How rich do you have to be to fly on private jets?

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:I can tell you that with an income of $3M and net worth of nearly $20M I still cannot get over the price. I am willing to upgrade to first class though if the upgrade cost seems reasonable,

$3M = upper middle class
$30M = upper class
$300M = rich

$300M = private jet

$3M is not upper middle class

Op here. I consider ourselves upper middle class at $2M.

You have an income of 2MM or a net worth of 2MM?

We are still in our 30s. 2M is new. Used to be 500k just five years ago.

Because if that is your income and you've been earning that for many years, shouldn't you have a high net worth by now such that you can afford a private jet share?

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:$100m net worth.

BS. I see my kids' private school friends flying private (with their dads?) and they're not $100mm rich. They boast about it on instagram/snapchat.

It's probably the company jet. It's a whole different ballgame if you can charge it off as a business expense.

IRS has cracked down on this -- now they have to reimburse if comapny jet is used for personal travel, though many top execs have that cost included in their comp package.

Now if the parent is flying on the corpoate jet anyway, the kids can probably fly free since those seats otherwise go empty.

It's not crazy expensive to charter a jet though (Ok, crazy is relative). Here to Martha's Vineyard would be about $10k total (not per person). That's 2-3x as much as flying the whole family first class there on commercial.

10k seems totally reasonable. I would like to fly to places like the Bahamas or Turks and Caicos since we can’t fly direct. If we go with another family, the cost won’t be half bad.

Probably closer to $30k. 2 familes = larger plane needed, and it's a longer distance, and it's international.

[Anonymous]

OP, if you only started making 2MM very recently, then you know what the answer is.

Continue saving until you have a higher net worth. I would say at least 10MM but probably more like 15-30MM.

[Anonymous]

Also depends on industry...DH flies private a fair amount because his customers all have fleets. General rule is for good destinations meetings are on Thursdays and spouses invited to stay over the long weekend. We're poor by DCUM standards - $500k HHI.

[Anonymous]

We are high net worth people and always get solicited by private jet firms but we "just say no". We are in our mid 60's and a few years ago bit the bullet and decided to no longer fly coach. Yes, it's expensive but worth it at this stage in our lives. With TSA precheck and Global Entry it makes it pretty easy. At some point if we have health issues (in a wheelchair) we will fly private because our travel will be very limited.

[Anonymous]

I definitely know several people with net worths over 100M (their share of inheritance, I met them all at my Ivy...), and only one regularly flies private. Her individual net worth is likely around 100M, but her family is worth billions.

On the other hand, I think the folks with 15-30M net worth sometimes fly private because it seems "fancy" and technically they can afford it. They are the ones who brag about it. No one worth 100M+ (at least, no adult!) is bragging about flying private, because they are typically trying to hide (to some extent) their extreme wealth.

This is my experience anyway. There's always exceptions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:* per year.

We always consider flying business or first and decide not to.

Are you that frugal?
You can definitely afford business or first. Have you tried it. I’m you haven’t otherwise you wouldn’t want to go back to economy, especially on those long flights to Europe or Asia.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:$100m net worth.

BS. I see my kids' private school friends flying private (with their dads?) and they're not $100mm rich. They boast about it on instagram/snapchat.

It's probably the company jet. It's a whole different ballgame if you can charge it off as a business expense.

IRS has cracked down on this -- now they have to reimburse if comapny jet is used for personal travel, though many top execs have that cost included in their comp package.

Now if the parent is flying on the corpoate jet anyway, the kids can probably fly free since those seats otherwise go empty.

It's not crazy expensive to charter a jet though (Ok, crazy is relative). Here to Martha's Vineyard would be about $10k total (not per person). That's 2-3x as much as flying the whole family first class there on commercial.

10k seems totally reasonable. I would like to fly to places like the Bahamas or Turks and Caicos since we can’t fly direct. If we go with another family, the cost won’t be half bad.

Probably closer to $30k. 2 familes = larger plane needed, and it's a longer distance, and it's international.

A charter to turks is closer to $40K round trip. We considered it but I just couldn't pull the trigger. We grew up poor and no matter how much money we have, that kind of spending seems outrageous.

[Anonymous]

If you've got over $10 million and don't fly first class.....your children will! A banker told me that a few years ago when we were discussing estate planning.

[Anonymous]

We stopped flying coach when a fat, hairy guy in cargo shorts and a sleeveless t-shirt sat in the middle seat between my DH and me on a cross country flight. That pushed my DH over the edge. We can easily afford first class but never felt it was worth the extra money except on overseas flights. We search hard for the lowest first class seats but we will not go back.

[Anonymous]

A college friend was dating a successful professional golfer who burned through his earnings quite quickly in his late 20's and early 30's flying private jets, much to his current regret.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We stopped flying coach when a fat, hairy guy in cargo shorts and a sleeveless t-shirt sat in the middle seat between my DH and me on a cross country flight. That pushed my DH over the edge. We can easily afford first class but never felt it was worth the extra money except on overseas flights. We search hard for the lowest first class seats but we will not go back.

+1. Any flight 5 hrs or more, we fly business/1st class.

[Anonymous]

DH and I are retired and our net worth is over $60 million and we don't fly private. I'm sure we can afford to but it's simply too indulgent. Plus, none of our friends know how much money we have and if we flew private it would send a signal we don't want to send.

[Anonymous]

I think it is funny the number of people who have posted that they could afford it but can’t justify the cost. Flying private is a little like what JP Morgan said about owning a yacht- if you have to ask the price then you can’t afford it

Most people I know that fly private have a net worth of at least $100 million. They also have a reason like a house somewhere that is difficult to get to commercially

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I definitely know several people with net worths over 100M (their share of inheritance, I met them all at my Ivy...), and only one regularly flies private. Her individual net worth is likely around 100M, but her family is worth billions.

On the other hand, I think the folks with 15-30M net worth sometimes fly private because it seems "fancy" and technically they can afford it. They are the ones who brag about it. No one worth 100M+ (at least, no adult!) is bragging about flying private, because they are typically trying to hide (to some extent) their extreme wealth.

This is my experience anyway. There's always exceptions.

Ha, there is nothing worse than the loudmouth telling every hotel staff person that will listen (because they must) that he came in on private.