What to Expect on Your First Charter Flight

Where do you actually go — the airport or somewhere else?

You go to an FBO, not the commercial terminal. FBO stands for Fixed Base Operator — it's a private terminal on the same airport (or a nearby reliever airport) that handles general aviation traffic. At a major hub like Teterboro, Van Nuys, or Dallas Love, the FBO is a separate building with its own driveway, parking lot, and ramp access. Signature, Atlantic, Jet Aviation, and Million Air are the largest chains, but plenty of independents operate at smaller fields.

Your charter operator or broker will send you the FBO name, address, and tail number 24 hours before departure. Drive directly to the FBO. Most have free short-term parking; longer trips usually include complimentary parking for the duration. Pull up, hand your keys to the line crew if you want valet, and walk inside.

How early should you arrive?

Fifteen to twenty minutes before scheduled departure is standard. Charter is not commercial — the aircraft will not leave without you, and there is no security line to clear. Arriving an hour early just means an hour in the FBO lounge.

If you're flying internationally or departing from a field that requires customs coordination, push that to 30–45 minutes. Same goes for trips with more than four passengers or significant baggage that needs weighing for performance calculations on shorter runways. The pilot-in-command will tell your broker if extra time is needed.

Is there security or a TSA check?

No TSA. Charter flights under Part 135 do not run passengers through TSA screening. The crew verifies your identity against the passenger manifest using a government-issued photo ID — driver's license for domestic, passport for international. That's the entire security process for most domestic trips.

International departures add customs and immigration, handled either at the FBO (most major fields have a CBP office on-site) or via a mobile CBP officer who meets the aircraft. You'll clear customs on arrival the same way — the aircraft taxis to a customs ramp, an officer boards or you walk into a small CBP room, and you're done in five to ten minutes.

What happens when you walk into the FBO?

The receptionist checks you in against the day's flight schedule and points you to a lounge. FBO lounges typically have complimentary coffee, snacks, Wi-Fi, conference rooms, and quiet seating. Some have showers, sleep rooms, and full catering kitchens. The captain or first officer will come find you when the aircraft is ready — fueled, catered, bags loaded, flight plan filed.

You don't go to a gate. The crew walks you out a side door onto the ramp, you cross 50 to 200 feet of tarmac to the aircraft, and you board via the air-stair door. In bad weather, the FBO often drives passengers to the aircraft in a van or SUV.

Who handles your bags?

The line crew. When you pull up, ramp staff offload your luggage from your car and bring it to the aircraft, where the crew weighs it (if required) and loads the baggage compartment. You don't carry anything across the ramp unless you want to keep it in the cabin.

Weight matters more than it does on commercial. A light jet like a Phenom 300 has roughly 70–80 cubic feet of baggage and a useful load that drops as fuel goes up. If you're flying four passengers plus golf clubs from Teterboro to Aspen, the crew may need to reduce fuel and add a tech stop. Tell your broker about oversized or heavy items at booking — skis, bikes, hunting rifles, large dogs — not at the FBO.

What is the boarding process like?

You walk up the air-stair, the captain greets you, and you pick a seat. There are no assigned seats, no boarding groups, no overhead bins to fight over. The cabin attendant (on aircraft large enough to staff one — typically super-mid and up) will run a brief safety demo, point out the lavatory, and offer a drink. On light and midsize jets without a flight attendant, one of the pilots delivers the safety briefing before closing the door.

Phones can stay on. Most operators have Wi-Fi — Gogo Avance L5 on older aircraft, Viasat or Starlink on newer ones — though speeds and coverage vary. You can move around the cabin in flight, recline fully on most super-mid and heavy aircraft, and eat real food the operator catered to your specifications.

What's the cabin actually like in flight?

Quieter than commercial, smaller than you'd think, and entirely yours. A Citation CJ4 cabin is about 17 feet long and 4'10" tall — you stoop. A Challenger 350 stands at 6 feet flat. A Global 6500 has three cabin zones and a stand-up shower. Match the aircraft to the trip: under two hours, anything works; over four hours, you want at least a super-mid.

Catering is whatever you ordered. Default is a snack basket and bottled drinks; upgraded catering runs $40 to $300+ per passenger and is billed through. If you want sushi from a specific restaurant in Manhattan delivered to Teterboro for an 11 a.m. departure, that happens — tell the broker 24 hours out.

What do you do when you land?

The aircraft taxis directly to the destination FBO, the door opens, and you walk down the stairs to a waiting car. Total time from wheels-down to in-your-vehicle is typically under five minutes. Ground transportation can be pre-arranged through the FBO — most will coordinate a car service, rental, or your own driver to meet you on the ramp.

Tipping is not expected but is common for the crew on multi-leg trips or when they've gone out of their way — $50 to $100 per crew member per leg is typical if you tip. The line crew at the FBO who handle your bags also accept tips. The captain will not bring it up.

What if something goes wrong?

Mechanical issues, weather, and crew duty timeouts are the three things that derail charter trips. A reputable operator will have a recovery plan: another aircraft from their fleet, a sister operator's aircraft, or a rescheduled departure. You should not be paying for the delay unless it's caused by you. Confirm the cancellation and recovery terms in your charter agreement before you sign — specifically what happens if the aircraft goes mechanical mid-trip and how repositioning costs are handled on the replacement.

The single biggest first-flight mistake is over-preparing. Show up 20 minutes early with your ID and your bag. The rest is the operator's job.