First trip in my private jet

I had recently mentioned my new subscription to NetJets. Well, a few days ago we left for our first trip. The original idea was to fly from Heber airport (20 miles away from Park City) all the way to Bora-Bora, in Polynesia, and the plan was to stay 4 days and then return; a quick luxury jaunt. With the economic crisis currently affecting tourism in that part of the word, we had found some really cheap condos and invited six friends and neighbors that I had coerced into coming on the basis of splitting the fuel cost and the accommodations. We had reserved the Gulfstream 550 that would take us there in one elegant and comfy swoop and leave the eight of us six seats to spare...

Things started to take a nasty turn when on my way to Heber City, I received that call telling me that instead of the Gulfstream we'd get a much smaller Hawker 4000 that would just sit all of us and no one more, but forced a stopover in Honolulu, something that would be ruining a seamless, romantic trip like that one. Good thing that the plane arrived and took off right on time plus that its captain sounded like a decent fellow. Three hours into the flight, we were told that we might have a mechanical problem and that the most prudent course of action would be to fly back to San Diego. We turn around and finally landed and waited for almost one hour on the runway waiting for a decision as to what needed to be done.

Finally we were told that a special part was needed, that it was dispatched asap to us, but that we would have to overnight in California. Since this was an unforeseen event not included in the “package,” I had to scramble to find accommodations for all of us and that did not appear to be the right time to make the round asking for a donation; since I was the M.C., everyone expected me to pay for the hotel! I was mad and started to realize that there would be very little time left out of our four day stay by the time we'd take off and make the two extra stop overs. I seriously entertained the idea of canceling the whole excursion. One problem was that the six other couple had paid for their share of the condo. We had to wait till noon and finally we were set to go, flew to Honolulu, had to refuel and sit there almost two hours before we could in the air again.

When we got to Bora Bora, we were all beat up, confused (it was already the day-after tomorrow) and by the time we checked in it was almost time to leave. The views left a lot to be desired, the lodging wasn't as good as the internet had told me and it rained furiously the whole three days we spent there. Before boarding the plane, I already knew that my friends and neighbors would never talk to me again, even though I paid more than $600 for their San Diego hotel, and I promised myself to get out of that stupid private jet contract as soon as I'd get home and go back to flying economy!