL, NYC, MIA, PHL
Programs: DL Diamond, DL Amex Reserve, AMEX Plat, + GE & Clear
Posts: 24
May 21, 2017, 3:03 pm
#1263
Join Date: Apr 2017
Posts: 56
The London to Dubai return shuttle seems closed, impossible to find an available flight.. Same for London to Istanbul shuttle, seems that the last flight (full) is scheduled in 5 days.
Is it normal ? Why don't we get a notice when they close a route ? I wanted to book a shuttle to Dubai and I just discovered that it's impossible..
Is it normal ? Why don't we get a notice when they close a route ? I wanted to book a shuttle to Dubai and I just discovered that it's impossible..
May 21, 2017, 11:13 pm
#1264
Join Date: Jan 2013
Programs: DL, UA
Posts: 592
The London to Dubai return shuttle seems closed, impossible to find an available flight.. Same for London to Istanbul shuttle, seems that the last flight (full) is scheduled in 5 days.
Is it normal ? Why don't we get a notice when they close a route ? I wanted to book a shuttle to Dubai and I just discovered that it's impossible..
Is it normal ? Why don't we get a notice when they close a route ? I wanted to book a shuttle to Dubai and I just discovered that it's impossible..
May 22, 2017, 9:05 am
#1265
Join Date: Apr 2017
Posts: 56
London Dubai route is gone, at least for now. Their communication on this was non-existent. Pretty bad - I'm assuming they knew it was coming up, so to let people know would have been good. Perhaps it's coming back. Sometimes they have to change out operators and there's a lag in time pushing up to the app. Fingers crossed.
May 23, 2017, 2:21 pm
#1267
Join Date: Apr 2017
Posts: 56
No more London - Istanbul - London shuttle as well; and the London to Moscow shuttle seems reduced (one every two weeks instead of one to two shuttles every week)..
No more Air Hamburg empty leg deals as well (More than 170 seats per week, that's something !!).. Seems like they're shutting down many perks of the membership
No more Air Hamburg empty leg deals as well (More than 170 seats per week, that's something !!).. Seems like they're shutting down many perks of the membership
May 24, 2017, 10:34 pm
#1269
Join Date: Jan 2013
Programs: DL, UA
Posts: 592
May 25, 2017, 9:01 am
#1270
Join Date: Apr 2010
Posts: 49
I initially did a membership at 9k, before they introduced the tiers. Put it on a zero interest card, so that essentially made it a monthly payment. easy.
I downgraded to a simple membership when renewal came up. Just took my first shuttle a month into the new membership.
ATL to white plains... they cancelled the heli transfer due to "supply and demand issues" (read BS).
riding from white plains to manhattan really defeats the purpose of any of this. Unless you just want the glitz of flying private... for me, it's the convenience.
Had flight credits from before, so used that for a transfer on the return leg, which I was happy to see had 13 seats available when I landed the first leg and my one token was able to be used again.
I was able to get some business done on the trip, so I guess overall I'm satisfied, but not happy. If that makes sense. For $5000, so far I've taken one short notice, perfectly timed trip to and from NYC and made good business from it, with 10.5 months to go. I think I've recouped 800-1000 value from this one trip.
May 25, 2017, 12:13 pm
#1272
Join Date: Apr 2010
Posts: 49
In this instance, for example, they know that probably 95% of their customers would never be on that route, so why tell them they're losing something they never would've used? Why introduce that negative? The flip side is, they're all too eager to dangle that carrot in front of new buyers and promise the world (literally). "Hey look at our awesome routes to these big cities that you'll probably never go to, but have heard of. We're expanding ALLLL the time. Join us."
Buyer gets enticed, joins, bait and switch. This has been their tactic since day one. With the excuse being "well, in order to keep the business afloat, we're going to take away some things we sold you initially. You understand, right?"
^That's almost word for word, btw.
My plan is to milk it for all it's worth until eventually they crash and burn, which they will. What happens if oil spikes all of a sudden and heads toward $100 a barrel... this business is done overnight.
May 28, 2017, 4:19 am
#1273
Join Date: Apr 2017
Posts: 56
What's annoying is, at what point does everyone realize that this poor communication isn't simply an oversight, but it's a concentrated effort.
In this instance, for example, they know that probably 95% of their customers would never be on that route, so why tell them they're losing something they never would've used? Why introduce that negative? The flip side is, they're all too eager to dangle that carrot in front of new buyers and promise the world (literally). "Hey look at our awesome routes to these big cities that you'll probably never go to, but have heard of. We're expanding ALLLL the time. Join us."
Buyer gets enticed, joins, bait and switch. This has been their tactic since day one. With the excuse being "well, in order to keep the business afloat, we're going to take away some things we sold you initially. You understand, right?"
^That's almost word for word, btw.
My plan is to milk it for all it's worth until eventually they crash and burn, which they will. What happens if oil spikes all of a sudden and heads toward $100 a barrel... this business is done overnight.
In this instance, for example, they know that probably 95% of their customers would never be on that route, so why tell them they're losing something they never would've used? Why introduce that negative? The flip side is, they're all too eager to dangle that carrot in front of new buyers and promise the world (literally). "Hey look at our awesome routes to these big cities that you'll probably never go to, but have heard of. We're expanding ALLLL the time. Join us."
Buyer gets enticed, joins, bait and switch. This has been their tactic since day one. With the excuse being "well, in order to keep the business afloat, we're going to take away some things we sold you initially. You understand, right?"
^That's almost word for word, btw.
My plan is to milk it for all it's worth until eventually they crash and burn, which they will. What happens if oil spikes all of a sudden and heads toward $100 a barrel... this business is done overnight.
This month I've booked 2 deals in the US and 6 in Europe, 6 of the 8 requested flights deals were cancelled.. And always with a very short notice (Ex : the flight leaves at 1pm, they'll let you know only at 7-8-9 am if the flight is confirmed - really hard to plan anything with those deals). Before it was easier, confirmed 24h before departure, no weird excuses to delay the confirmation.
May 29, 2017, 12:03 pm
#1275
Join Date: Dec 2003
Location: Oakland CA
Programs: DL Gold, AS MVPG, Globalist
Posts: 1,008
You're 100% right.. Hope that they'll make a new fundraising and start some news partnerships with operators specially in Europe !
This month I've booked 2 deals in the US and 6 in Europe, 6 of the 8 requested flights deals were cancelled.. And always with a very short notice (Ex : the flight leaves at 1pm, they'll let you know only at 7-8-9 am if the flight is confirmed - really hard to plan anything with those deals). Before it was easier, confirmed 24h before departure, no weird excuses to delay the confirmation.
This month I've booked 2 deals in the US and 6 in Europe, 6 of the 8 requested flights deals were cancelled.. And always with a very short notice (Ex : the flight leaves at 1pm, they'll let you know only at 7-8-9 am if the flight is confirmed - really hard to plan anything with those deals). Before it was easier, confirmed 24h before departure, no weird excuses to delay the confirmation.
I sort of wonder what the providers think about JetSmarter. Enough of them have left the empty leg program (e.g. DPJ in the US, Air Hamburg in Europe) that it can't be a phenomenally amazing deal. And interestingly, most of their own shuttle providers don't provide empty legs from their other charter business, which strikes me as odd.