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Jet cards can make private air travel simple, convenient, and efficient. Just like a debit card, a jet card is linked to a balance-bearing account, only in this case you purchase a preset number of flight hours. Every time you fly, hours are deducted from the card, until you have used up all your hours. At that point, you can buy more hours or close the account—no strings attached.

Jet cards have become very popular, so it’s not surprising that a number of variations have evolved, calling for some pre-purchase homework on your part.

First off, you should determine the most likely destinations you’ll be flying to and from. If your trips are typically coast-to-coast in the U.S., make sure you have access to an aircraft which can make the trip nonstop, like Bombardier Flexjet’s Challenger 605. Keep in mind, not all jet-card planes can fly from Los Angeles to New York without making a fuel stop.

With jet cards, it’s critical to have a range of aircraft sizes available for your use. If you plan on flying six people and their golf clubs for a weekend getaway, you’ll be hard-pressed to find a smaller jet that can handle that kind of mission comfortably. Conversely, you don’t want to pay for five empty seats on your unaccompanied flights across the country.

“The Flexjet card features options for travel on larger or smaller aircraft using a standard interchange ratio,” points out Nathalie Bloomfield, director of marketing for Bombardier Flexjet. In other words, you can use your jet card aboard a smaller Learjet 40 for short hops, then easily switch over to a larger, longer-range Challenger 605 as required.

Look for a jet card that offers flexibility with regard to the number of flight hours you can purchase. If your trips will regularly be coast-to-coast, you can expect a typical jet to use up about ten hours round-trip from a jet card. A card with only 20 hours obviously limits you to two transcontinental trips. You’ll want to find jet cards with 25-, 30-, and 35-hour blocks of time, such as the ones Flexjet offers.

Another key factor to research is the operator’s guaranteed availability, which refers to the advance notice required to get your jet ready and waiting for take-off. Some companies may request 24-hour notice to guarantee aircraft availability. If your travel needs call for less lead time, make sure the operator you select can respond to that spontaneity.

As in any important purchase, the time spent reading fine print can pay off in the long run. All that research is for naught, however, if you end up unhappy with the service. Inquire with friends and colleagues who may be jet-card users—a firsthand reference is always helpful.

And before you make a final commitment, ask your operator if you have any recourse if your first experience is less than completely satisfactory. The Flexjet 25 jet-card program, for instance, guarantees that owners will be refunded the remaining portion of their prepaid balance if they are not fully satisfied after the first flight. In short, you want to do business with a company that stands behind the service it provides—one that makes flying enjoyable again and again.

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The remarkable success of the fractional jet ownership concept derives from the simple idea of buying only as much of an aircraft as you need. If you fly fewer than 400 hours a year, for example, fractional ownership will not only be more cost efficient, but much less complicated than owning a jet outright.

A typical fractional ownership is a one-sixteenth to a one-half share—the ownership percentage determined by the number of flight hours. For example, a one-eighth share might provide you with 100 hours of flight time annually, the benefit being that you pay for only what you need.

It is important to note that in addition to the initial buy-in charge and a monthly maintenance fee that covers items such as crew training and hangar space, fractional ownership companies charge a fee for each hour the aircraft is flown. For the most part, this charge covers costs such as fuel, landing fees, and maintenance. With Flexjet, one of the oldest and best-known business models of fractional jet ownership, a Lear 40 will run $1,825 per hour; the larger Challenger 605 will cost $3,110 per hour.

A fractional aircraft operator manages the fleet of planes, including maintenance, flight crews, scheduling, insurance, and any extras, which simplifies your role as a part owner. The more integrated an operator’s business, the better it is for you. “Flexjet is the only fractional jet ownership company that designs, builds, and maintains all of its aircraft,” points out Nathalie Bloomfield, Flexjet’s marketing director. Flexjet is owned by Bombardier, manufacturer of the legendary Learjet and Challenger aircraft, the same jets that fly in its Flexjet fractional ownership program. It’s clearly beneficial to have the aircraft designers and builders manage maintenance and crew.

The benefit of fractional ownership as opposed to jet charter comes at tax time. A charter flight is just a business expense. However, a fractional owner has an asset, a share of a real jet, which opens up the possibilities of depreciation and other tax benefits. Just as important, at the end of your ownership contract, you still own a fraction of an aircraft, which can be sold at market value.

One “must do” before buying into a program is speaking with other fractional jet owners to get feedback on their experiences. If the operator you’re considering is not forthcoming with references, that alone should be a deal breaker. “Flexjet absolutely provides references to prospective buyers,” Bloomfield says.

There’s a saying in the fractional business: Focus on the partner, not the plane. Good partners are much harder to come by.

“We guarantee owners will be refunded their prepaid balance if they are not completely satisfied with their first flight,” Bloomfield points out. “Flexjet is the ideal travel partner. One of our core missions is to provide enhanced productivity and quality of life for our owners through our aviation expertise, expert guidance, high efficiency, and exceptional service. They understand that private jets are an essential tool that gives them something money just can’t buy: time.”