Working in commercial aviation as cabin crew and working on private jets are two very different affairs. Usually, cabin crew are provided a roster a month in advance and know precisely when and where they are going and when they are on standby. So, what happens when you work as cabin crew on a private jet?

Rotation

It depends on the nature of the operation and where the aircraft and crew are based, but typically, a rotation is offered. This is often one month on and one month off or sometimes two weeks on, two weeks off. In Saudi Arabia, it tends to be two months on and one month off.

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You are fully on duty during your rotation and can be called at any time to go anywhere, and then your time off is your own. Some cabin crew freelance whilst others travel or just enjoy the downtime.

Private owner

When working on a privately owned aircraft, the schedule depends on how heavily the aircraft is used and if it is chartered out. If the owner doesn't fly much, there might be no rotation and permanent standby. In this case, the owner usually gives 24 to 48 hours' notice for a trip per their schedule. If traveling for business, the flights tend to run to schedule, but leisure flights can be changed last minute, completely canceled, or sometimes extended.

Working for an operator

Flights are very much on-demand as and when clients need to fly, sometimes with just an hour's notice. The crew are flown out by commercial airline to meet the aircraft either at the operator's base or to meet the aircraft en route. If a schedule overruns, the crew will stay with the aircraft until it returns to base.

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If flights are chartered, the crew member will be flown to where the aircraft is at the beginning of their rotation. The aircraft could be mid-trip, and the crew might fly to Paris, for example, to meet it, then fly around on the same aircraft for the next two weeks/month traveling all over Europe. Then on the last day of rotation, they are flown home from where ever the aircraft is.

Destinations

As flights are often last minute and on-demand, you do not really know the destinations until you receive a flight briefing or phone call. However, some owners and private charters can be quite predictable, and they have their favorite destinations. Within Europe, London, Paris, Geneva, Zurich, and Nice are the most popular places that the wealthy love to visit.

Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Jeddah, and Riyadh are the most flown cities in the Middle East. In North America, Aspen, Las Vegas, New York, Los Angeles, and destinations in the Caribbean, such as St. Maarten and St. Barth, as well as the Bahamas, are most popular. Worldwide destinations for private jets include the Maldives, the Seychelles, and Mauritius.