The third big question pertains to the availability of your jet card.  You wouldn’t purchase a brand new car that you can only drive on Mondays Wednesdays and Fridays.  So why choose a jet card whose terms restrict or altogether block off use on certain days (usually important ones).  Jet card programs come in an array of availability, from having many blackout days to having every single day available for flights, with options in between.  With some programs, your flight may incur a peak surcharge on the busiest days of the year, or response times may be drawn out.

Response time is the time it takes for a jet to be made ready for you.  Inquire with potential jet card programs what the usual minimum guaranteed time is, as well as the response time for peak days.  Most providers have a notice period of 10-12 hours, while on peak days you can be looking at a response time of up to 5-7 days. 

Another point to consider here is the minimum flight time.  Many card programs include terms of minimum flight time, the standard being that you will be charged a one hour minimum per trip, and often 2 hours for larger aircraft.  If your usual flight is a short hop of only 30 or 60 minutes, this will be an important criterion for you.

Also, consider the taxi time which is added to your overall flight time.  Generally, it will take 6 minutes to take off and 6 minutes to land.  Add this time to your 30-minute flight, and it may be worth your while to pay the difference of 15 minutes in exchange for the hourly rate you have locked in with your initial deposit.

There are a number of things that can happen when a jet card has reached its term.  This factor is of great importance when selecting a jet card program, so it is key to understand the different ways this can go.  Some jet card programs have no term and the card will last until all hours are used.  Or, a card may expire after a year, 18 months, or longer.

If you are looking at a card company whose cards do expire, what happens once a card has reached its term?  With a lot of cards, you will be able to roll over the unused hours to a new card or continue to have the rest of your deposit on file with the company with the hourly rates reset.  Some cards will issue a refund for unused hours at the end of the card term, and some will even issue a refund at any point in the life of the card. This can be especially beneficial if you are trying out a provider for the first time, as you are taking less of a gamble when you know that you can withdraw funds at will. Watch out for cards that simply expire with no refund or rollover at the end of the term. If you are looking at a card company whose cards don’t expire, it is likely that your guaranteed hourly rate eventually will.  Find out if and when the hourly rate you locked in when you made your deposit will expire, and what the process is for resetting this rate.  Can you lock in a new rate, or is each consecutive flight subject to changing rates?

When a provider gives you a quote for an hourly rate, you need to be sure that the rate is all inclusive with all fees, taxes, fuel surcharges, etc. included in the given price.  Otherwise, all of the additional fees will be tacked on to each flight, and you may be getting a lot less than what you thought you were purchasing when you invested in your card.

For deposit amount based cards, the hourly rate will generally drop as your deposit amount, or purchase of more hours, increases.  With aircraft specific cards, pricing increases with the size of aircraft. 

The additional fees that you are likely to incur, whether included in your quote or added on when you fly, are as follows:  

The cost of fuel is a major contributor to the overall price of your trip.  In some jet card programs, a cardholder is responsible for the full price of fuel.  In other cases, the cardholder is responsible only for the fuel surcharge.  A fuel surcharge, or fuel cost adjustment, is when a card has a specific amount built in to cover partial fuel costs, and the difference between the allowance and actual cost of fuel is charged per flight.

The other big contributor is Federal Excise Tax or FET.  Other charges to be aware of are repositioning fees, flights outside of the service area, catering, taxi time, and one-way premiums. For a more comprehensive breakdown of these additional fees, please read this article.