Offers all-you-can-fly service

New airline offers all-you-can-fly service

By Kelly O'Mara 

Not quite in love with commercial flying, but not yet a private plane owner?

Surf Air has the all-you-can-fly plan for you. Starting this summer, the new airline will offer members as many flights as they want, on a fleet of eight private planes, for just $790/month.

“It works largely the way Netflix does,” said Wade Eyerley, co-founder and a former aide to Vice President Dick Cheney. A $790 membership allows you to hold two reservations at a time – as soon as you fly, you can place another reservation. The $990 and $1,490 memberships allow you four and six reservations respectively.

Wade and his brother, David, a former Frontier Airlines manager, are hoping to target the frequent fliers who aspire to rid themselves of long security lines and the hassle of commercial air travel. Instead of spending four or five hours getting from San Francisco to Los Angeles, Wade promises it will take you just 75 minutes on Surf Air. And, you don’t even have to take off your shoes.

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“We’re introducing the private plane experience to those that don’t have it now,” said Wade.

The flights are starting with the heavily traveled San Francisco-Los Angeles route, which 20 million fliers traveled last year according to the FAA. Initial stops will include Palo Alto, Monterey, Santa Barbara and Los Angeles.

“Too many people are driving. They should be flying,” said Wade. And he intends to get them on planes.

Surf Air is the only non-tech company launching this year out of the MuckerLab start-up accelerator based in Los Angeles. MuckerLab provides funding, guidance, and office space to promising start-ups.

Eventually, the brothers intend to expand the service, but they’re beginning with the pilot test route and just 500 memberships. After getting 12,000 email addresses from people who expressed interest, they realized they had to cap the service in its initial phase or they’d be oversubscribed and unable to deliver enough quality flights to members.

Applications for those first 500 memberships are being accepted right now. But, if you’re ready to say good-bye to frequent commercial travel, you’ll have to get your membership in soon. Just one week after announcing the plan, 300 all-you-can-fly memberships have already been filled.