Jet Card Transparency Index 2026: 14 Programmes Scored on Published Rates, Contract Terms, Peak Days and Safety Accreditation

1. Sentient Jet — 60/100

Braintree, Massachusetts · founded 1999 · rates published for all four cabin classes

Sentient Jet tops this index on 60 of 100 for one reason: it is the only provider here that publishes a full hourly rate card. Its own site gives USD 7,324 light, USD 9,434 midsize, USD 11,529 super-midsize and USD 13,640 large cabin, locked for twelve months, which takes the full 25 of 25 on rate transparency. It also states that card hours never expire and guarantees availability on ten hours' notice, for 15 of 15 on call-out. Against that it holds no ARGUS or Wyvern rating of its own, scoring zero on safety accreditation — it is a card brand under Flexjet and Directional Aviation, sourcing from the Flexjet fleet rather than operating aircraft, which is why fleet control is 10 of 15. Federal excise tax is added on top of the quoted rate. No peak day count is published, so that criterion scores zero.

Not scorable on this record: peak day exposure, safety accreditation. That criterion scores zero until the provider publishes it.

2. NetJets — 60/100

Columbus, Ohio · founded 1964 · 868 aircraft · 90 peak days

NetJets ties for the top of this index and does not win it outright, which is the most useful single result on this page. It takes 25 of 25 on rate transparency and 11 of 15 on fleet control from the largest fleet in private aviation at 868 aircraft, holds ARGUS Platinum, and is the only provider here besides flyExclusive to include federal excise tax in the quoted rate. What costs it first place is the contract: ninety contracted peak days is by far the highest figure in this index — VistaJet publishes ten, and four providers publish none — so peak-day exposure scores zero, and a 48-hour call-out gives 6 of 15 against Jet Linx's two hours. Card funds expire at 24 months. Entry is USD 215,000. None of that makes NetJets a poor programme; it makes it a programme whose terms you should read before assuming scale settles the question. Compare with our main jet card index.

3. Jettly — 55/100

Toronto · founded 2016 · charter broker · no blackout dates

Jettly scores 55 and sits third, which deserves an explanation rather than a rank. It publishes a from-price at a USD 50,000, fifty-hour tier, states that funds never expire and books on ten hours' notice, and contracts no peak days at all — three criteria on which it beats NetJets outright. But it is a broker, and its own jet card page says so plainly, stating that Jettly is not a direct air carrier and does not own or operate aircraft directly alongside the claim of access to more than 23,000 aircraft. Those 23,000 are a marketplace network, not a fleet, and we record them as network size rather than fleet size for that reason — fleet control scores 3 of 15. It holds no safety rating of its own; the ratings named on its site belong to its approved operators. For a buyer, the question is whether a guarantee from a broker is the same instrument as a guarantee from an operator.

Not scorable on this record: safety accreditation. That criterion scores zero until the provider publishes it.

4. flyExclusive — 54/100

Kinston, North Carolina · NYSE American: FLYX · 82 owned aircraft · tax included

flyExclusive has the best contract terms in this index, 15 of 20, and it is the only provider besides NetJets to include federal excise tax inside the quoted rate — a difference of roughly 7.5 per cent on every domestic leg that most comparisons ignore entirely. Card funds do not expire, rates are locked for 24 months, and it flies 82 owned or leased aircraft as a genuine owner-operator, which with ARGUS Platinum and Wyvern Wingman gives it the full 10 of 10 on safety, matched only by Jet Linx and VistaJet. It publishes a from-price at USD 100,000 rather than a rate card, for 12 of 25. Its 35 contracted peak days are derived from its own stated 330 days of access and are recorded as such. No call-out guarantee is published, which costs it 15 points and third place.

Not scorable on this record: availability. That criterion scores zero until the provider publishes it.

5. Jet Linx — 50/100

Omaha, Nebraska · founded 1999 · 100+ managed aircraft · two-hour call-out

Jet Linx is the sharpest contradiction in this index. It has the fastest call-out here by a wide margin — two hours, against ten for Sentient and 120 for Flexjet — contracts no peak days at all, holds ARGUS Platinum Elite and Wyvern Wingman Pro, the highest safety pairing of any provider we scored, and asks the lowest entry deposit in the index at USD 25,000. It then scores zero of 25 on rate transparency, because it publishes nothing: its site directs every enquiry to a local base. It also publishes nothing on funds expiry or refundability, so contract terms score zero as well. The result is 50 of 100 for a programme whose operational terms are among the best here. A buyer who only reads the score will misread it; the component columns are the point. We could not resolve its current chief executive from published sources and have left that unrecorded rather than guess.

6. Magellan Jets — 45/100

Quincy, Massachusetts · founded 2008 · broker · refundable, in writing

Magellan Jets is one of only two providers in this index that state in public that unused card funds are refundable — the single least-disclosed term in private aviation, unstated by twelve of the fourteen companies here. It publishes from-prices by hour-volume tier starting around USD 7,500 an hour, contracts no peak days, locks rates for twelve months and books on 48 hours' notice. It is a broker and says so: it owns and operates no aircraft, publishes no fleet size, and the Wyvern Wingman rating it holds is the broker tier rather than an operator rating, which is why safety scores 4 of 10 and fleet control 3 of 15. Federal excise tax is added on top. For an occasional flyer the refund position may matter more than the fleet question; for a frequent one it will not.

7. XO — 45/100

Fort Lauderdale · founded 2006 · Vista Global · no blackout dates, 60-day refund

XO scores 15 of 20 on contract terms, level with flyExclusive and the joint best here, on a rare combination: membership funds that do not expire, a stated refund position, and no contracted blackout days. Entry is USD 100,000. Its 200 aircraft are Vista Global's beneficially owned and leased fleet flown by licensed third-party carriers, which is a real fleet rather than a marketplace, though XO itself sources from both — we score fleet control at 3 of 15 on the brokered classification and note the distinction rather than blur it. It publishes no hourly rate card and no call-out guarantee, and the ARGUS and Wyvern standards named on its safety page are held by its approved operators, not by XO, so safety accreditation is not scorable. See how membership programmes compare.

Not scorable on this record: availability, safety accreditation. That criterion scores zero until the provider publishes it.

8. VistaJet — 45/100

Dubai · founded 2004 · 300+ owned aircraft · 10 peak days

VistaJet flies the second-largest owned fleet in this index at more than 300 aircraft, holds both ARGUS Platinum and Wyvern Wingman for the full 10 of 10 on safety, and contracts just ten peak days — the lowest non-zero figure here and a tenth of NetJets'. It scores 45 and is held back almost entirely by disclosure. Its general terms and conditions page is rendered client-side and returned no readable text across repeated attempts, so funds expiry, refundability and federal excise tax treatment are all unrecorded and contract terms scores zero. No call-out guarantee is published either. This is the clearest case in the index of a score that is measuring what a company publishes rather than what it does, and it is also the easiest to correct: a single accessible terms page would move it several places.

Not scorable on this record: contract terms, availability. That criterion scores zero until the provider publishes it.