I Flew By-The-Seat Private Jet Airline JSX For Less Than Coach On American Airlines

I first wrote about JSX in 2016, when it was launched under the JetSuiteX moniker. At the time, its founder and still CEO Alex Wilcox told me, “There’s nothing between $6,000 and $69,” the former referring to chartering an entire private jet and latter airlines like Southwest. I’ve been tracking its progress along the way. Today, I finally flew with the by-the-seat service, which uses private lounges. It means you avoid long lines and crowded airport terminals and can show up as little as 20 minutes before departure. My verdict is I’m in love!

Palpitating heartbeats aside, the biggest downside is I need more JSX. Living in Miami, it only has three routes and only two of them have daily service – to Westchester County Airport north of New York City and Love Field in Dallas, where I was flying. In other words, it’s limited, and it wasn’t until I needed to go to Dallas that JSX was even an option, although I had been considering a joyride, flying JSX up to New York and then trying XO or Blade, which also sell seats on scheduled flights using private terminals, on the way back.

While I was ready to pay more just to give JSX a try, in the end, I didn’t have to. For my one-night trip to the Lone Star State, at $399, it was less than American Airlines wanted for coach class and half the price the network airline was selling its first-class seats on narrowbody airplanes that are considerably less spacious than I found aboard my shared sort-of private flight.

What was great?

At Miami International Airport, JSX uses a lounge that is on the other side of Signature Aviation’s main facility for the real private jets. There is valet for parking, and my Uber driver knew its location from previous riders, who he told me also loved the service.

The airport phase was easy. There are some rudimentary security procedures handled by JSX staff, but check-in took less than five minutes – there were two people ahead of me – and boarding was a breeze. We simply walked across the tarmac and up a ramp and onto the airplane. I noticed a stockpile of umbrellas in case it was raining.

I was assigned a seat on the side of the 30-passenger Embraer ERJ-145 that would have been a pair of seats when flying as a regional jet in its previous life. However, JSX has changed the aisle seat into a large table with two cupholders. There was plenty of legroom, all seats had an electric plug on the cabin wall about knee height, and there was a lot of storage space under the seat in front since there were no dividers to break up the area. If I had wanted to reserve this type of seat, JSX wanted $30, but I ended up getting it when I checked in.

Elon Musk’s Starlink WiFi was free and fast. So were beverages, including alcohol, and there was an Asian noodle snack, also complimentary. The flight attendant came around twice for drink runs. She was friendly but not overly attentive. The second time I asked for a full can of Diet Coke, and it was delivered with a smile. There is no charge for checked luggage up to two pieces, although I only had hand baggage. There are no overhead bins.

Arriving at JSX’s terminal in Dallas, we had to wait for about 10 minutes onboard due to passengers boarding another flight to Denver. When the flight attendant announced the reason for the delay, two passengers said they were connecting to that other flight, and the JSX staff quickly went into action and shuttled them to their next flight. My experience with the network airlines is that wouldn’t have happened.

The downsides were minimal but worth noting.

To get a seat assignment when booking you must pay. The less desirable seats on the other side of the aisle were $15. I suppose if you are traveling with somebody, you would need to fork over the money if you wanted to ensuring sitting across from each other.

There’s free coffee, bottled water and WiFi in the lounges, but that’s it. However, that’s closer to what you find in many FBOs than airline lounges. Still, it’s more than you would get just sitting at a gate flying economy class on a domestic flight with legacy airlines.

Onboard it was cold Asian noodles as a dining option, and that was it. A woman behind me asked about a snack basket that is offered on shorter flights, but apparently, it’s either or. In terms of the food quality, I’ve had worse, namely on other airlines. Since there was no food for purchase in the departure terminal, it would be nice to have some additional snacks; however, at the prices JSX charges, I can’t be critical.

JSX markets itself as “hop on, hop off,” and it delivers. I’ll head back to Miami in a middle seat on American Airlines for just $50 less than my semi-private flight, and only because the one JSX flight from Dallas to Miami is in the morning, so I would have had to stay an extra day to fly back with it.

On other routes, it has a higher frequency. There are six flights a day between Burbank and Las Vegas and three flights in each direction between Dallas and Houston.

Overall, the JSX staff were friendly, welcoming and seemed motivated. The Uber driver who picked me up said he had heard happy stories from JSX flyers, so, don’t take it just from me. However, my score JSX is 10 out 10. I want more JSX.

In an article about JSX in the Dallas Business Journal earlier this month, there was a map titled Future Expansion. It included many routes from Westchester, Chicago, Denver, and Miami. Whether that happens is not clear. In the report, Wilcox said the company is still not profitable. However, he expects to be in the black “before taxes” this year and “generate net income next year.”