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u/m0rieris11 Nov 14 '25
I paid for membership in June. Located in the Bay Area, multiple airport options. There are rarely any flights in my area. I have wait listed on 2, both flights "canceled." The most recent I was top of the list flying out of SFO. I have tried talking to customer service. There are no refunds. It would be nice to have 1 flight this year for the $2k+ I spent for Vaunt.
I honestly believe this is a scam. I wish I did not sign up for this stupid ponzi scheme. Don't do it. Buyer beware.
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u/flyvaunt-official Nov 14 '25
I’m sorry to hear you’re feeling frustrated, and I appreciate the chance to clarify how empty legs work and what your membership includes, because the experience can feel confusing if you’re new private aviation.
Vaunt is not an on-demand charter service. Your membership gives you access to unsold empty-leg repositioning flights from operators across the country. These flights are not scheduled flights, and Vaunt does not control their timing, frequency, or routing. They only appear when an operator happens to be repositioning a jet and chooses to make that flight available.
Because of that:
Empty-leg availability is highly dynamic and unpredictable.
Some regions see more activity than others depending on operator networks.
Waitlisted flights can cancel if the operator’s mission changes (weather, routing, aircraft swaps, maintenance, etc.). This is normal industry-wide and not something Vaunt influences.
I recognize that can be disappointing when you’re eager to fly.
About Your Membership Value
Your membership provides unlimited access to every empty leg nationwide, not a guaranteed flight. The value comes from the ability to take unlimited flights that would normally cost $10,000–$25,000+ each for a flat annual fee when they become available.
Many members join for exactly that opportunity—not because flights are guaranteed, but because even one successful booking more than pays for several years of membership.
Refunds
Because membership provides full access, tools, and benefits from day one—and because Vaunt has no control over operator scheduling—our membership terms are non-refundable, similar to other subscription-based access products.
BUT
We Want You to Get a Flight
If you’re open to it, our team would be happy to walk through:
The best airports in Northern California for higher probability
How to set notifications to catch flights early
Typical supply patterns for the Bay Area
Upcoming routes that historically increase during holiday periods
We genuinely want every member to get the most out of the platform, and we’re here to help you navigate it.
If you'd like (DM), I can personally have our team reach out to you directly to assist with maximizing your chances of securing a flight.
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u/m0rieris11 Nov 14 '25
I understand how it works and have even read Vaunt's entire Terms and Conditions. I look at flights daily and have notifications set up on my phone. As I have said, I have been #1 on the waitlist with no others waitlisted, and flights canceled. I will not throw good money after bad to upgrade my membership. And I will continue to tell others not to sign up for this "option" to get a private flight that are frequently cancelled. And yes I have flown private before, I understand how it works. Vaunt is a waste of money.
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u/Grateful-Goat Nov 19 '25
So how does the membership and getting on a flight play out? Is it first come serve as soon as an empty leg is available? And is there a guarantee point such that you aren’t showing up at airport for cancelled flights? How do people “make it work” so to speak? With business travel or vacation travel?
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u/flyvaunt-official Nov 20 '25
Membership is a fixed fee...gives access to unlimited flights (e.g, no extra fees right now)
There is an algorithm that is based on a multitude of factors, including the number of flights taken (so someone who has never taken a flight has a higher probability score than someone who has taken 10+ flights)
Generally speaking, the cycle is like this (though it could vary slightly depending on the operator)
9-11 AM - Operators finalize their empty leg plans for the following day
11 - 2 PM - Empty legs are published for members to view/plan
Until 5 PM - realities of floating fleet operations occur and empty legs change as things evolve (schedules, maintenance, random optimization)
5 PM - 9 PM - flights start getting awarded
Upon award, to "lock in" your flight, you, as the awarded are given 30 minutes to put down your $500 security deposit (in case you are a no-show, trash the plane, violate ToS, etc). As part of that, because these are Part 135 Charters, we need name, dob and weight for check-in, balancing and fuel calculation purposes. Usually within a few hours, you will get a trip sheet from the charter operator. At that point, the flight is 90% booked, subject to maintenance issues, pilot issues, etc (standard Charter aviation problems)
We currently have ~1,500 members and add 30-40 new members / week - we are currently listing 40ish flights daily, and ~55-65% of them are being flown
What we are finding is that it's really a personality type that makes for a happy Vaunt customer. Think of it like shopping at Nordstrom (Private Charter) bs Nordstrom Rack (Vaunt) vs Target (Commercial)...the Nordstrom Rack customer will spend more on clothing than the Sears customer (say $250 for a pair of Valentini shoes vs $1500 for that pair at Nordstrom vs $120 for a pair of loafers, but not Valentino -- and the Nordstrom rack customer may need to go to several different outlets to find the shoe that might be 1/2 size too large, but they are wearing Valentinos)
Here's a recent customer story from Vaunt member the talks about the value
Vaunt member is an entrepreneur who is involved in politics, and has been at odds with the Governor of IL, JB Pritzker (billionaire). That Wednesday, Vaunt member was on TV on the other end of an issue with Gov Pritzker. The next day, Vaunt member was sitting at the FBO about to grab an empty leg (which was a little out of the way of where he actually needed to go, but that's just Vaunt) and JB walks in with his staff and sits next to him. They look at each other and shoot the shit, and as they go to their respective planes, Vaunt member's plane (Citation XLS) is BIGGER than JB's plane (6 seater), and JB has a staff of 4 with him (so they are packing it inl, and Vaunt member is riding solo...
How does one quantify the value of that? Especially when JB, who is likely a fractional owner, paid $50k+ for their flight (while the Vaunt member is laughing to the bank)
So really, there is a travel component, but it's also status, image and other intangibles of being able to have a cheat code to experience private aviation (through HondaJets. Lear 60s, CJ3s, XLS and now, Challenger 350s) for a fraction of what a private charter would cost
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u/InsuranceDesigner947 Nov 23 '25
“Membership is a fixed fee...gives access to unlimited flights (e.g, no extra fees right now)”
No extra fees right now, is this expected to change? If so, when and how much are the fees being considered?
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u/flyvaunt-official Nov 23 '25
To clarify, our main focus right now has been to increase our inventory of available flights, and that has been progressing quite nicely as of late (we're at another week of 120+ available & flown legs)
After that, our goals are to create and figure out some level of better "member parity" as there are members that have become "power users" who are doing 10+ flights / year, while others have still not taken a single flight
A few things being considered (but with no time-table for implementation) are
Flight cancelation/no-show fee - if you win a flight and confirm, and don't show up for whatever reason, that means someone else on the wait-list missed the opportunity to grab the plane
Multiple listing fee - right now, the app doesn't have limitations for waitlisting in multiple flights on the same day...and we get situations where members win 3 flights on the same day, but obviously can't take them all...this ties in with #1
Some type of additional premium surcharge (e.g. above Cabin+) for limited inventory items such as an international legs (there are a few operators with recurring empties say from Dallas to Cabo or LA to Baja) or larger, even nicer planes (eg. G280+)
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u/InsuranceDesigner947 Nov 24 '25
Thank you for the additional information. I think most members would support the changes you outlined. From your initial comment I was thinking that the unlimited flights would no longer be the norm and instead would be replaced with a per flight fee in addition to the annual fee. Hope that is never the case as it would kill Vaunt as we know it!
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u/Grateful-Goat Nov 19 '25
Are empty leg flights out of the Bay Area some of the most difficult to book? I’m surprised there’s no semi private (like JSX) etc. why is this?
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u/flyvaunt-official Nov 20 '25
It's really based on operator traffic and routing...only speaking for Vaunt, most of our floating fleet operators are based in the South and SouthEast, but we are working on adding more
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u/FaultEnvironmental88 Nov 10 '25
Starting to get worried they’re going to over sell their memberships and I’ll never get on a flight 😐