Private plane

October 29, 2014 11:36 AM

I'm arranging a weekend away next year for about 30 people. It's a big treat for us all, so looking into how much to charter a plane. We'd be flying London to Berlin. Any ideas?
posted by lloyder to Travel & Transportation (9 answers total)

I would look at Net Jets Europe. I think their biggest bird seats 14, but they can do multiple at the same time or can direct you to a more appropriate carrier. It may make sense to book this through a travel agent.

When I was researching this sort of thing to fly from NY to Amsterdam for 30 people, we ended up booking commercial and getting a volume discount. It was cheaper than private. Not that it makes much of a difference, but is this one person paying for everyone or is everyone paying their own way? If everyone is paying their own share, I would get a budget from everyone. There may be benefits to flying private that are not cost such as time of departure, ease of airport use. I would pay $400 to fly private versus $300 to fly
posted by 724A at 12:00 PM on October 29, 2014 [1 favorite]

Try victor
posted by zia at 12:17 PM on October 29, 2014

I think this is a "you need to get on the phone" kind of thing. Maybe give BMI a call?

Keep in mind that you probably won't be flying out of Heathrow on a charter, since they are generally full up with scheduled flights.
posted by smackfu at 12:17 PM on October 29, 2014

Response by poster: Thanks for the replies so far. Everyone would be paying their own way over 1 person paying. We're expecting it to be more than scheduled.
posted by lloyder at 12:56 PM on October 29, 2014

I agree that this is probably a "pick up the phone" task. The one suggestion I have is to check with Lufthansa. They have a private jet service that I think runs A320's in a full business class configuration. Might be worth a look.
posted by michswiss at 1:04 PM on October 29, 2014 [1 favorite]

Best answer: There's an app called JetSmart(er?) that promotes itself as an easy way for the (richer than) average joe to book a charter.
posted by PorcineWithMe at 1:13 PM on October 29, 2014

Here's an estimate from Private Fly: €22,000 return.
posted by ambrosen at 3:17 PM on October 29, 2014 [1 favorite]

Best answer: This is one of those questions where the answer is improbably difficult to find. The charter market is absolutely stuffed full of complexity, from fractional ownership down to 'empty leg' deals and many, many random sites promising the world, but mostly seeking to sell convenience to last minute corporate customers. Private Fly seem legit, but the diversity of flights on offer just illustrate quite how complicated the market is and how many players there are chasing your business.

From London, you'd probably fly from Farnborough or Biggin Hill, or at a push Luton (where Harrods Aviation is based). I've flown charter on many occasions (as a guest) and most of the time the larger planes are civil airliners doing a charter job on the side, rather than dedicated 'private jets' - so actually it's usually less comfortable than business class but with the (sizeable) advantage of ultra-rapid check-in and boarding with no lengthy walks or waits. The expensive option would be to book 2 or 3 smaller jets outright via someone like PrivatAir for a true first class-and-above style experience. Otherwise, make a booking like ambrosen suggests above, but don't expect a Falcon 5X.
posted by srednivashtar at 3:33 PM on October 29, 2014

PrivateFly are providing an estimate of £58,000 for Airbus A319 corporate jet for that journey I linked to earlier, for what it's worth.
posted by ambrosen at 4:34 PM on October 29, 2014