Wealthy travelers use invite-only WhatsApp groups to find and share private jet seats at discount prices

Even billionaires like discounts. 

An invite-only WhatsApp group for one-percent fliers is one of several used by travelers to buy and sell seats on private jets on certain routes in an effort to save money while still wanting to travel in luxury. 

The group focuses on routes like New York to Palm Beach, Aspen to Southern California, Texas to Cabo, and other prime destinations and vacation spots, The Wall Street Journal reported. 

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“They’ll go in a chat and say, ‘Hey, I’m going to Aspen on August 1. Who wants to split a plane with me?’” Peter Minikes, who runs private-jet charter company Priority One Jets, told the newspaper. 

Nick Molina, a 57-year-old investor and former startup entrepreneur in Key Biscayne, Fla., was sitting in the American Express Centurion Lounge at New York’s LaGuardia Airport and chatting with a stranger about flight delays when she asked him whether he would considered flying private. 

“She was telling me about this WhatsApp group,” he said. “She offered to get me added.”

Enrico Scarda, 56, who sold his own jet last year and still flies private, is a member of the same 676-person group as Molina.

“I guess, at first, I was a little hesitant about having a stranger meet you on the plane,” Scarda said. “But after the three or four times that I either bought a seat or sold a seat, I realized it’s all pretty much the same types of people.”

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Members of the group buy and sell seats on private planes for a number of reasons, such as avoiding long Transportation Security Administration (TSA) lines or avoiding baggage fees and full-body scans. 

Kaden Green, a 20-year-old private-jet broker, is active on many of these private chats and has started his own chat dedicated to private flights between Europe and the United States.

Arik Kislin, an investor, started a separate 23-person “Turks Private Jet Group” for travelers to Turks and Caicos, the report states. 

“I do understand that sometimes you don’t want to spend $25,000 to $30,000 going up to New York, but you’re OK spending three or four [thousand],” Kislin said.

Plane operators typically must be certified under Part 135 if they receive any money over their pro rata share of cost, aviation attorney Steve Taber said. If aircraft operators are found in violation of Part 135 FAA rules, they face civil penalties, according to aviation attorney Mary-Caitlin Ray. 

FAA officials have since begun to monitor Instagram accounts and Facebook groups where users sell private jet seats for profit, Taber said.