JSX

I haven’t booked anything for this San Francisco trip I’m planning. With my peripheral neuropathy, having to sit for long time is really uncomfortable. The worst is dialysis since after you sit down, you can’t really get up and move around. I’ve seen patients disconnected during the session so they can use the bathroom, but it’s pretty rare. Also bad would be sitting in an airplane, so that is why I was looking at first-class seats on such a short haul flight. Finally, having to show up early at an airport because you don’t know how long the TSA line will be, then sitting at the gate for hours also sucks. John Wayne airport is great for this because I don’t think I’ve ever waited more than 20 minutes to get through the security checkpoint. For LAX, I’ve seen 10 minutes to an hour and a half for international flights.

Another flight option to the Bay Area from John Wayne is JSX. They have the same owners as JetSuite, a private jet charter company. JSX flies Embraer ERJ135 and ERJ145 jets, which hold 30 passengers. These jets are also flown by American Eagle. JSX advertises their flights as “private-like jet” but they’re really small regional passenger jets. They also have a very small list of destinations. However, JSX has their own terminal and operate as a charter so no TSA checkpoints. I guess that’s the “private-like” part of the experience. You go to their hanger about 15-20 minutes before the flight and just get on the plane. Easy, and less time sitting around with my numb feet.

For my planned trip, JSX flies between John Wayne (Orange County) and Oakland International airports. One way flights are as low as $129, which is $10 cheaper than Alaska Airline first-class seats between John Wayne and San Francisco International. Which is better? First-class seats in an Embraer E175 or a regular seat in an Embraer ERJ-135/145? I think JSX wins because of the ease of check-in and boarding, but they don’t have that many flights. Also, their hanger is away from the main airport terminal with public transplantation. We would have to get an Uber or Lyft to get to/from JSX, whereas BART will go directly to either SFO or OAK. So the new plan would be to fly from SNA to SFO, then take BART to Union Square. When coming home, either take BART to Coliseum Station and Uber to JSX, or ride Uber for the entire trip from Union Square to JSX, then fly JSX from OAK to SNA.

Date	Flight	From	ETD	To	ETA	Price
2/29/2020	AK 3453	SNA	3:00 pm	SFO	4:35 pm	$139*
3/2/2020	XE 332	OAK	7:30 pm	SNA	9:01 pm	$129

This is probably the closest I’ll get to flying on a real “private” jet. My previous boss had a Gulfstream G500, and my current company owns a Gulfstream G650ER. I haven’t been on either one. The cost for buying and operating a private jet is astronomical. Our G650ER costs about $72 million and we spend a couple $ million each year on operating costs. They are also very expensive to charter or lease. Here is a G650 going for $15,469/hour. If you have 500 friends, you can get a Airbus A380 for $51,564/hour.