How to book a private jet, start to finish

Step 1: pick the leg, or describe the trip

There are three ways to start, and they lead to the same booking. If a leg on the board fits, you request that leg: the route, the date and the aircraft are already set, and the price shown is an estimated total for the whole aircraft. If your dates can move but nothing listed fits, Trip Finder shows the legs from nearby airports and days, and sends the ones you pick to us together, a request for each. If your dates are fixed or you need a round trip, a charter request asks us to quote the whole aircraft on your schedule, one-way or round trip.

Which of the three fits is the subject of empty leg or charter. The steps below are the same from here on, whichever door you came through, and they are the same whether the leg is Los Angeles to Las Vegas on a light jet or New York to Miami on a heavy one.

Step 2: what does a request cost?

Nothing. On the board you add your name, your email and a US mobile number and click Request; no account is needed, and with one they are filled in for you. You get a reference straight away and a copy by email. A Trip Finder request or a charter request asks for the trip, your name, your email and a US mobile number, and gives you the same.

There is no deposit to request, no membership and no card on file. A request is not a booking: nothing is owed until you have agreed to a total and the operator has confirmed. If the leg goes to someone else first, or the operator withdraws it, you have lost nothing but a few minutes. This is important because an empty leg exists to serve the operator's other commitments, and until the operator confirms yours it can move or vanish; a request that cost you nothing is the right size of commitment for a flight that is not yet certain.

Step 3: how is the final price set?

We take the request to the operator and confirm two things: that the aircraft is available for your date and your passenger count, and the total. On the board, every price is an estimated total, built around the operator's published price where there is one and around UpLeg's own model where there is not; estimates are marked. The operator's confirmed figure replaces the estimate, and it can land above or below it.

That figure comes to you as one final price for the whole aircraft, fees and taxes included, valid for the period the quote states. The operator is named to you before you pay. UpLeg is an air charter broker under 14 CFR Part 295, the Department of Transportation (DOT) rule for brokers, and according to section 295.24 a broker must give you the operator's corporate name and any trade names before you contract, and on request the broker's business relationship with that operator, the total cost of the air transportation including fees and taxes, and any third-party fees you may be responsible for. All of that is yours before you agree.

If the operator cannot confirm the leg, we tell you as soon as we hear and look for an alternative. An empty leg can change or be withdrawn until the operator confirms; that is the nature of a repositioning flight, and it is why your money stays out of it until this step is done. The price gap between an estimate and a confirmed figure is usually modest, but it can be significantly wider on a leg the operator listed without any price at all, which is why the estimate is marked.

Step 4: what do you agree to?

When you say yes to the final price, your booking page shows a short contract for that flight: the total and who it is payable to. You agree to it on the page. It sits on top of UpLeg's Terms of Service, which say the same things at length: that UpLeg arranges the flight and does not operate it, that the operator is responsible for the aircraft, the crew and the insurance, and that UpLeg is compensated for the booking inside the total you agree to, never added afterwards.

Four checks before you click, in the order that matters. They take a few minutes and they are the whole of what a careful buyer of a private flight does.

1. Step 1. Read the cancellation policy. It is the operator's, it differs from one operator to the next, and it is what decides what you get back if the plan changes on your side. It belongs in the quote before you agree, not in an email afterwards.
2. Step 2. Check the operator. You have its corporate name; the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) publishes the list of Part 135 certificate holders, and how we vet operators explains what a certificate does and does not tell you.
3. Step 3. Check the total and the payee. One number for the whole aircraft, fees and taxes included, and one name it is payable to: the operator or UpLeg, never both.
4. Step 4. Ask anything you would not want to discover afterwards, including what UpLeg receives for the booking. Part 295 makes that an on-request disclosure, and we answer it.

Step 5: who do you pay, and when?

Your quote names who you pay: the operator, under its own agreement and payment terms, or UpLeg, which then pays the operator. You pay once, to whichever the quote names, never both, and you pay nothing until you have agreed to the total. The booking page repeats who the total is payable to before you agree.

Once you say yes, we email you exactly who to pay and how. From that moment the total and the cancellation policy stated in the quote are the ones that apply. What happens when an empty leg cancels sets out each refund case in full.

Step 6: what does the operator need from you?

A few things, and the booking page collects them so we can pass them on in one go. It is essential that the names match the ID each passenger will carry, because the operator files them on its manifest.

With an account, pets and preferred hours are saved to it, so as of your second booking the page starts already filled in.

Step 7: what happens on the day?

Private flights leave from a private terminal, often called an FBO, not from the airline terminal. At a big airport such as Los Angeles International (LAX) or Harry Reid International (LAS) in Las Vegas that is a separate building on the far side of the field; at Teterboro Airport (TEB) in New Jersey or Van Nuys (VNY) in the San Fernando Valley the whole airport is private terminals. The operator tells you which one and where to go. There is no queue: you arrive, the desk checks your name and ID, and you walk out to the aircraft.

Bring government photo ID for every adult, and a passport for any leg that touches another country. Arrive on time; this is essential on an empty leg, because the crew has planned the flight around the departure the operator confirmed and the aircraft has somewhere else to be afterwards.

Bags are the one thing that surprises people. A light jet's baggage hold is small, and soft bags fit where hard suitcases do not; skis, golf clubs and anything oversized need a mention in your notes so the operator can say yes or no in advance. Bigger cabins have bigger holds, and the cabin classes guide says what each one carries. If in doubt, ask before the day.

What if plans change?

Until the operator confirms, an empty leg can change or be withdrawn, because it exists to serve the operator's other commitments. After confirmation, the operator's cancellation policy, the one stated in your quote, applies. If the operator cancels, nothing is owed to UpLeg and anything you paid UpLeg is refunded in full; whatever you paid the operator is refunded under its terms, and we help you take it up with them. If you cancel, the operator's policy decides what comes back. What happens when an empty leg cancels walks through each case.

And if the whole idea is new, start with what an empty leg flight is; as of September 2026 the board lists legs across the United States and the count on that page is read live.