One element of JetSmarter contracts that has been hanging over the heads of plaintiffs and others contemplating legal action against by-the-seat private jet membership club JetSmarter has been a clause in its contracts designed to prevent members from taking the company to court. In the case of Derek Milosavljevic vs. Jet Smarter playing out in the Superior Court of the State of California, JetSmarter has apparently lost that battle.

According to a hearing held today, Dec. 4, 2018, Judge Mark V. Mooney denied the action filed by JetSmarter back on Sept. 7, 2018. The next court date is now set for Feb. 5, 2018. Lawyers for the plaintiff are now expected to begin the process if trying to depose JetSmarter executives. The case is one of more than a half-dozen lawsuits JetSmarter is facing.

On March 26, 2018, in an interview with Private Jet Card Comparisons CEO Sergey Petrossov was trumpeting new lower membership costs while promising members in its old program would continue to enjoy the benefits they had paid for.


He told us, “We are lowering the fee of entry for new members to democratize the access point even more. Annual membership is now $4,950 plus a $3,000 initiation fee. These new members will pay more per seat than (existing) SMART members do now.The plan is to open up access to more people that fly even a few times per year versus more frequent fliers that are joining today with SMART membership for $15,000. Existing SMART members are not affected by this and keep their old membership with better pricing and perks.”

Petrossov told us, “Sophisticated is $50,000 and has been that way for a while. We are making it more private and won’t be advertising as much to make it more exclusive. We are continuously expanding the service and features.”


According to a lawsuit filed last week in the United States District Court Southern District of Florida by Sheri Laine and Gary Seidler on March 29, 2018, they received an email from JetSmarter that this would be their “Last chance to become a founding JetSmarter member.” The company was founded in 2012. The each bought in for the SMART membership paying a combined $30,000.



They were told by joining they would still be able to get free seats for flights under three hours even as the private jet-sharing service, what until then had been a core benefit. From that point, they were hit with multiple approaches to upgrade to the SOPHISTICATED membership with offers to pay $97,500 for three years through mid-June, although they declined.

10. It should be noted that, previously, on or about September 5, 2018, other plaintiffs lodged a Demand for Class Arbitration against JetSmarter with the AAA in Fort Lauderdale, Florida (the “Class Arbitration”). Plaintiff would be included in this class and have the ability to participate or opt-out of the class. The Class Arbitration is underway, an arbitrator has already been appointed, limited discovery has taken place, and mediation is expected to take place sometime this month.

Facing mounting lawsuits, JetSmarter fires back, says litigation represents “less than 0.1% of growing customer base”

Against the backdrop of three more lawsuits, the sharing economy private jet company is responding, saying programs changes were within its rights, and the “vast majority” of “core” members are understanding

In response, a JetSmarter spokesperson provided the following statement:



“As a leader in private aviation, we are constantly looking to improve in-flight services, customer standards and our business model. Changes that were made to our member services and benefits were well within the rights of our membership agreement, and any legal action against JetSmarter is completely meritless. We will defend ourselves vigorously against these claims, which represent less than 0.1% of our growing customer base.



“Our legacy members still have access to complimentary seats and incremental discounts over and above new members. We recognize and appreciate that a number of members are unhappy with certain changes. However, these changes benefit our entire customer community, not just isolated groups, by improving availability and lowering the price of member-initiated/crowdfunded flights, improving in-flight service quality by reducing total passenger count per plane, providing complimentary gourmet catering, and most importantly elevating the quality of people flying together.



“The vast majority of our core customers understand the necessity of these decisions to ensure the long-term viability of JetSmarter. Today, we are more positive about the health of our business than ever, and since opening up the JetSmarter platform to members and non-members in June, our current paying customer base (members and non-members) has continued to increase.”