Set Jet members who depended on the business jet per-seat charter broker to fly them to some of the West Coast’s most desirable destinations for high-net-worth travelers (including Cabo San Lucas, Aspen, Las Vegas, Scottsdale, and three Southern California counties) will have to find another club to join.
Set Jet emailed its $99 per month members—of which there were more than 2,800—on Saturday to tell them the company, which was founded in 2014, was ceasing operations.
Its website doesn’t sugarcoat things: “Set Jet is faced with the unavoidable reality of ceasing all service operations, effective immediately,” reads a note on the landing page. “This decision was reached after exhaustive deliberation and consideration of all available options, and it is not one that we make lightly.” The landing page (the only page in operation) goes on to say that all flights, memberships, and client services are no more.
At a time of flux in the private aviation space, Set Jet’s failure underscores the difficulty in making a go of a business jet startup and the risks that customers face when sending money to companies in exchange for future travel. Set Jet has crashed and burned so suddenly that CEO Tom Smith said that members will not be refunded for future flights.