The Stag Do Maths: When Splitting a Private Jet Actually Beats Flying Commercial

Every spring the same email arrives: “There are ten of us going to Ibiza in June, someone joked about a private jet, I priced it as a laugh, and now… is this actually not insane? ”

It’s actually not insane. Sometimes it’s the cheaper option, which sounds like broker talk until you run the numbers honestly. So let’s run them honestly.

The scenario

Eight people, London to Ibiza, leaving Friday of a June weekend, booking six weeks out. Real numbers from this year, rounded for sanity.

Commercial: By six weeks out, direct Friday flights to Ibiza in June are not £39. Economy was running £180–£320 return depending on the flight, plus 25kg bags (£70ish return each, and this group is not packing light), plus the practical costs everyone forgets: transfers to Gatwick for eight, an airport pint round that somehow costs £94, and the small matter of a 4:45am alarm. Realistic all-in: £300–£450 per person.

Private: A midsize jet seating eight, London to Ibiza, came in around £16,000 one way, £24,000 with the return leg on a matched empty leg. Call it £3,000 per person return.

So no — for eight people booking sensibly in advance, private is not cheaper. It’s roughly 8x. Anyone telling you otherwise is selling something. But change the inputs and watch what happens.

Where the gap collapses

Short notice. Book two weeks out instead of six and those commercial fares triple while the charter price… doesn’t move. Charter pricing is driven by aircraft availability, not booking curves. At ten days out, commercial for our group hit £700+ each and private became 3–4x, not 8x.

Awkward routes. Ibiza has direct flights. Now try ten people to a Croatian island, or Newquay to Manchester on a Sunday, or anywhere requiring a connection. When commercial means “via Amsterdam, seven hours, arrive midnight,” the private premium buys back an entire day of the trip. On a three-day weekend, that’s a third of the holiday.

Bigger groups on smaller aircraft. The sweet spot is filling every seat. Eight people on an eight-seat jet is the maths above; four people on the same jet is double it. Recruit accordingly — this is the one occasion where inviting Gary is financially prudent.

Counting the right things. The charter quote includes bags, no transfers to a distant terminal (FBOs are drive-up), and departure at 11am rather than dawn. Fair comparison means adding those to the commercial column too.

How to organise it without a group-chat civil war

Having watched many groups do this, the failure mode is never the flight. It’s the money admin. The proven formula:

1. One person books and pays. Charter contracts are with one client, not eight. That person collects money before signing, because the cancellation terms (see our booking guide) are theirs alone otherwise.
2. Collect a flat amount with margin, say £3,200 on a £3,000 seat, and refund the surplus after the trip. Chasing a £46 catering top-up from twelve people in September is how friendships end.
3. Get everyone’s passport details in one go. Set a deadline. There is always one person. You know who it is already.
4. Decide the empty-leg question upfront. A matched empty leg return saves thousands but can move by hours. Groups with flexible Mondays say yes; groups with Tuesday jobs say no. Decide sober, in advance.

The honest verdict

For a big group flying a well-served route booked well ahead: fly commercial, spend the difference on the villa. For short notice, awkward routes, full aircraft, or trips where the travel is part of the event — the premium shrinks to the point where eight adults with jobs can look at it and reasonably say yes.

And there’s one number the spreadsheet can’t hold: walking out of an FBO onto the tarmac with your seven best friends does something to a weekend that no easyJet middle seat has ever done. Price that how you like.