Flying on Private Jets, Celebrity Travel Advisor & Meeting Manny Khoshbin I Afshin Sajedi DSH #431

We saw as a struggle for a lot of entrepreneurs and business owners.

They travel on a private jet, domestic, for domestic flights.

They struggle when they want to go coast to coast or even other country.

They want to go private.

What they do, they downgrade to commercial.

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And here's the episode.

All right, guys, we are back.

Digital Social Hour.

We're going to talk about travel industry today.

We're here with Afshin Sahidi.

How's it going, man?

Doing great.

Thank you for having me.

Absolutely.

Your Instagram is very interesting.

You live a very cool lifestyle, so I can't wait to dive into it.

How did you get involved in the luxury travel industry?

Well,

I mean, I I've been in travel always.

So, I mean, from it was my first career.

I was working as a customer service agent at the local airport in my home country, which is Iran.

So, I'm Persian.

Then I moved to the UK.

I lived in the UK for twenty years.

I've been working under

a lot of travel agents and tour operators.

And

so in twenty sixteen, I

I started traveling in luxury myself.

So I love the taste.

It's just amazing and I couldn't leave it.

So

I thought, you know, since I'm in travel, so it's better to have my own company and my own mission because there was a lot going on with, you know, too many hands between things going wrong, no one taking responsibility

when you're working under a big giant travel company.

Once you go private, man, it's hard to go back.

It's hard.

I mean, flying private internationally is very expensive, so I won't do that.

But like domestically, I try to do it as much as I can because it's so convenient.

The networking is great.

And actually here, it's not too expensive.

If you go from Vegas to Cali on Jet Suite X, it's only like 200 bucks.

So it's not too bad, you know?

Yes.

Yeah, but I know like coast to coast, some of my friends have paid 40K for a private jet.

Imagine how much would be if you go to Dubai or London.

Oh man, be six figures.

I'm not at that level yet.

Maybe one day.

Well, that's the point.

Yeah, and that's what you do, right?

So you've figured out ways to travel private for cheaper, right?

Yeah, so we make private jet experiences more accessible and affordable with group travel.

So we do the entire experience.

So say you want to go to Dubai from Miami or New York.

What would that look like price-wise?

It would be a bit in a group of at least 13, and the cost per person starts from

30K, 30, 30, 35,000.

Wow, so you're doing half a million a flight.

Yes.

Dang.

It would be at the fraction of the cost.

Because normally it would be double that probably, right?

Oh, it would be 10 times more.

Oh, 10 times more so it would cost five million oh no no i mean per person oh per person okay yeah so it'd be a hundred fifty okay well it all depends to what type of aircraft you know in the an individual charters right so it it could be golf stream bombardier or dassel so it it depends to the type of aircraft the best one i've been on is a gulfstream four

but those are getting older these days i'm i'm sure there's much nicer ones yeah golf stream is doing, you know, great, as well as Bombardier.

So

Gulfstream,

700 and 800.

800 is the best.

So at the moment, 650 ER is

from Gulfstream.

They are

leader in the market.

One of the leaders in the market.

Wow.

How much are those costing right now?

It depends.

So

usually a Gulf Stream is about 10 to

12 and a half per hour.

Damn, that is crazy.

Yeah, for long flights, it's rough.

The previous guest flew in from Australia.

Imagine how much that one would be.

Very, very expensive.

Well, that that's the point.

So that's why

we saw as a struggle for a lot of entrepreneurs and business owners that, like you said,

travel on a private jet, domestic, for domestic flights, but they struggle when they want to go coast to coast or even other countries, like the countries I mentioned.

Yeah.

So,

and what happens?

They won't go private.

What they do, they downgrade to commercial.

And that's where they feel the pain.

I'll say this about commercial.

Some domestic commercial first class isn't even that much better than economy.

Well, tell me about it.

And you're paying triple the price and you get like six inches more of legroom, but some of them don't even have T Vs.

It's like, wow, why did I even pay for that?

You know what I mean?

Exactly.

So I last first class I had from New York, JFK, to Fort Laudell.

And

so as soon as we started boarding, we stayed about an hour inside the aircraft.

And

then they said there is a part faulty and they can't source it.

Yeah.

And so they have to disembark the plane.

And so we didn't know what to do.

They said we have options to either to go another flight or just wait.

How long waiting time was, we didn't know.

So

and the problem was with the bags.

the bags staying inside in the in the plane.

So, I mean, I they offered me a flight to Miami, but I said, no, I can't, you know, leave my bags.

Yeah, for real.

That happened to me at Vegas Airport.

We were going to Miami.

Flight got delayed an hour, then it became two hours, and it was three hours.

And we're on the plane, and they make an announcement saying the stabilizer is not working.

So I Google what the stabilizer was.

It's the wings of the plane.

And I'm like, what the hell?

Like, I am not flying.

I got off the flight, booked another one.

That flight got canceled completely.

So people were on that plane for four hours.

Yes.

And sometimes the inconveniences you get are

also from the most luxurious commercial airlines,

because sometimes it's out of their control

and they can't really control it.

So I do remember once I was on business class

with one of the most luxurious airlines.

And I was on the first row between the first class and business class.

I mean, by the the way I always upgrade my flights to business class

being in the travel industry so I know how to upgrade so and that's what I also teach other people.

That sounds like a very valuable thing to know.

Yes so

and then as soon as I tried to get my seat and I wanted to put my carrier bag in overhead lockers.

There was no space.

There was no space at all in that section.

I had to call the cabin crew to find me space.

And finally, she squeezed my bag inside pillows.

Wow.

First world problem.

Yeah, it wasn't really convenient.

You know,

especially for those who pay a lot of money for that flight.

I didn't pay.

I just upgraded using my miles.

But some people paid for that.

Exactly.

5K, that flight was $5,000.

And after 15 and a half hours, when we arrived in destination, someone from first class came and stood next to me and opened the overhead lockers above my head.

Oh, before you even got up.

Yeah, and I hate people that do that.

Exactly.

And took his bag.

So he had the most spacious cabin and also the biggest overhead lockers.

I don't know how many carrier bags he had.

Wow.

Some people freak out when you land, man.

It's so annoying.

Yeah.

They get up and will happen to common courtesy these days.

yeah supposed to go in order you know

and you know sometimes uh you know you get annoying fellow travelers and sometimes last time i i flew uh from milan to jfk it was very luxury airline and the fellow traveler was not really uh didn't want even to have eye contact you know it was so

it was not a great moment and i i was i talked to the uh the cabin crew i said you know can you upgrade my flight to first class you know I'm really not comfortable because you know this guy is just

I don't know it was not you know a great moment so but they said well you know it it's only two hours gone and six hours left so why do you want to spend another 39,000 miles to go to first class just you know

just enjoy the flight

yeah I said okay that's fine yeah so I managed to

you know continue with my seat on business class but yeah you you get a lot of these inconveniences it's not necessarily for just us

airlines yeah I mean pets pets I don't mind some people don't like pets babies those are pretty rough especially if they're close to you At the same time, I get it.

They have to travel with their babies, so I can't be mad at them.

So that's a weird one.

And then

fat people.

So like if you're next to a fat person that can ruin the whole flight you know what i mean yeah and those probably those get to me the most because you're just literally trapped and you can't do

you know what i mean but yeah that's why i fly in private you avoid most of that you don't really run into those problems i mean uh yeah it it can the inconveniences can can go on and on uh i flew from uh Dubai to London and I was on business class.

I had to wait an hour for my bags.

Jeez.

I don't even fly with bags, honestly, because I don't want to wait.

And I usually fly domestic.

I mean, if I go international, I'll bring bags, but domestic, I try to fit everything in like the one carry-on in the backpack.

Yeah.

Because it's not worth waiting, in my opinion.

Some people in the U.S.

I've heard they stop traveling on a long-haul destination because of all these inconveniences.

I mean, yeah, it takes, if you think about all the time it takes, because you have to show up two hours early.

Three hours.

You have to drive there.

Yes.

And you have have to get off get your bags it's a whole day affair i know it's pretty wild and it's kind of stressful too and the airport environment is really negative yes like you just feel like when you're in there you made the point i i've been traveling to at least 50 countries and at least two three times every country

so every time now i i'm going to the commercial airport i'm stressed you know for real it's it's stressful like because if you've missed a flight that those thoughts come in your head like oh man i got to be here like two, three hours early.

Like, I'm not doing that again.

So when it comes to, you are a celebrity travel advisor, right?

I mean, I

try to be.

So it's a do-be-have.

I am working to get into the celebrities.

I do have a few clients, but.

I'm working hard to be in that space more.

Yeah.

What does it take to penetrate that space?

Because do most of these guys already have a travel advisor?

That's true, but this is something that

we have curated at the moment for Formula One.

You cannot find somewhere else.

Everyone trying to offer charters, seats, flight cards, flight hours,

but none of our competitors, they have curated tailor-made experiences for Formula One.

So our goal is to make them accessible and help luxury sustainability.

Yeah, so on your Instagram, you're at a bunch of Formula One events.

So what is your goal with Formula One?

Are you just catering to high-end clients?

Not specifically.

So our goal is to help everyone who would like to

upgrade their travel standard from business and first class to private.

Also, those who've never been on a private jet, we would like to help them because the program we have, the club we have, it's very affordable, is very

accessible.

Also those who constantly fly in private, they can also come with us and we save them a lot of money.

Because as I said before, it's at the fraction of the cost.

So how does the club work?

Is it a membership?

Yes, so they join as a member.

we have very interesting and attractive uh offer at the moment it's called legacy offer it's for three years for the price of one includes a plus one nice so because we can't take just random people on our experiences so we need to go through a lot of you gotta vet them yeah exactly yeah yeah um and where are most of the routes leaving from now or is it worldwide at the moment we are based in miami but we are um promoting and marketing this product from seven departure points.

So from Miami, New York, LA, Dubai, London, Monaco, and Madrid.

Nice.

Do you remember Jet Smarter?

Yes.

I was a member of that, and I caught a lot of good legs on those.

What do you still fly on empty legs these days?

Well, yeah, I mean, I find because I travel a lot.

If there is an empty leg, I grab it.

I like them.

The problem is getting back, but I guess you deal with that later.

Yes.

But it is pretty crazy.

Like I cut some empty legs from Teterboro, New Jersey to Miami on G4s for like pretty cheap.

Yes.

Super cheap.

Yeah, that's the problem with empty leg.

I mean, in all our experiences, we have a comparison chart.

So we have

mentioned an estimated of a charter of the most luxury heavy jet and an estimate of an empty leg and the cost for our experiences.

Smart.

Yeah, so they can compare and see, oh, wow, you know, what's the valuable offer that Jets 100 is making.

Yeah.

That's super cool.

Yeah, my friend out here, I'll connect you with him.

He just sends me a list of empty legs leaving Vegas every week.

And sometimes it goes to Cabo, Mexico, and like cool places, San Diego.

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And it's so tempting, but just getting back's like, I don't want to deal with that.

I give you an example.

So,

a charter to

Brazil can be like

around 180,000, you know, from 150 to 250,000.

It depends to the the aircraft.

An empty leg, it could be around $100,000 to $128,000.

So our experience is for Brazil, it's multi-centers.

So we fly them out in private from Miami or other six destinations.

I mean, the prices I'm giving you is more

be suitable for from US because if it's from Dubai, it would be a lot more.

So from US from the three departure points.

So we t fly them to Sao Paulo for the F one.

So they stay there for four nights l in a luxury hotel, luxury transfer and

three

uh round trip transfer to the race.

And then we fly them to Rio.

They they stay there for three nights uh in in a mocked luxury uh uh a hotel.

Oh, so it includes the hotel?

Everything.

Wow.

So, and then fly them to the departure point, so like Miami.

So, the entire experience starts from 35K.

Okay.

Yeah, I definitely see the value.

It's more expensive than empty legs, but you're getting a whole experience.

And on top of that, the networking, because you said there's 12 other people,

that to me makes sense.

I would buy something like that as a consumer.

Yeah, because our goal is not just make private jet experiences more accessible and affordable.

We are creating

a space in the sky for networking so they can

walk and talk and

have a drink and dine and collaborate with each other.

So that's why we trademark the business, the world's leading private jet networking club.

I love that.

Yeah.

I met some great people on JetSmarter.

Yes.

But their business model failed because it was too cheap, I think.

I met one of the executives during one event in Miami.

Oh, yeah?

Yeah, he he came forward and we had the chat.

Good chat.

Was this before they got acquired or after?

Oh, it was the last year.

Oh, last year?

Because they got acquired, right?

Yeah.

And I think they were'cause I was only paying 15K a year.

I was getting on so many jets.

It didn't make any sense.

You know what I mean?

It was so weird.

What's your favorite airline, commercial airline?

I know we've been talking bad about it, but do you have a favorite?

Oh, yeah, I do.

My favorite commercial airline is Emirates.

I've heard good things.

I haven't been on it yet.

I always

use Emirates for my long-haul destinations

because their

number one reason is they've been in the industry long enough and their smallest aircraft is Triple Seven.

Wow.

So they only go big.

Yes.

So you got legroom on there.

Oh yes.

It's all you know, flatbed in the sky.

Wow.

And they have showers too, right?

That's only on A380.

A380.

A380, okay.

I've seen a couple of my friends fly on those and take a video of the shower.

But the flatbeds, man, those are a game changer.

I've only been on one flight that had a flatbed and it was probably the best flight of my life.

It was to Asia and I just fell asleep the whole time.

Once I remember,

I flew first class from Manchester to Dubai and I was the only passenger on first class.

Wow.

So I had three cabin crews looking after me.

No way.

It was like three fine dinings, you know, breakfast, lunch, dinner, and

everything.

It was perfect.

That's so cool.

Some people live in airport lounges.

And I was in my pajamas.

No, but yeah.

Some people live in those lounges because

some of them have showers, some of them have beds.

The ones in Asia and Europe, I've heard.

And airlines had to...

I think they had to make a change or something where you needed to show a flight ticket

because some people would just walk in there.

I love

MX lounges.

What's your favorite lounge?

You mean

non-Emirates?

Non-airlines.

Yeah.

Well, yeah, I use AMX.

Centurion.

Yeah, I use Dragon.

What's the name?

Something, Dragons.

I haven't heard of that one.

Yeah.

Which city had the best airport lounge, in your opinion?

You mean non-airlines again?

No, you could do airlines.

Well Emirates.

Oh so they have one in Dubai?

Oh no I would I have to say here

in Doha.

Doha Qatar Airways

has the best lounge.

Wow.

Yeah.

Sounds baller.

Yeah.

Yeah I was gonna say my favorite airlines would be Emirates, Qatar Airways, Singapore Airlines.

These three would be my favorite airlines.

I gotta step it up man because I'd be on United and it's not cutting it for me anymore man.

I'm six foot five.

Yes.

I'm too tall

i know the singapore airlines now competing uh you know with emirates and other airlines they they've been one of the best as well in the market um they are doing one of the best um

uh the suite the cabin for first class nice yeah this is a huge project they they're building in uh england they're rushing the order as well wow that's cool that's exciting is it true when you're booking a flight online, you're supposed to use incognito mode and it's cheaper if you do that?

I have heard of it.

And sometimes, yes, because there are a lot of technologies, they try to, you know, trace and track.

Yeah, yeah.

Sometimes I would do that.

Yes.

you know usually i have two phones and i search for two different phones oh that's smart and you've seen a price difference Yes.

Wow.

I got to start doing that.

I just do it on regular because I don't like signing in and stuff.

So I like just already being signed in.

And sometimes when you choose the location and it changes the prices.

Really?

Yes.

Yeah.

So if you change where you're booking it from, like your IP address, just a cheaper country or city.

It's, I mean,

there are some publish fare and

promotions.

So it all depends.

Yeah, I'm surprised it's even legal because I feel like if you're just booking a flight, it should be the same price as everyone else.

You know what I mean?

Yeah.

It's pretty good.

I mean, some online uh websites for tra for flights, it's they they are crazy.

Yeah.

Have you heard of uh s what is it, skip lagged or something?

No.

Oh, okay.

It's um some weird travel hack.

But with the hotels, are you doing anything there to get good deals as well?

Yeah, so that's uh that's one of our expertise in hotel industry because

my company in UK, Holiday Luxury, we have been

working hard and closely with the most luxurious hotels, resorts and private islands.

I personally have

stayed and experienced these hotels to make sure they are right and fit for our clients.

Wow.

And we deal with the sales and marketing department, sometimes GM.

So we don't deal with reservation.

Sometimes you know, it goes wrong when you deal with reservations, yeah, it it goes wrong, so that's why I'm not comfortable.

That's one of my biggest pet peeves.

When you make a reservation, you show up early and then they don't see you till like 30 minutes after it.

Yes, that that gets to me for sure.

Yeah, I don't like that.

It's handy when you know a GM at a restaurant, for sure.

Vegas is all about relationships, too.

We we have connections, you know, uh, all over the world because uh we are part of a a few

companies that they do events,

they call B2B events between buyers and sellers.

So, hotels

participate as sellers, and we go as buyers.

And we meet them in person.

Sometimes, you know, we go on experience just in order to remember each other and before doing business with

each other.

So, it's very great

idea that you know these companies they do.

And when we build relationships and uh we talk about how we do business and how you know we would like to send the request and how our clients would like to be treated.

So yeah, it's it's a it makes a a lot of difference.

Nice.

I saw on your Instagram you got a photo of Manny Coshman.

Yes.

What was it like meeting him?

I signed up for one of his programs last in twenty twenty two and then I went went to one of his uh seminars in his new uh

new five hundred dollar mansion

what were some things you learned from him any takeaways uh yes so uh well he's uh you know an expert in commercial real estate so what I learned from him was

uh always

uh

you know follow some uh tips and uh red flags when you investing in real estate.

So So, for example,

it shouldn't be like one tenant.

So, if you're buying a real estate, it should be multi-tenant, it should be triple-net

because you don't want to be in charge of a lot of repair and cost and maintenance, right?

So, triple net is the best, and multi-tenants and the occupancy should be more than 70%

and less than 100%

because you want some meat on the bone.

And uh

locations is very important and also uh due diligence all the numbers so it should be uh the numbers the accounts should be reviewed the demographics uh within three miles five miles uh the household incomes th these are the facts should be considered right so you're getting you're taking some of your investment uh money from commercial and or from airlines into real estate right now?

Well, yeah, real estate is, you know, part of my

I do real estate.

I have a few properties in UK, in Dubai,

and I haven't invested here in the US yet because I'm new.

I moved to US in September 2022.

From the UK, right?

Yes, so I'm still learning.

Yeah.

And it's tough at the moment, so I'm keep looking for deals.

Interest rate, man.

Well, yes, yeah, exactly.

And in Florida, it's hard, it's hard to find a great deal because the cap rate is very low.

Right.

Do you like the UK or the US better?

I love the US.

Nice.

Yeah.

The reason I moved

from UK was weather.

One of the most reason I left UK.

I can't stay in cold weather anymore.

Too cold, man.

It rains there a lot, right?

Oh, yes.

Yeah, Miami is a big change.

Sure, you're cool.

I love Miami weather.

I love his, you know, some people complain about humidity, but, you know, I was born in humidity.

From Iran you said right?

Yes.

How long were you in Iran for?

Well I moved when I was 27.

Wow so a lot of time.

Yes yeah.

What's it like over there?

I've never heard anything about it so I don't know what to do.

Well it's a great country but at the moment a lot of things going on

so yeah.

Not safe.

Well I mean it's safe but it just all depends.

Things can go wrong.

I mean things can go wrong in anywhere, but

it's more,

you know, it more in

you it depends if you are you know Americans

so that might be tricky but still people travel and they don't have any problem.

It just depends.

Yeah.

You're in a good space because everyone's going to travel.

You know what I mean?

No matter what.

You got to get places.

So I feel like your industry might even be recession proof.

Yes.

Because you're catering to the top 1%,

which is always going to be there no matter if we're in a recession or not.

Yes.

Yeah.

So as I said before, our goal is to make a difference in terms of sustainability

because

there is a big difference if you organize a trip for a group of 13.

When I say 13, because

jets like Gulfstream, their minimum seat is 13.

So the minimum and maximum.

that's the best space you can get

so uh and it that's the difference if you travel as a group uh in one jet or you charter few jets or or a mix of child private and commercial so it helps the uh sustainability and carbon footprint and cost you know is uh there's in terms of environment the community around the airport it it makes a big difference nice win-wins all over the board well man it's been fun where can people find you find your companies and learn more about this well uh well we are on uh social media uh our website is jets100.com

we have instagram as instagram.com jets100 my instagram is one afshin

and we are on facebook linkedin

all over the places cool we'll link it in the video thanks so much for coming on man thank you very much for having me yeah thanks for watching guys, as always, and we will see you tomorrow.