Tips on Sentient?

[justwatching]

I'm doing my first flight for Sentient tomorrow and I've heard their process can be difficult. Any tips?

 

[SheGaveMeClap]

It's very easy with Sentient. Be in position one hour prior, check the catering, fly the trip, call in with times afterward and you are done.

How many trips will you guys be flying for them?

 

[Moonshiner]

Don't forget to get an exact count of how many apple juice bottles your pax consumed.

 

[lonelyguy]

Sentient Jet

Top Ten List On Sentient Flights
1.Be there one hour before flight.
2.Make sure you call Sentient Jet.
3.Hide all your company stuff.
4.Tell customers how great it is to fly for Sentient.
5.Make sure catering is onboard if you don't want an ass chewing.
6.Call Sentient and explain to them the catering in detail.
7.Load catering onto the aircraft.
8.Make sure dogs and other items are properly loaded.
9.Call sentient before you take off.
10.Tell sentient it was the best flight the passengers ever had and that the catering was great.

 

[J3 Guy]

Yes, catering is very important to Sent, I guess since the client is paying so much more per hour.
Make sure you get the overnight package that has napkins and pens inside.
J3

 

[RedBehren]

When you consider that they have ZERO client control, I guess I dont blame them. Afterall, they are brokering 100% of their customers to operators all over the country every day. I keep waiting for the other shoe to drop... supposedly they arent making any money.

 

[Otter]

They bought Atlantic's charter certificate, article included below. (no idea if they sold it again)​

Sentient buys Atlantic Aviation
By Christine Idzelis
Sentient Jet Inc., a private-jet membership company, has purchased Atlantic Aviation Flight Services from private equity firm Voyager Group for an undisclosed amount.
Teterboro, N.J.-based Atlantic Aviation Flight Services manages and charters executive aircraft and provides acquisition services.
Steven Hankin, CEO of Sentient, said the purchase gives the company a stable source of aircraft to keep up with its rapid growth.
He would not disclose revenues or earnings of either company.
Norwell, Mass.-based Sentient is owned by private equity fund TH Lee Putnam Ventures, Hankin said.
Sentient provides its members access to business aircraft in the continental U.S., Mexico and the Caribbean within 10 hours of a request. It also offers worldwide jet services.
Sentient turned to James Fitzsimmons of Budd Larner for legal advice.
On the seller's side, Jeffrey Koeppel of Elias, Matz, Tiernan & Herrick provided transactional counsel, while George R. Fox of Pittsburgh-based Pietragallo, Bosick and Gordon LLC served as corporate counsel.
A spokesman for Pittsburgh-based Voyager Group said the firm originally purchased Atlantic Aviation in March 2003, but would not reveal how much it originally invested.
Hankin said the business of private-jet membership services is likely the fastest growing segment in private aviation. It's popular because, unlike the so-called fractional business in which ownership of a jet is divided into pieces, there is no ownership or operational risk involved. Sentient created the niche in 1999, he said.
"Our membership card works like a debit card," Hankin said, "When you burn through it you have to re-up."
Voyager Group operates Voyager Jet Center at Allegheny County Airport in Pittsburgh and Yellowstone Jetcenter at Gallatin Field in Bozeman, Mont.
Calls to Scott Galdi, president of Atlantic Aviation, were not returned.

 

[mike1mc]

A few companies like Sentient have bought charter operators in the past year. My feeling is that they are only doing so as a loophole to the DOT enforcement of indirect air carriers recently (i.e. Blue Star Jets). Because these companies can hide behind an air carrier certificate, the DOT has no action against them when they market themselves as having aircraft, put promotional materials onboard another operator's aircraft, etc. Most of the people I've talked to at Sentient are very nice, but they do take the catering thing a little far. They don't even tell you what the catering is until you check-in with them. All their paperwork gives you is a Flight ID whcih the catering is ordered under.

 

[G100driver]

Gimme a break! Sentient is a dirty pimple on the charter industry. They ask you (the operator of a certificate) for a break so they can charge the customer the retail price. I did a charter for them and kept the pens for myself and never displayed the napkins. F them. It is my airplane, noth theirs. They want to put napkins and stuff on board, let them own something.

GAWD am I glad that I no longer have to deal with these SCUMBAGS anymore. Just say no to low life brokers.

 

[justwatching]

Flew the trip...what a pain.

Nice folks to deal with on the phone I suppose, but it wouldn't matter if they were dealing with airplanes or selling you a subscription to the Wall Street Journal they didn't sound like they understood aviation very well.

Red Behren, you said they aren't making money. How could that be with the rates these people are charging? I just went to their website and the prices are off the charts.

I don't get too involved in the sales side at our company, but I sure hope we aren't giving them any breaks. Why don't operators just band together and put the squeeze on them?

PS I kept the pens too.