Originally Posted by Bill Lumberg

To my knowledge, no Citationshares aircraft have crashed. The pilots are all trained at very high standards. I'd say the standards are comparable to Netjets in terms of pilot hiring and training. You probably already know this but I would make sure that the aircraft fleet offered matches your requirements. If you consistently need 3-4 passengers flown 500 miles, a CJ3 or XLS at Citationshares might work well for you. If you require trips to Hawaii or Europe, Citationshares won't provide aircraft capable of some of those missions.

Keep in mind that when you buy these jetcards you are basically paying a huge premium to cover their extensive overhead. If you look at it from an hourly basis, you could probably charter a much bigger airplane from a "reputable" charter operator for the same hourly cost (including fuel) because you are not funding their enormous overhead. Charter operators are rated (Argus and others) and you look for highly-rated operators who can provide the same or bigger aircraft for the same (or much lower) price offered by the jetcard schemes. I would ask for charter customer references during your due diligence.

Personally, I think these jetcards are a huge waste of money when compared to some of the more "reputable" charter operators out there... You are paying a huge premium for the brand name and "implied" reputation for safety. In doing so, are you suggesting that corporate or private operators are any less safe and reliable because they don't buy fractional shares? They care about safety too - most pilots don't have a death wish. Most highly-rated charter operators care deeply about their reputation for safety and operating standards. I don't work in the industry but my opinion is based on what friends who do work in the industry think... You need to shop around.

Have you ever done this price/value comparison between fractional cards and "reputable" charter operators?