OneFlight pauses flights with $150 million in customer deposits at risk

OneFlight International, the Englewood, Colorado-based charter broker known for its BAJit jet card and celebrity marketing, paused all flight activity on September 15, telling customers the halt would run "for the next 30 days, or until further notice" while it evaluates its operations. Private Jet Card Comparisons, which first reported the pause, estimates that roughly $150 million in prepaid jet card balances and booked flight value is now exposed. OneFlight sells jet cards with deposits starting at $100,000 but owns no aircraft of its own, arranging flights instead through third-party operators.OneFlight's financial strain had been visible for weeks before the pause. In August, the company told jet card holders they'd face a 35% "economic surcharge," citing "extraordinary economic pressures currently affecting private aviation," a move it withdrew after customer backlash. On September 9, a company VP wrote that CEO Ferren Rajput was "actively addressing the financial and operations issues that developed under the previous CFO's leadership." Multiple charter operators say OneFlight owes them hundreds of thousands of dollars, with one reporting $250,000 outstanding for a recent flight, though others say they've been paid as recently as August. OneFlight reported $232 million in revenue for 2025, up 90% year over year.Why a broker model leaves customers last in lineThis is the part that matters most for anyone holding a OneFlight balance or considering a jet card from any company that doesn't own its own aircraft. A charter broker takes your deposit, then pays an outside operator to fly you. If the broker fails, that money typically wasn't held separately from the company's operating cash. Private Jet Card Comparisons has documented this exact scenario before when JetSuite grounded its fleet in 2020 despite backing from JetBlue and Qatar Airways. Its bankruptcy filing stated plainly that "after any administrative expenses are paid, no funds will be available for distribution to unsecured creditors." SuiteKey jet card holders were told to expect between 2.3% and 15% of their claims as unsecured creditors; the payments that eventually went out came in far lower — close to half a cent on the dollar for most holders.That's the structural risk a broker-model card carries that a fractional share, or a jet card backed by an operator that owns and flies its own aircraft, doesn't carry in the same way. A prepaid deposit sitting with a broker is functionally a loan to that company, and in a bankruptcy, jet card holders line up behind secured lenders and administrative costs, exactly the position SuiteKey customers found themselves in six years earlier.A competitor is already moving to catch the falloutWithin 24 hours of the pause, rival FlyUSA launched a $100 million "Jet Card Recovery Program" aimed squarely at stranded OneFlight customers. Qualifying customers get a complimentary FlyUSA Gold Membership, pay as they go with no new deposit required, and earn back 20% of qualifying flight spend in credits until they recover up to the full value of their verified stranded balance. FlyUSA CEO Barry Shevlin framed it as an industry problem, not just a OneFlight one: "It frustrates me that this keeps happening in our business," he said, adding that private aviation should "approach their money with the same sense of responsibility" it applies to keeping a customer's trip from falling through. Amalfi Jets has since moved too, waiving its usual $100,000 deposit for current and former OneFlight members through October 15.For a current OneFlight cardholder, the practical question is whether the 30-day pause means business as usual on day 31. For the time being it's small consolation that a zero-deposit path forward is still on the table.Why it mattersThere's a lesson to be learned here, even if the charter industry doesn't advertise this aspect openly: jet card deposits are almost never held in escrow (separate from the company's operating cash) by default. For anyone shopping jet card providers, the more useful habit is asking two blunt questions before wiring a deposit: can this deposit be held in escrow, and if not, does the company at least own the aircraft it flies you on rather than depending on someone else to make good on the flight? Owning the aircraft doesn't guarantee your money back if the company fails; it just removes one layer of counterparty risk a pure broker can't. That question applies just as much to a first-time buyer as it does to a longtime cardholder deciding what to do with a stranded balance right now.