Biggest compaints from owners??

[Fozzy]

I recently met with a customer who was getting out of his fractional shares and wanted to buy his own aircraft.

His biggest complaint, he goes on multiple stop trips. He cannot leave his stuff in the aircraft, does not know what will be there when he comes back, does not know who the pilots are but knows they will not be the same that brought him, flight crews that run out of time and keep him standing there, the no personal attention and identification he seeks. and high fees for all the above.
Basically he wants his own aircraft and dedicated crew.

Well, there you go Ace. You should have asked for a job.

Problem for that owner is (just guessing) he can't afford his own jet. Pub, go away.

 

[Flyerjosh]

Publishers does anyone actually believe the crap you print?

You just described the absolute anti fractional owner. Of course we should be used to your crap by now.

D

I run into folks that have that same thought all the time (including my own boss who has been approached by several management companies and fractionals). There are plenty of folks that I have talked to are pilots for former fractional owners.

 

[gutshotdraw]

Foz,

You may not like to hear what Publishers has to say but there are more than a few owners who have come to the conclusion that Fractional is not for them.

Don't buy into the notion the Fractional is cheaper than whole ownership. It isn't. The advantages of Fractional are: Covenience, Flexibility, and Simplicity. Once again, any objective analysis of the 5 year total cost of Fractional versus whole ownership indicates that whole ownership is less expensive beyond 100 flight hours per year (depending on airframe) and that charter is less expensive below 100 flight hours per year.

Fractional has proven to be an easy way for newcomers to personal transportation to become familiar with the product and there will always be clients that choose fractional because of the advantages listed above and Corporations that need supplemental lift. Good thing, too, since my job and yours depend on it. But any penny pincher with a decent accountant who is interested ONLY in the bottom line will choose whole ownership or charter.

There is still a growing market for Fractionals and the concept is here to stay. Nevertheless, we all need to realize that many of our owners ARE price sensitive and hope that our employers react accordingly in order to retain as many owners as possible while attracting new clients as well.

 

[Just Peachy]

Cheaper

Dont buy it that fractionals are NOT cheaper....... Ive had at least a half dozen customers say to me that they owned airplanes in the past and now the fly fracs 'cuz its cheaper.....

With that being said, I think what they mean is its cheaper for the amount of flying they do, which was roughly less than a 100 hours a year. A couple of those past owners were marquise customers.........

 

[Publishers]

The individual I refer to was a fractional owner for quite a while and had shares in a Challenger with FO. These were the exact reasons that he wanted out. We have proposed a 601 for him that we will manage and charter.
Diesel, I don't care if you believe it or not but I thought this thread was about owner complaints. He had no real complaints on the transportation being achieved, it was the inability to control and know the aircraft was there for him with his stuff on board etc.

 

[Fozzy]

With that being said, I think what they mean is its cheaper for the amount of flying they do, which was roughly less than a 100 hours a year. A couple of those past owners were marquise customers.........

You are a smart man Sir. But please do not confuse us with facts.

 

[XShipRider]

#10 Last minute change of the tail number assigned

#9 Being told they can't leave due to weather as other aircraft of similar
type take-off

#8 Bad or wrong catering

#7 Owner services not keeping the owner updated on problems/changes

#6 Broken amenities

#5 Broken aircraft

#4 Wrong FBO

#3 Transportation not arranged and/or waiting upon arrival

#2 No slots available for a trip which was booked months in advance

#1 Assigning a wrong aircraft type or 'upgrading' to an unwanted aircraft
type (and not letting the new crew in on the little secret... which leaves
them to explain to the owner what happened)

Bottom line: Owner Services is key to averting many of the potential
problems which arise on any given day. Too often the crew was left
in the dark, unwittingly walking up to an irate owner thus left handling
a crisis of which they were unaware.

This not to say Owner Services is the cause of all the problems, they're
not. Others, as you all know, were weather delays, scheduling flights
too close together (turn times being shortened!!), owner not
communicating changes in a timely fashion, unrealistic maintenance
projections and forecasts, MEL lists being followed to the letter...
and on and on.

Dated information since I haven't worked at a frac' in a couple of years.

 

[Publishers]

It is an age old story,,,,,, pilots perspective,,,,the owners never show up on time and want all these last minute change,,,,,,owner perspective,,,, that is why I bought the plane- to go when I was ready and to change things on the run.

Alternative side-- I bought this 100,000 dollar card and I want everything that he guy who spent $45 million for his G5 gets.

 

[Diesel]

Publishers some of the stuff you say is correct about why people choose their own plane over charter but you are too quick to smash fractionals. Anyway you look at it the fractionals are here to stay. While there have been some owner complaints in the past look at the size of the organization. We realize that and work hard everyday to fix those complaints. Yet you're quick to smash us and say how you can offer them this and that.

What do you offer when your plane breaks and now the owners are stuck. Oh thats right if you had the time to actually sit in a jet cockpit you would be able to hold a discussion.

till then stay on the charter board.

 

[NJAowner]

What is best

"best" is what is appropriate for any individual and we are all different. For me, frax is cheaper than owning in $$ terms and much less headache. I use about 100-130 hours per year.

Yes, charter is cheaper. But if I was going in for brain surgery I would not choose my doc on the basis of price alone. The memories Payne Stewart and Teddy Ebersol remind me of that. I do not have the time to do due diligence on each charter operator, plance and crew.

I could write much more, but I am busy and have much to do tonight.


The fact is, I do trust the NJA pilots with my life and that of my family,employees and friends. And I take that very seriously. Thanks Grizz, Diesel, BartPearl, Gunfyter, NetJetWife'sHusband and many others who are too numerous to list.

Thanks.

Fly safe.

 

[Fozzy]

Yet you're quick to smash us and say how you can offer them this and that.

Ya charter can offer many fine things. Blasting off from TEB overweight with a crew on some crazy rest.
Ya charter is on the level. I loved the crew I was sitting with in the crew room in MKE. Overheard one pilot ask the other if he was okay with their sitting all day in a Signature crew room as their rest so they could legally do the return trip.

But hey, look at Shares, they don't follow the rest regs. (Flame bait)

Evil Union, making us be safe and all.


edit. Looks like NJAOwners said it better.

 

[Publishers]

Diesel, I am not knocking the fractional concept. NJOwner is an example of someone whose utilization and flying patterns are very compatible with the Netjets model.
The person I was talking about is in some ways similar as he only has about 150 hours of use per year and it is pretty well scheduled in advance. Some has to do with the fact that in his case, he goes out on multiple stop circles back to home and he has a good deal of stuff he carts along for different stops. It is inconvenient for him to deal with all that stuff. He wants to just leave it on the aircraft. In addition,he is never sure exactly how long each stop will take. Lastly, there are a bunch of people who like knowing who the pilot staff is and develope a comfort with people they know. This may be especially true if a number of family members are involved.
As I have said elsewhere, the original model did not really deal with the travel cards and I see that as the biggest Netjets problem. Netjets work rules bother some but those customers are not going to be real happy with Netjets kind of services anyway. They want a more personal thing.
My former partner dropped his Netjets share stickly due to the overall fees and dropped down a class in aircraft but owns it with one other person and is happier.
In the end, it is different strokes for different folks. In the seventies and early eighties I did more charter out of central Ohio than EJA only because they were in the model they wanted.

 

[Diesel]

hmmm i'll have to check that safety rate on charter vs fractional.

you think maybe the ebersol's wished they hadn't been sold off 3 different ways to sunday from one charter company to another.

 

[Publishers]

Safety rate at Net has to be better as a rate of hours flown.