I Saw Why Jets Are the Ultimate Status Symbol — It’s Not Why You Think

Warren Buffett once said he wanted to be buried with his private jet, a Bombardier Challenger 600 that he named the “Indispensible.”

After flying halfway across the country on one last month, I get it.

The trek from my home in Brooklyn to Cleveland to visit the headquarters of Flexjet, the private aviation company that arranged my travel, marked my first work trip since returning from maternity leave. Between Uber rides, time at the airport, and a commercial flight, it should have taken five hours each way.

With no security lines, no arduous boarding process, no taxiing, it took about two hours, meaning the seven-month-old I’d left behind was none the wiser: I was there to kiss him goodbye before he left for day care and home in time to give him a bath.

Private aviation usage continues to break records — in the first half of this year, there were 3.6% more private jet flights than last year and 33.6% more than prepandemic levels, according to aviation data firm WingX — and it’s not about the caviar service or extremely abundant leg room.

“Luxury is being able to manipulate time,” Andrew Collins, the co-CEO of Flexjet, told me, repeating a phrase that I’d hear from Flexjet employees throughout my day at HQ. “In essence, it’s a time machine.”

Collins may be towing the party line, but data supports it.

A recent survey of more than 500 private jet users conducted by Private Jet Card Comparison, a guide and advisory service, found that more than 67% of users said door-to-door time saving was the reason they flew private. The next three highest reasons all had some temporal element, be it the availability of a more convenient airport (less time in the car to the final destination) or the lack of available nonstop flights (less time at the airport waiting for a connection).

“They say you can’t buy health or time. Well, you can if you fly privately,” Doug Gollan, Private Jet Card Comparison’s founder, said.

You don’t wait for a private jet, a private jets wait for you.

My trip from New York to Ohio began as those of the uber-wealthy do: with a helicopter ride.

The eight-minute flight from our meeting point on the Eastern side of Manhattan to Teterboro, the airport of choice for New York City private jet owners, saved us at least 45 minutes in bumper-to-bumper midtown traffic.

As we flew over Central Park and took in the new high rises, a discussion I overheard among a Flexjet salesman and another passenger on the press trip was fitting for the setting, with topics ranging from the gym in JP Morgan’s new HQ to the costs involved in joining a country club for car enthusiasts.

But Flexjet’s top brass say there’s a misconception about the typical PJ customer.

People think it’s “a bunch of wealthy little kids running around on Daddy’s money,” Kenn Ricci, Flexjet’s chairman, told me. They picture rock stars popping Champagne bottles or bachelor parties headed to Vegas.

But most Flexjet clients, he said, are large companies that don’t want their handsomely paid CEOs wasting time at an airport lounge with crumby wifi. For them — or really, any of us — time is money.

As our helicopter landed on the tarmac, I saw what the “time machine” fuss was about. Our chariot for the day, a Gulfstream G450, was a few yards away. There was no taking our shoes off for security, waiting in a line to have our boarding passes scanned, or extended taxiing.

You don’t wait for a private jet; a private jet waits for you.

Within minutes of the final passengers climbing aboard, we were in the air, enjoying Greek yogurt and fresh berries. When we touched down in Ohio, there was no circling until we got an OK from air traffic control — just a smooth landing and a 100-foot walk to the FlexJet offices.

While time may be the ultimate luxury — and the reason many drop millions on a private jet — as a commercial flyer, I would be lying if I didn’t say that the other private jet perks were a very welcome bonus.

Inside the climate-controlled cabin, one fellow journalist said her Oura ring didn’t even clock the takeoff as “stress,” which typically happens. The interiors were wood paneled and upholstered in what I assume was faux chagrin. The seats were plush with ample legroom, and blankets were draped over the couch.

The Starlink internet meant I could scroll Instagram while another passenger FaceTimed his wife. A peek in the bathroom drawers showed any number of luxury toiletries, from Evian face spray to Molton Brown mouthwash.

Juices, coffee, and yogurt were handed out on the way there, and on the way home, we boarded to find an array of fresh fruit and snacks, before being served a three-course meal and a Pinterest-worthy charcuterie board.

It was delicious, but it wasn’t Nobu or a filet mignon — though those are on offer if a Flexjet flyer so chooses.

Our flight attendant told us that customers aren’t typically interested in filling up on a steak between business meetings. The most commonly ordered meals are chicken nuggets, quesadillas, and chicken Caesar wraps — aka airport food.

A very expensive time machine

The fact that we were on one of Flexjet’s most expensive models — let alone on a press trip designed to impress — meant the bells and whistles were in full force.

There are more costly options, like the Gulfstream 700, which I toured in Ohio. Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk reportedly each own the model, which has sleeping quarters, a generous kitchen, and a living room with a flat screen TV. At a retail price of $95 million, to become a fractional owner of one of FlexJet’s three G700s, you have to drop over $20 million. That’s not including monthly fees or operating costs.

But the customers for a G700 are few and far between.

The price of flying through Flexjet isn’t straightforward and depends on a number of factors, like the type of aircraft, fuel prices, the length of the flights, and any tax benefits, Private Jet Card Comparison’s Gollan said.

Flexjet advertises its rates as starting at $7,000 an hour and running up to $23,000, inclusive of management fees, operating costs, and the buy-in. The company’s most popular models, mid and super-midsize jets like the Embraer Praetor 500, Embraer Praetor 600, and Bombardier Challenger 350/3500, fall somewhere in between.

Those jets hold fewer than 10 passengers and don’t have any cabin servers aboard. There’s limited kitchen equipment, and, on some of them, grown men can barely stand up straight.

“It’s like sitting in an SUV,” Gollan said about the midsize models. “It’s utilitarian, to get from A to B quickly.”

It may not be sexy, but that doesn’t take away any of the appeal.

“Once you decide to fly private, it’s a little bit of an addiction,” Flexjet’s Ricci said. He said he hasn’t flown commercial in more than 12 years.