Everything You Need to Know about XO
 

There are a number of companies offering Uber-like services for private jets, but one of the biggest is XO.

It’s an especially great choice for first-time private jet fliers due to its easy-to-use booking platform and lack of membership requirement — but as you’ll see, it’ll likely make sense for you to get one if you’re interested in using the service regularly.

XO made a name for itself through its on-demand charter services. However, it also offers the ability to purchase individual seats on a growing number of regularly scheduled and crowdsourced flights, which have become increasingly popular amid the ongoing shortage of private jets. Further, it allows spontaneous travelers to score amazing deals on empty-leg flights.

Customers have access to a dedicated fleet of over 180 aircraft around the world, including over 70 aircraft operated by VistaJet and Talon Air, as well as over 2,100 jets part of the safety-vetted XO Alliance Fleet. The planes range in size from six-seat turboprops to large VIP airliners that can carry over 100 passengers.

Here’s a first-timer’s guide to flying with XO.

Rest of the article here

Something else to know about XO is that they require you to sign a non-compete agreement. You cannot fly for another operation that has a similar business model to XOJet for a period of six months after you resign from the company.

If you want to go 121, no problem, but if you want to stay in the fractional or 135 business, you have to tell the new company you can’t start for six months or you just take the risk. I can understand if you work for a company with important intellectual property or they are concerned you might steal clients, but that’s just not the case with XO.

It feels to me that rule is strictly punitive and a mechanism to retain pilots. Personally, I think there are better ways to retain pilots. Just my opinion.

Wow, that must be a brand new requirement. I never heard of it before…

It’s in the offer letter if you get to that step.

What is the date of your offer letter? As Peabody said he was unaware of it..I haven't heard of it but things change. Wl check with some of the new hires on this restriction. If it is occurring, it is very new as I would've thought it would've been reported earlier. Will check it out.

The offer is over 20 pages long. Read the whole thing. It’s in there. Sorry if you missed it.

It's also completely unenforceable. PSA tried this in 121 too.

You could be right, but whether they were bluffing or they could enforce it, it seemed a pretty crappy way to welcome someone to the team. So, I passed.

I've also heard all pilots under the Vista umbrella are barred from being hired at FX due to an agreement made between Vista and OneSky which basically said if OneSky wanted Vista to fly Sentient trips then no OneSky company could hire away from any Vista company until May 2022. I know of one pilot from Red Wing who had an offer letter from Flexjet withdrawn because Vista called to enforce the non-compete clause.

Long time lurker, used to have an account to which I've long forgotten my password and email for and a former of XO from back in the "old" days who has moved on to greener pastures as well. I just have to ask a question Chase, all of your posts about XO have been nothing but sunshine and roses but do you ever talk about any of the negatives? I'm not here to dog on XO as I felt it was overall a good place to spend some time while deciding what you wanted to do next or build that experience to take the next step towards the 121 world if that's what you wanted. But a lot of your posts smell a bit of the old "squirrel" culture we had at XO and while you're still a relatively new guy at XO its hard not to see that... Just wanted people to hear both sides, because if all you have are good things to say we know that's not true as every company has it's pro's and cons.

Also please don't take that as an attack, as a former XO pilot with a genuine question.