They were paid to set up a charter and canceled it the day before because they didn't have a clearance to go into Mexico. They should have applied for the clearance many weeks before the charter but it was put off to the last moment. Unprofessional, to say the least. read more

this is the worst experience I've ever had. They left me stranded in another country for roughly 32 hours. They canceled the flight an hour and 45 minutes before supposed to board and they tried to blame that on me for not answering my phone. I was already checked out and on the way to the airport. This cost me additional $9000 as I had to stay overnight. Go find a place to stay pay for transportation, my health was really this process and also not be able to work the past couple days because of my health what they offered me was what I tipped their staff. It wasn't their fault that that company is so bad. Never sent a replacement yet as I watched seven other companies send replacement Jets for their clients within a couple hours very bad services very bad operation. I would not feel safe with using this company for your family. read more

Incredibly unreliable. Have used for a dozen flights - have yet to have one that's not an hour late. Sometimes 2-3 hours delayed.

Surfair sounds so good. Flying in private jets from small airports with attentive customer service. The reality is not really that sparkling The "All you can fly" concept sounds nice, but if you try it you will soon find out that a lot of the flights you would like to take are already booked. They have some vouchers and promotions for free flights for friends or colleagues, but they are mostly a scam. If you try to book them, it was send "by error" or there are restrictions that were never mentioned anywhere before. If you are going on vacation or on a business trip for a longer period of time and you don't fly with surf air for that period you still have to pay a few hundred bucks just to keep the subscription alive. read more

Signed up as a member and the first month (November) everything was perfect. Took my flight on Monday morning, took my flight home on Tuesday evening. You can tell something happened in December because suddenly there were no flights. Not flights sold out, just no flights at all, apparently they couldn't find pilots to fly the planes for all the flights they had previously been running, so the service dropped to a single flight out of LA at 4pm on one day, or a single flight out of SF at 10am on another. They promised to refund commercial airfare charges but never did, honestly I don't know how they could cover that many (I had 8 flights in December alone) but this is one time where the thought isn't what counts. I asked for my December monthly membership to be refunded as I wasn't able to actually fly since they weren't running any flights and they refused, ultimately forcing me to do a chargeback with American Express. Here's where they really show their true nature as hustlers who got sued by their flight / ground crew provider for millions of dollars also applies to the way they treat customers - they actually had the nerve to *fight* the chargeback. They provided American Express with my contract and are forcing me to pull their FAA records to show American Express they actually didn't operate a sufficient service in December to be due a fee, nor did they refund my commercial airfare charges. Net / net - there's a reason this company gets sued, it's run sketchy and treats its partners sketchy and customers sketchy. Don't believe the hype, when a bad moment comes they'll value your short term cash over you as a customer. read more

Ground crew is great but the management has no interest in customer service. A few years ago it was great, now something else entirely. After flying for 5 years (and even being willing to be on some website article) they boot me from a Friday night fight back home because the corporate payment is delayed. I showed them the PO in process but nope, they wanted a credit card payment. I guess I became a credit risk. So off go my bags, I have to uber to SFO and make a flight home. Never again. But to be honest I'm not really sure how practical the service is anymore. The planes always seemed booked, and there is always a new story about how things are going to get better. Bottom line: avoid. read more

Scam artists. Do not fly with this company. The aggressive sales reps will push you into a booking. Even when you verbalize that your plans aren't finalized and you are holding off to book, they push and push to get the booking (they must work off of commission). They will not articulate their cancelation policies which are hidden in the fine print of the docusign they send. Even if you cancel with 30 days notice, they will not refund you any amount of the thousands and thousands of dollars that you were required to pay them (they require payment in full at time of booking, not a deposit). I attempted to cancel my flight with a full month before booking, requested a refund, and have been given a total run around. This company has essentially stolen $5000 from me and as I have attempted to contact them many times, are now ghosting me. The company loses nothing if you cancel far in advance. The policy is egregious and the customer service is horrible. Private flights are a niche market. The reputation of how a company treats its clients should be the most important focus. Instead they are more interested in cashing in a profit for a service that was not delivered. I am so upset that I was suckered into booking. It is very understandable why there are so many 1 star reviews on here. I sure wish I had read thsee reviews before I was suckered into giving them my credit card number. read more

Customer service is horrible. Example: Arrive for flight after 45 minute commute, find out its cancelled. According to the pilot who was standing there, SurfAir knew weather in Truckee early in the morning was low fog based on the FAA weather report, and the pilot knew the flight was cancelled two hours before, just as member care was texting reminder messages to the passengers confirming the flight was on time. Apparently the FAA forecast indicated low fog hours ahead of time. The pilot said member care does not even monitor whether flights are going or not. They could reroute to Reno, a simple 30 minute drive to Truckee, but that would cost SurfAir more than simply cancelling. I'm cancelling my membership. I left home 75 minutes before the flight, well after flight operations knew it was cancelled, and I only found out out it was cancelled after sitting in an Uber for 45 minutes. None of the passengers had been informed. Now I'm in an Uber home. Glad they are conservative on not flying in questionable weather, but how can there be no communications between flight operations and member care? read more

Surf Air - Hunched over pilot squeezing between seats in a small plane - Private Jet Charter Near Me - Santa Monica, California

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You'll never fly commercial again! When they say that you save 2 hours flying with Surf Air, it's true. No lines, complimentary snacks and familiar faces. It's nice to be recognized and to get to know the other members who fly with you. I would highly recommend Surf Air to any one who travels frequently between Northern and Southern California in particular. read more

The business model is great, as are the folks on the ground, but the execution is horrible. Pros: - No TSA - Valet - Friendly concierge - Quick booking Cons: - Frequent changes to the schedule month-to-month (unpredictable) - Horrible flight times depending on route - Valet (was free when joining, now $30/day) When I joined earlier this year (2016), Surf Air was wonderful. For a flat monthly fee, I could fly back and forth from LA to San Jose. Flights would leave LA around 7am and leave San Jose around 5pm. Valet was easy, and best of all, free! Overall, it was a great experience. Fast forward a few months, and the schedules started becoming more unpredictable. They'd change month-to-month, but a least it was doable. Fast forwarded a couple more months, and schedules changed drastically. HHR to SJC flights now leave at 6AM and don't even come back to HHR until 9:30PM, making the route nearly unusable (who wants a 15 hour day?). On top of that, they now charge $30/day per airport for parking. For those of us who have two cars (one at each airport), that's $60/day! Surf Air says that they'll add more flights as more people join, but that seems almost misleading given how many have quit due to their recent changes. Overall, flying commercial IS cheaper and more predictable. It's all a trade off--cheaper and more predictable vs more convenient. read more

Great people, so convenient, has changed my life as a NorCal-SoCal commuter. Membership team has always been accommodating and for frequent flyers who need flexibility, dues are very reasonable - change fees on commercial flights will cost you much much more and you must also consider all the inconveniences of flying commercial. I consider myself fortunate that the era of club aviation has arrived. read more

Surf Air - Private Jet Charter Near Me - Santa Monica, California

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I have been using Surf Air for a few months now. It's a great concept, but there are some drawbacks. Here are my observations based on my experience thus far. For me, Surf Air has been a little bit more time consuming. When they say, "save hours per flight", this is misleading. In calculating your time savings, consider the distance from your home(s) and office(s) to the airports. SA tends to use off-the-beaten-path airports (San Carlos, Burbank, etc.). When I flew commercial flights, LAX and SFO were both very convenient to me. Now I spend about twice as much travel time getting to and from the airports compared to before. Also, because Surf Air uses little tiny prop planes instead of big jets, the flight times are considerably longer. That said, it is really the door-to-door time that is most important to me (i.e. the amount of time it takes to get from your original location to your final destination). When I used commercial airlines out of LAX and SFO, my door-to-door trip time was about 3.25 hours. With Surf Air, DTD tends to be closer to 4 hours. For me, Surf Air has been a bit more expensive. You may or may not save money. At roughly $2k per month, if you do the same one round trip flight each week, it is going to be a waste. On the other hand, If you fly 2 - 3 roundtrip flights every week and your plans often change at the last minute, you will probably save money with Surf Air. (Surf generally does not allow you to change or cancel booked flights within 24 hours of the scheduled departure time.) The Surf Air flights do tend to fill up in advance and I occasionally I have had to book a commercial flight to get from LA to SF. I typically fly from the Bay Area to LA 1-2x per week. My schedule is somewhat predictable but I do have a number of scheduling changes. So far, Surf Air ends up being about $300 - $400 more per month. Convenience is a mixed bag. Booking flights is easy with the Surf Air app. You can typically do it in about 20 seconds, versus a minute or two with a regular airline's app. However, only being able to have two flights booked at a time (i.e. one round trip) is a little inconvenient. Also, the flight schedule is not very convenient, especially on the weekends. Even during the week, the last flight out of Oakland is about 5pm and the last flight out of the Bay Area is 8pm (San Carlos). I miss the convenience of the late night flights that I used to take on commercial airlines between LAX and SFO. In addition to the limited schedule, flights frequently sell out, so you may occasionally need to buy a last-minute commercial airline ticket to travel between SF and LA. Surf Air touts the fact that you do not have to deal with security on their flights. That is a nice plus, but no big deal. If you are a frequent flier and use commercial flights, you can join to Clear Me, TSA Pre Check, or some other similar "fast track" service. In addition, you probably have "Gold Status" with your airline due to being a frequent flier, which allows you to breeze through security and board early. Free terminal parking is nice, unless you use the San Carlos airport in the Bay Area. In that case, there is a valet who takes your car to an offsite location. This adds additional time to your trip when you return to retrieve your car. For me, the parking benefit is not a big deal since LAX and SFO are a short uber/lyft ride from my home and office. The luggage limitation is 30 pounds total per person. Period. For everything you bring with you. That adds up pretty quickly. I have learned to pack very light: my laptop and a few incidentals. This was tough over the holidays when I wanted to take extra clothes and gifts with me. Other Considerations Using a "private membership" airline is not as posh as it sounds. On a full flight, there is very little leg room. There is no internet, no cocktails, and no real bathroom. The planes are much louder and bumpier than what you are accustomed to on a commercial flight. When you are dealing with them, it is obvious you are dealing with a start-up and not a well oiled machine. Most of the employees are nice, but they definitely have growing pains to get through with their customer service. Sometimes, the left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing. You may also find inconsistencies among the various locations in regards to departure times. I find that most flights leave right on time or a little late. However, sometimes they depart early, leaving multiple passengers stranded. In considering SA: 1 - Evaluate how much time it will take you to get to and from the Surf Air flight locations. Your door-to-door trip time may actually be longer using Surf Air. 2 - Are you regularly flying to/from major population centers or to/from outlying areas. 3 - How much do you travel and how predictable is your travel schedule? For me, the jury is still out. read more

Great concept but needs more time. Very nice staff. Few cons: 1. Most flight are delayed 2. Some of the older fleet airplanes have issues. 3. Billing depot is not organized, ( I got charged double my 1st month took hours to resolve) 4. Schedule changes without any notice 5. Most flight are sold out. **6. THE MAIN THING I DIDN'T LIKE WHILE I WAS A MEMBER WAS SOME MEMBERS GET SPECIAL PRICING. While I was charged $1750 a month I met other members that were paying $1000-1250 PER MONTH!!!! When i called to complain about it they didn't do anything to keep me to stay.. Very pissed off.** Pros 1. 2 people that work at Surf Air are Awesome! 1st awesome person Janea @ the Hawthorne Terminal ( SHE IS SO NICE & CARING). 2nd. Jori @ Member Services (GREAT CUSTOMER SERVICE & VERY CARING!!) 2. FREE PARKING! 3. GREAT SNACKS 4. MOST MEMBERS ARE NICE. 5 NO TSA! Over all Surf Air is great if you don't mind paying more for your membership while most everyone else on the plane is paying about $500-$750 less than you and you don't mind almost an hour delay almost every flight. I NOTICED THEY HAVE SOME MEMBER REALLY SPECIAL PRIVILEGES. They treated me like crap! I would not recommend this "Baby Airline" for anyone that has to be anywhere at a fixed time you will most likely be late. After a 1 month trial i am back to Southwest! ****BUYER BEWARE!!!!!!!!!*** read more

Spent my weekend flying to San Jose with Surf Air Airlines. I flown from Hawthorne Airport/Jet Center Los Angeles to Signature Flight Support SJC San Jose International Airport. Amazing pilots! Overall, I enjoyed the jet plane chartering experience. read more

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Had the pleasure of flying with Surf Air last week. The plane was clean and beautiful, the staff very friendly and helpful. Very user friendly experience. Flights are easy to book. Travel involves just driving to the private terminal, parking your car, and walking to the plane. Such a nice change from the hassles of the LAX experience (parking, TSA lines, etc.). The cost feels like a great value to me. All-you-can-fly for one monthly fee. Looking forward to flying its soon-to-be-added routes (Santa Barbara, Palm Springs, etc.) read more

Private flying without the price tag. They've made some great improvements with consistency and such a lifesaver for my commute. read more

I can't believe they are getting away with this. With 0 notice they cancel San Jose all together, then hidden in the schedule they drop all weekend flights without explanation. Communication from management is horrendous, the ground staff are left to deal with the fall out. Feels like a company that is going out of business. I wouldn't be surprised if the next unannounced event is doors closed read more

A great way to fly. Customer service was terrific. Waiting lounges were comfortably equipped and well stocked with snacks and beverages.

Surf Air constantly flies low over our neighborhood in Atherton. Tonight a flight went flow right over our home @9:45PM. This company has no regard for anything other than their own growth. They are a bad 'neighbor.' If they ran a responsible business they would listen to the complaints of all the neighbors in the neighborhood who constantly complain about their loud planes, frequent flights and total disregard for neighborhood input. read more

Yet another last-minute cancellation with inadequate time to schedule old reliable, SWA. The Customer Care folk do their best to ameliorate the frustration but the Operations performance is no better than unreliable. So the Surf Air model has devolved into a service that cannot be expected to support business commuters. Their captains and first officers and customer care people are terrific, the Ops function...not so much. One of the limitations of the small ops like Surf Air is they cannot afford to contract maintenance at each of the airports they reach. If the birds have a technology Ops must cancel flights. Sometimes the cancellations are due to lack of crew members. In all cancellations the Customer Care folk do their best. read more

Surf Air is professional, convenient, and their staff are pleasure to work with. If you're flying a couple times a month in CA, subscribe to the membership. It's a better option than other private flying services and after a couple weeks you won't be able to picture your life without it. read more

With all the pazazz... They forgot the basics - Focus on the customer. I had a flight delay this week because of weather, that seems reasonable. The connecting flight was cancelled because of the delay and a Customer Service called me and said: "When you reach Hawthorne [en route to Carlsbad] Your on your own". Really? Is it that complicated to arrange a shuttle/Uber? read more

Surf Air has changed my opinion on air travel, proving it does not need to be a hassle. Being a Membership Club, the staff ensure you are taken care of from start-to-finish, and know you by name! Surf Air is a community of like-minded entrepreneurs, looking for a better way to fly. Traveling commercial air, after taking a Surf Air flight, will never be the same. 5 stars! read more

Traveler beware! The idea of private/simple air transportation sounds good but I had a terrible experience. We booked a flight a month in advance to Las Vegas and then got notification that our flight had been cancelled just two days before our trip. Unfortunately, we were not given any additional information about the cancellation, and were left to figure things out for ourselves. Since we could not cancel our trip altogether, we were forced to book a flight on Expedia and pay more than $300 per ticket because it was a last minute booking. read more

I absolutely love Surf Air. They make it possible for members to have more time to spend with their families and or working rather than commuting. It's so easy to use and you can book a flight in less than 30 seconds. That is the only way to fly. read more

As a incredibly loud Surf Air jet flew right over my house this morning at 7:30, I cursed the sky.

Surfair has offered and sold flights to Ibiza and now they don't seem able to deliver. Have been trying to get a refund for 3 months but no luck so far. They have offered, as alternative, commercial flights to the same destination. Speaking from personal experience I can confirm it is not exactly the same. Still waiting to see how they deal with this situation and how much they value their reputation. Will keep everyone updated. David read more

Surf Air makes my lifestyle possible, keeping my family together and allowing my career to flourish. For family reasons I had to move to Southern California. However, my career as a software engineer remains in Silicon Valley, in Menlo Park. How to make that work? With Surf Air my commute to/from work time is not much different to commuting between Sunnyvale and the city on Caltrain as I previously had to do - a little over two hours door to door. But that allows me to be in the office whenever needed yet home in time for dinner with the kids. Who could ask for more? The people are welcoming and helpful. There's nothing nicer than being greeted, by first name, with a "Good morning" and a coffee or an orange juice, to start the day. The planes are clean and well stocked. Even when we had a re-route for bad weather they Ubered us up to our final destination quickly and efficiently. Literally nothing to complain about. If you're thinking about doing this just give it a try. You won't regret it. If you have a significant other who's a stakeholder in your finances, upgrade your membership, use those guest passes and free hotel nights for a nice weekend away or something :-) read more

Had the immense privilege to be able to fly SurfAir a couple of weeks ago from Hawthorne to Napa. Check in at Hawthorne was so quick and effortless. There is a chilling lounge to hang out in before the flight, where free snacks and beverages are offered, as well as complimentary WiFi. We boarded about 10 minutes before the flight, to the waiting plane just outside the lounge. There were 8 seats on the plane - 2 rear facing in the front, followed by 6 forward facing seats. There is 1 seat that doesn't have a window, which is the last seat on the left. You will want to board before the last one, so not to get stuck into that seat :) During the flight itself, it was smooth surfing. You wouldn't feel that you are on such a small aircraft. If you get hungry, there are lots of complimentary refreshments on-board, as well as a small - emergency only - lavatory. The staff I have encountered, couldn't have been better or more professional. - From Thomas of Member Services, to our check in agent, and from our Pilots to the baggage unloader in Napa - each one took their job seriously, and with a smile. Two thumbs up for SurfAir! read more

Surf Air is the best way to deal with LA/SF commuting. No hassles at the overcrowded commercial airports, parking or TSA. Surf team is happy, the planes are very cool and comfortable and the convenience + price are the best deal around. read more

I've been a frequent Southwest flyer for 5-6 years and nothing comes close to this level of service. I live in LA and commute to SF for work a couple times a month and book last minute... there's always availability and multiple options per day. The customer service is impeccable. Love SurfAir! read more

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Rooting for these guys and the industry as a whole. Do give yourself realistic timeframe, carry a noise cancelling headphone, & take it easy on the perfumes/colognes. read more

I just had an horrible experience. Surfair canceled all my flights tonight. I was schedule to fly tomorrow home to my kids because I complaint about one of their agent in San Carlos, she was extremely rude. This is not the first time they are showing no accountability for their inability to perform. the true is that I believe they canceled my entire packaged because they couldn't afford to continue flying me. after signing in to their 20 flights package they told me they made a mistake on the price and wanted to over charge me. The past 2 months they canceled my flights 4 times at the last minute and max your Commercial flights reimbursement to 500 dollars. Unfortunately most last minute flights cost over 800 dollars so its a lose lose proposition. I am switching to a better service private jet and will never recommend Surfair. They do not care about their passenger experience - they are not a good option and some of their top management are bullies - I hope they will be replaced soon and be careful before signing it, check review and find out how they treat their passengers and ask them to share in writing how many flights are being cancelled per month. Their app doesn't work and they over charge. with them I lost a lot of time and their unpredictable last minutes cancelations are very frustrating to say the least POOR CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE - very expensive since they cancel their flight too often. read more

The good - club hosts have been awesome since day 1 and has a good pulse on the client base. Some pilots before Encompass took over were really good. The current pilots seem good but too early to tell. Time saved traveling, good, though you pay for it. The bad - constant change in policy with no pre-announcement or consideration of existing customer base - pet policy, pricing increase, start charging for parking when their pitch was "all inclusive", change in flight tiers ( so no price increase but you no longer can fly XWZ routes unless you pay up for premium membership), and today, changed my husband's flight to an earlier flight and they actually cancelled it when he arrived to check in and his original flight was then full! He missed his flight. Really, feels like they really need to rethink their management talent, philosophy, and operational excellence, unless they really don't care or not capable. Good business model which I am a supporter of but management and operational performance does not give the customer nor should the investor confidence. read more

Surf air has lost all touch with there members. The broken promises and complete disregard of commitments and service have been lost in the last year. Excessive charges for parking, rental cars have taken away all the advantages of what led to the companies previous success. Flights are overbooked or unexpectedly canceled with no communication. Management has no care for the member or service read more

5 stars for the staff + pilots, 2 stars for management. I cancelled my membership after 3 years of flying Surf Air today. i have nothing positive to say about the folks who worked there (esp the Oakland terminal) but was disappointed in how management handled their recent closure of Oakland service. None of the members got a headsup that they were cancelling all the return flights from LA indefinitely starting November and most of us had to scramble to find alternate flights / cancel our memberships day before November 1st. I think the staff were equally surprised as well with the last minute Oakland shut down. I wish them best of luck, really enjoyed the service for the past three years and sad it had to end this way. read more

We thought they were good at first. Now very difficult to get flights. They told this would be fixed when they purchased new aircraft. Unfortunately at the same time they expanded to too many cities and instead of using planes to relieve capacity issues they used them for the new locations. Arbitrary policy and pricing changes are not sensical. Business model doesn't make sense. Pricing model doesn't make sense. Flights are turbulent, but pilots seem professional as does the ground staff. read more

Surf used to be much better, but the service has experienced growing pains since they increased their membership (exponentially it seems) in the last year. They have too few flights now for prime times and locations, i.e., Monday mornings and Thursday/Friday afternoons/evenings between Hawthorne and San Carlos are always full days in advance and their airport experience is inconsistent. Some flights almost always leave late (Hawthorne) and others actually leave early (Burbank). Concierge personnel are pretty good, with a few exceptions. Obviously there is a strong market for a higher end, executive type commuter service in CA. Would love to see another company come in and provide some healthy competition. read more

Surf Air is to business travel what the smart phone is to productivity. A truly revolutionary game changer. It has completely enhanced my professional life by making working with our regional offices easy, fast and inexpensive. The saved hours by avoiding commercial flights, TSA, and major airports, has allowed for increased face time with clients/staff and less late night drives which eroded family time. read more

Surfair keeps on getting better, as they continue to add more flights and destinations! all the staff are very pleasant as well. if you're interested in a membership, ask for rick cooper, who is a pleasure to work with. read more