The Wall Street stockbroker had used FlatRate Moving, a high-end moving service, a half-dozen times over the years. They moved him from a modest apartment on the Upper East Side to a grander one on the Upper West. He called when he moved to an even better building in Midtown. Most recently, FlatRate helped settle him and his wife and child into a 3,000-square-foot loft in Soho, one of Manhattan's priciest neighborhoods.

FlatRate got another call two months ago. The client was packing up his family for a two-bedroom apartment in the less expensive Park Slope, Brooklyn. He had lost his job and was no longer in a position to pay the $3,000 to $5,000 a month he'd shelled out before.

"We did the move almost at cost"—for under $1,200, says Michael Kessler, FlatRate's vice president of marketing and sales.

Now, FlatRate gets calls for "downgrade" moves about once a day, Kessler says, mostly from clients in the financial world, many of whom are leaving Manhattan for Brooklyn or Queens. The company just introduced an "economy" moving package that leaves out extras like an on-site liaison to supervise the move; photographed inventory of the apartment; and complete packing and unpacking service. With the new package, FlatRate hands off some used boxes and clients—like the client who lost his job at Lehman Brothers and moved from the Upper East Side to Astoria, Queens—pack up themselves.

The economic downturn isn't just hitting the middle class; the wealthiest layer of consumers is also getting pummeled. More than 110,000 Wall Street jobs have been lost this year. and bonuses are expected to plummet Many C.E.O.'s have seen their net worths tank along with stock prices. Hedge funds, those secretive bastions of wealth, aren't doing much better, having lost $130 billion in the past three months.

In response, providers of luxury goods and services—elite movers, exclusive spas, exclusive restaurants, and even private-jet charter companies—are introducing promotions and deals, often for the first time ( view slideshow of luxury deals). These are the types of wares that don't normally go on sale, since they fall into the "If you have to ask…" category. Still, businesses are quietly reaching out to consumers battered by the economy but not ready—yet—to give up their high-flying lifestyles. (See a slideshow of discounts here.)

"We don't want to give something away if we don't have to," says David McCown, senior vice president of Air Partner, a jet charter company that is based in New York. "But we're willing to do it."

Air Partner is offering discounts on the company's jet cards, which start at $4,700 an hour, for light jets like a Citation 5, Lear 35, or Beech 400. The cards are available in increments of 10 hours and up. Now, because of softening demand from clients and a recent drop in fuel prices, those hourly rates are being discounted as much as 10 percent.