Seven Private Jet Myths That Refuse to Die
Work in charter long enough and you hear the same beliefs over and over — from friends at dinner, from first-time clients, occasionally from journalists who should ring us first. Some flatter the industry, some damage it, and nearly all of them come from films rather than FBOs. Time to retire a few.
Myth 1: “It’s all billionaires”
The core of the UK charter market is much less glamorous: small business owners visiting three sites in a day, families with a house near Malaga, groups splitting a light jet eight ways, medical repatriations, football clubs, film crews with equipment that can’t fly cargo. The billionaires exist, but they mostly own aircraft or fly fractional shares. Charter — paying by the trip — is disproportionately people for whom the maths happened to work that week. Our group cost-splitting piece shows exactly what that maths looks like.
Myth 2: “There’s no security”
There’s security; there’s just no queue. Passports are checked, passenger data goes to the authorities in advance (the API submission), customs officers meet international arrivals, and crews can and do refuse passengers and search bags. What you skip is the mass-screening apparatus built for processing forty thousand strangers a day — because you’re six named people the operator has already vetted. The distinction matters: it’s not less secure, it’s differently secure.
Myth 3: “You can smoke on board”
Mostly, no. The large majority of charter aircraft are non-smoking because the owner says so — it’s their aircraft, and smoke lingers in an interior they paid seven figures for. A minority of (mostly older, mostly larger) aircraft permit it. If this matters to you, say so at enquiry and the broker will filter for it; light up unannounced on a non-smoking jet and you’ll be paying a deep-cleaning bill that will genuinely sting.
Myth 4: “Private jets always get there faster”
Faster through the airport, yes — massively. Faster through the air, not really. A Citation cruises at similar speeds to an A320, and light jets are slower. Private aviation’s time savings are on the ground: the 15-minute check-in, the airport 20 minutes from your house instead of 90, the direct routing to a small field commercial doesn’t serve. On London to Exeter, you win big. On London to New York, an airline flat bed does the same block time.
Myth 5: “Turbulence is worse on small planes”
Half true, and the half matters less than you’d think. Light aircraft do feel bumps more at low altitude. But jets — even small ones — cruise at 41,000–45,000ft, above most weather that airliners at 35,000ft plough through. Plus your two-person crew will actively change altitude to find smooth air for six passengers in a way that’s rarely practical for three hundred. Most clients report less turbulence than expected, not more.
Myth 6: “Booking takes weeks”
The genuine minimum, if the aircraft is nearby and the paperwork is quick, is about two hours from first call to wheels up. Same-day is routine; next-day is easy. The things that take weeks are peak-season slots and unusual requests, not the booking machinery itself. (The full process is in our step-by-step booking guide — it’s three emails and a bank transfer.)
Myth 7: “The pilots are the B-team”
This one actually annoys me. Charter pilots fly to the same licensing, medical, and training standards as airline crews — same type ratings, same simulator checks, same duty-time rules. Plenty are ex-airline; plenty of airline pilots are ex-charter. The difference in your experience isn’t standards, it’s proximity: you’ll know your pilots’ names, they’ll brief you personally, and they’ll carry your bags. Familiarity reads as informality. The checklists are identical.
Why any of this matters
Every myth on this list either scares someone off a flight that would have suited them, or sets an expectation the industry then has to walk back at the FBO desk. The reality of charter is more mundane and more useful than the mythology: a flexible, expensive, occasionally bargain-priced tool that’s brilliant for some trips and pointless for others. Knowing which is which is the whole game.