Cost of private flight ?

I would contact a charter company in you area. A quick search for Charter Jet Vermont got me this: https://www.stratosjets.com/jet-charter-airports/vermont/

 

More likely $25-30k. You may find something cheaper by being flexible with dates.

https://www.stratosjets.com/jet-charter-flights/los-angeles-california/

 

Work out distance with this flight time calculator, then use approximate hourly rates.

A small plane like a Citation excel (might need a stop) would be around $3,000 an hour. The rub however with private flights that are one way are who pays for the "empty leg". Say the plane lives in White Plains New York, it is flying to say Albany NY (closest to Manchester VT) to pick you up (40 minutes) , then to fly to say John Wayne (5 hours), then back to White Plains (5 hours), you are looking at total flight time of say 11 hours so $33,000. If you can find an "empty leg" of a plane heading back home to CA then it could be half that.

https://flighttime-calculator.com/

 

Challenger 300 kick ass plane, overkill for one person, two dogs.

 

5 to 8k an hour

 

Give these guys a call:

https://www.privatefly.com/us/privatejet-services/private-jet-empty-legs

 

Call Solairus or Executive Jet Management, or Meridian Air Charter. They won't be the cheapest, but they will get you a safe flight, and that is what is important. Most of the time, you won't be able to pay just one way, although you might be able to get a deal.

On a trip like that, you want something like a Challenger 300, which has a decent bathroom and can make it nonstop. I'm going to guess more like $50-60k with a quality operator.

Watch out for the low-rent guys! They've killed a few people recently. Especially anyone out of South Florida. The empty leg guys might put you with a decent operator, or they might not-- they don't know or care.

 

Several years ago I needed to get from New Mexico to North Carolina in a hurry. The charter company I called ended up being out of Chicago. It was going to cost me $2500/hr and that was to include flying time from Chicago to Albuquerque to pick me up (3 hrs). Fly from ABQ to Raleigh (4.5hrs) to drop me off and then back to Chicago (3hrs). So I was going to be paying for 10.5 hrs of flight time but I was only going to be on the plane for 4.5hrs. Didn't happen.

 

Yep, the elephant in the room when it comes to flying privately is who is paying for the empty leg. If it's your charter then it's you!

Generally charter companies will let the plane stay with you if you are flying an average of 2 hours a day, so then you are paying only for occupied time. For example you fly somewhere 3 hours away for a 2 day weekend, the plane will just wait and fly you back, so you fly 6 hours and pay for 6 hours. The same trip for a week is a problem, as you would then have 2 empty legs!

 

I guess there is no empty leg problem with me. They keep saying that when it comes to scotch "I have an empty leg."

 

Private aviation for us mere financial mortals, or if you cannot deduct the expenses as business, is an expensive luxury. You really need to earn well into the 7s or even 8 figures to do this. But even people who are in that category often are seen in First class instead. If I could afford it, I would only fly private jet. Then it would cost millions, not thousand. Everytime I wait like cattle in the bs HLS line created by a group of radical religions zealots and our political parties, I ask. Where is my G5? That's all I want, and an older one will do.

 

Flexjet is based in Cleveland, OH and they had planes going back and forth across the country.
Delta Private Jets is also an option.
https://www.deltaprivatejets.com/program/on-demand-charter-flight-services/

 

That's what I did cross country and it worked out well. The dog got there in a little over two days. The transporter was a husband and wife who only do cross country dog transportation. Found them on uShip.
In my searching, I did find a couple of comapnies who fly pets privately. It's not a charter and costs were much less, around $10k as I recall.

 

Actual price is much lower from the quotes above.
For what you describe, a light jet is sufficient, to give you an idea, for a round trip (same day) from Van Nuys (LA) to SJC (San Jose), about 340 miles, on a Phenom 100 operated by Jet Suite was a total of just below $7k.

 

How does that translate to a trip from Vermont to CA as he needed??

 

Well, his numbers work out to about $21/mile. So using his numbers, VT to CA will cost about $60,000.