The problem: You want to make it to a game but don't have a full weekend to set aside for traveling the long distances that reaching many SEC towns entails. The solution: Skip the drive and spring for a chartered flight instead. Andrew Bettis has been transporting both business and leisure clients all over the United States and Caribbean since founding his own private charter company, AB Jets, in 1999; he's also found a niche in the game day crowd. Bettis, who has operations in both Nashville and Memphis, gives us the scoop on flying private to reaching your game day destination.
NL: Does AB Jets cater to the college football crowd specifically?
AB: Absolutely. We have several regular customers from Alabama, Ole Miss, places like that, who will fly with us to three or four games a year.
NL: What's the booking process like? How far out does one need to schedule?
AB: We have enough airplanes that we usually have something available. A lot of the guys are our JetCard holders, so they fly with us regularly anyway. Typically, they know their schedule in advance and when they're going to the game, so they'll give us a few weeks' notice. Comfortably, the jets hold six to eight, depending on the size of it. We find that ball games, they're typically in fun mode so they pack as many friends in the jet as they can and have a great time.
NL: Do passengers have to clear TSA?
AB: We pre-screen them so they give us their names prior to the flight, and the captain checks their ID against the manifest. They can show up five minutes before departure.
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NL: Are there set departure times, or can the jet leave anytime?
AB: We have to keep it within certain parameters because the pilots can only be on duty for a certain amount of time. But it's a large enough window that the customer can go to the destination, tailgate before, enjoy the game, then after the game it's time to go home. Since they've been in tailgate mode all day, they're usually ready to board the plane and get home.
NL: When football-goers land, how do they get to the stadium?
AB: Typically, the smaller airports we fly into cater to the game-day crowd, and a lot of times, they'll have shuttlesfor $10 a head, they'll put you on a van [to the campus]. Otherwise, our customers usually have a car and driver waiting or have arranged for transportation. The customers are in fun mode, so sometimes they have everything pre-planned!
NL: Who are the majority of your clients?
AB: Business travelers primarily, but it's really all over the board. We get the business crowd, we get the celebrity types, we get music people, we get families, we get medical emergencies, we get companies who may have a Plant Down situation in Detroit and they have to get a part there faster than FedEx.