Jet Cards For Pro Athletes

In the Stone Age of American sports, when basketball still had a set shot and ballplayers wore baggy pants and metal spikes, athletes would introduce you to their lackeys by saying, "This is my childhood buddy." A decade ago, they would say, "This is my driver."

Today? "This is my pilot."

Private planes have become the sports world's latest must-have travel accessory. They are no longer just the indulgence of a handful of team owners with enough swag to buy, maintain, and house their aircraft. These days, squadrons of business planes fly athletes, teams, and league executives from arena to arena-and from golf course to golf course.

The increasingly customized world of private aviation has been likened to a Savile Row suit: a bespoke service tailored to the frequent flier's lifestyle. The 2008 ready-to-fly selection includes charters, aircraft-management services, and fractional schemes that—for a fee (paid in advance)—enable you to share the cost of a jet.

With commercial airport security precautions so onerous, no travel option is more suited to the harried, seat-of-the-pants existence of the professional athlete than the jet card, a kind of prepaid, reloadable debit card that allows travelers access to private planes without the burden of ownership. "Athletes may like to sign long-term contracts with their teams," says Jesse Itzler, co-founder of Marquis Jets, a for-hire company based in New York City. "But they don't like making long-term commitments for anything else."

The jet card offers athletes convenience, privacy, luxury, flexibility, and a bit of elitism. "It's a legalized drug, it's so addictive," Itzler says. His Marquis Jet Card represents a sublease of a share in the 740-plane fleet of Warren Buffett's NetJets, which controls 48 percent of the fractional market.

Each card provides flying time in 25-hour increments. Hours used are deducted from the card's balance after each trip. The leases vary in price according to the class of jet-from $126,900 for a seven-passenger Cessna Citation V Ultra to $349,900 for a Gulfstream 450, a 14-seater.

"To a lot of big-name athletes, $126,900 is pocket change," says Dennis Baker of Flight Options, a Cleveland carrier that offers the JetPass Ultimate Travel card.

Since its arrival in 2002, Marquis has been the jet-card industry's Air Jordan—which may be why the retired Chicago Bulls guard is a Marquis client. About 250 of Itzler's 4,000 customers are athletes.

"I'm on the road so much that time is of the essence," says Indy car driver Danica Patrick, who ran through four Marquis cards last year. "The card allows me to create my own flight schedule and fly in and out of small, regional airports close to racetracks. It's the only way I can buy time without delays."

The Marquis hoops roster would fill out an N.B.A. all-star team: Mike Bibby, LeBron James, Jason Kidd, Tracy McGrady, Dwayne Wade. Shaquille O'Neal used his jet card so often that he wound up buying his own plane. "LeBron and Tracy and Shaq can't walk though a commercial airport without getting mobbed," Itzler says. Marquis also has exclusive partnerships with the New Jersey Nets, New York Mets, and Boston Red Sox.

Lately, though, a bunch of startups and upstarts are luring athletes with a slew of innovations, from variable-pricing plans to elimination of the so-called deadhead charge, a ferry fee for an empty return flight after a one-way trip to a foreign country.

Flight Options is the Avis of the jet-card set, with about 25 percent of the trade. "Our membership grew 150 percent last year, just as it did in 2006," says corporate vice president Patrick Gallagher. "We now have N.F.L. players, major-league team owners, pro golfers, broadcasters, and auto-racing people." For reasons of confidentiality, Gallagher says, he won't divulge any of their names.

The operation has chipped away at Marquis by offering cut-rate roundtrips, abolishing blackout dates, and allowing clients to chose among three cabin types, depending on their needs or whims. A ballplayer might go with a light-cabin aircraft if he has invited his spouse or lover (or both), or a wide-body if his entourage is coming along. In contrast, Marquis cardholders fly on the jet model they paid for.

The unused balance on the Flight Options card has no expiration date and is fully refundable. Unused hours on a Marquis card run out after a year. Itzler insists that refunds are just another way to game the system. "If customers are demanding their money back," he says, "how good can you be?"

He likewise dismisses Flight Options' off-peak discounts, which allow a customer who flies on a Saturday to save up to 30 percent over Monday and Friday, when traffic is heaviest. "Golfers shouldn't worry about flying on Saturdays," cracks high-ranking pro Jim Furyk, a Marquis veteran who is paid to wear the company logo on his cap. "If you fly on Saturday, you've missed the cut and lost a lot of money."

Cut victims, take note: Flights Options requires only four hours' advance notice. With Marquis, you need at least 10.