Despite what you read, the notion of buying private jet charter flights online in real-time is mostly fake news. Aside from that, it’s easy to make mistakes if you don’t know what you’re doing. We look at what's real, what's not, and what you need to know before you click the buy button.

This article tells you more then you ever wanted to know about Private Jet Charters. After reading it, I felt EthJets makes things seem a lot easier way to dip your toe in the water. Here are a few snipets - but you probably want to read the full article.

If you focus only on jets and exclude the fractionally-owned fleets, you are down to 3,314 aircraft potentially available for charter from 549 operators. Out of that, there are only 66 operators with more than 10 jets on their Part 135 certificates. That leaves 483 operators with 10 or fewer jets for hire, including 380 with five or less, and 149 operators with a single private jet for charter.

Vista Global’s XO reported a 298% year-over-year increase in purchases of its deposit memberships. A spokesperson says 33% of whole aircraft charter bookings are from clients in the Signature (starting at $50,000 deposit) or Elite ($100,000 deposit) memberships which guarantee availability. Both need aircraft to fulfill those obligations when members call.

I wanted to compare Wheels Up, XO and SimpleCharters. Looking at the XO app from South Florida to New York in May, it showed flights starting from $12,500 to $19,943, depending on the day. The calendar looks a bit like the Google Flights date grid, which was very helpful. When I went to May 11 (the lowest priced day), I saw where the best deal was listed as $12,895, not $12,500. I also found that it wasn’t a light jet, but one of XOJet Aviation’s super midsize Citation Xs. It was from Ft. Lauderdale International Airport to Teterboro. It turns out the charter price was $12,500, and the non-member fee was $395, for a subtotal of $12,895. Add $967.12 for Federal Excise Tax and a $34.40 segment fee for my all-in price of $14,382.99.

I next went to Wheels Up, where on the same date, the best price was $17,874.52 for Miami-Opa Locka Executive Airport (my preferred airport) to Teterboro, which included the base cost of $16,155, $1,211.62 FET, $29.90 domestic passenger fee, and $495 transaction fee. If I changed my departure to Ft. Lauderdale, the price dropped to $17,764.87. There was a message that members save up to 30%. Wheels Up’s Connect membership, which now accounts for about a quarter of members, is $2,995 in the first year and $2,495 thereafter. In both cases, if I was really going to book, joining at the lowest level pays for itself with the first flight or two.

I then checked SimpleCharters, where the lowest price from Miami-Opa Locka Executive Airport to Teterboro was $17,995.73 all-in, also on a Citation X. I then got to thinking, maybe I should try Ft. Lauderdale International Airport to Teterboro, but it was the same cost. A light jet was more expensive at $18,439.70.