The essential units of exchange are dollars and miles. People become members in SocialAir by purchasing packages of miles, starting with a 5,000 mile membership, and scaling up to as much as 100,000 miles. The cost per mile pricing model is unique in the private jet charter industry. A per hour pricing model is standard. This is a distinct selling point.
The Social Air base price is $2 per mile. This is about 1/4 to 1/10 the average cost of chartering a jet for ‘private’ use, and about twice the cost of first class travel on a commercial airline. This puts the price point of SocialAir clearly in a class by itself. But while there is a vast difference between the cost for SocialAir and chartering private jets, the margin between SocialAir and commercial travel is much narrower, and more fuzzy. A generous mileage rewards program automatically brings the cost of SocialAir below the $2 mark. An even more generous referral rewards program can bring that hourly cost even lower. And a game layer designed to motivate flexibility, generosity and other behaviors that improve efficiency and benefit the community further increases rewards and thus decreases costs. There will be many members who, because of their Bonus Factor, will actually pay less per mile for SocialAir than they would pay for first class tickets.
Blurring the line between the cost of SocialAir and first-class travel diminishes price as a factor and makes it easier for many people to rationalize stepping up to private jet travel. Meanwhile, the huge 5:1 to 10:1 gap between SocialAir and charter means that it is extremely difficult for members to make the leap to true ‘Private’ travel.