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Rise — All-you-can-fly, private air travel membership
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Replies
Eric Posen
Congrats! How is this different than Surf Air (even the price point looks similar)? I know the founders very well and it looks like Wade is on your team (he's an amazing dude). Is this going to be the same thing, but in Texas? If not, what are you doing differently?
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@goeric It sounds like you and I share similar respect for Wade and the rest of the founders. Very similar value prop, but vastly different operational models. More details will be coming soon.
@mzuvella Flying planes is an expensive proposition but we have created a model that allows profitability on day one. We also have access to growth capital for our future. The membership model creates recurring revenue that allows us to invest responsibly in our operations, technology and most importantly our members.
@knickkennedy Any plans for a Uber Pool-like sharing feature? So the normals can get a taste?
@mzuvella we are focused on democratizing air travel and we are going to do that through a number of different options. Stay tuned. In the meantime if you're in Texas anytime soon let me know and I'll take care of you.
Hunter
Flat monthly fee for unlimited air travel on a private plane. It's currently available in Texas only, but I posted this because I think the model is something we haven't seen in this vertical yet.
Couldn't Virgin America offer this with commercial flights? Wouldn't something like this "disrupt" the air travel industry...?
Discuss :-)!
@uxandrew Didn't JetBlue do something along these lines, maybe still does? It was like 3 months though.
@uxandrew Thank you for the post. We aren't sleeping much these days but having a great time building a great company to serve our members. Let me know when you are in Texas and we'll get you on one of our planes for a ride.
@uxandrew there's definitely some precedent for this type of pricing - at JetBlue and also way back in the day at Southwest. The limiting of the number of reservations at a time sounds interesting and the price point is very attractive for a business traveler. That being said I'm going to be very impressed if this can be financially viable and still offer the amount of flexibility in terms of the frequency of flights that businesspeople expect/need. Landing a few corporate accounts might be enough to get it off the ground, but this is devilishly complex. Best of luck @iflyrise and co! And if you'd like to talk airline yield management, commercial and private, feel free to hit me up at g@hitlistapp.com
@knickkennedy March 13-17 for #SXSW. Would love a ride! Northeast corridor (NYC/DC/BOS) could use a real shakeup.
@jmrobin100 @delk PC-12 is a great bird that I really like. We'll see what the future holds.
I don't see anything about the type of aircrafts... I'm not going going to be happy if I show up and you've got a cessna waiting!
@jmrobin100 no Cessna's here. We fly the King Air 350. http://www.beechcraft.com/beechc.... On a personal note, you should never buy a plane (get one of your friends to do that) but if you have to, buy this plane. It's roomy, fast, efficient, has great range and is incredibly safe.
@knickkennedy Curious why the decision to go with the King Air vs. the Pilatus PC-12 (or similar)? Seems to add significant costs for relatively minimal benefits, especially on these short flights.
We (i.e., neededition.com) have partnered with Rise to provide top-notch gifts, coffee, literature, and so forth for their members.
They're thinking a lot about the user experience. And it's a fantastic team.
I have high hopes. (Granted, though, I'm biased.)
This seems like a pretty cool service, especially if you're back and forth from Austin to Dallas a ton. Seems reasonably priced.
American used to do this for commercial flights, but the pass was $250,000.
http://business.time.com/2012/05...
Hunter
@raydawg88 Private planes are a nice touch here... Imagine this for SF to LA or NYC to Boston/DC/Philly.
The model is really solid.
Very interesting concept @knickkennedy. Love the subscription idea and using alternative airports to save time. One question: can you explain why you've chosen those TX routes versus a NY / SFO or LA? I would imagine there is greater demand, but perhaps airport configuration or fuel issues?
@knickkennedy @franciscoprat I think it would be harder to do it in the SF/LA market because Surf Air already cornered it.
Some airlines already have unlimited flight passes with wider reach but albeit on commercial flights.
e.g. Air Canada: http://www.aircanada.com/aco/vie...
Nick Kennedy, CEO of Rise, here. We're honored to be trending here. What questions can I answer for you?
@knickkennedy How does it work? What are the rules and stipulations of the # of reservations?
@knickkennedy Nick, why don't commercial airlines do this for specific routes? I totally understand the Rise value in a local context
I'd happily pay $1k/month to jump on a Virgin America flight from SFO - AUS at any time (based on availability). Currently long distance with my wife, so getting to her more frequently when I have holes in my schedule would be awesome.
@kchau All of our membership levels allow all you can fly but certain levels allow you to hold more reservations. Think Netflix (when we actually used DVD's) ; 1 DVD cost $5.99 3 DVD's cost $8.99. The higher price memberships give you more reservations. Our technology lets you book a new flight in 30 seconds, so as you soon as you land the reservation you used to fly goes back in your queue and you can book another flight. We make it real simple.
