WhatsApp charters anger FAA

opinion

by Yves Le Marquand

September 22, 2025

A small part of you dies when you get a notification from some WhatsApp groups (including our work one). But a growing number of charter customers are choosing to join WhatsApp and Telegram groups to buy seats on private jet flights.

The FAA says it has had enough. “Illegal air charters pose a serious safety hazard to the traveling public,” an FAA spokesperson told CJI. “It’s important that people verify the legitimacy of their charter operator before booking their flight, and the FAA has tools to help passengers do that.

“Legitimate charters require a higher level of FAA pilot training and qualification, aircraft maintenance and operational safety rules. Illegal charter operators do not follow these robust safety requirements.”

There is no hard data, but anecdotally, post-pandemic, sales by the seat on charter flights have increased significantly as new entrants to the industry, as well as existing users, look for ways to save.

“Aircraft are expensive,” David Hernandez, shareholder at Vedder Price, tells us. “If you can get someone to split that cost with you, it is a very tempting way to save thousands of dollars.”

Illegal charter is defined as any flight for payment that lacks proper safety certifications. But there are various levels of operations that fall within the umbrella.

Some groups advertise seats on flights operated by fractional operators. “That is absolutely illegal under the terms of every fractional contract. You can’t resell fractional flights,” says Hernandez.

Then there are aircraft owners who may offer others to join them on a flight which they are already planning to conduct. Likening this to crowdsourcing, Hernandez says this can be “more problematic.”

“These are what I call ‘private illegal charter’. At least with big fractionals you know that the flight is being operated by someone more reputable with the proper certifications and safeguards,” he explains.

Finally, there are the charter bookers who are looking to spread the cost of chartering. “They’re the ‘fake it til you make it’ guys. They need someone to come in with them because they really can’t afford $20,000 to $30,000 each way,” says Hernandez.

“That is the scariest because it is hard to figure out whether there is any due diligence going on. People just hop on and expect it to be safe,” he adds.

Even legal charters can fall foul of regulations when passengers advertise seats. Jeffrey Reis, founder of MyFlight Advisor, says advertising seats runs into Part 380 public charter rules, which require posting bonds, publishing schedules and contracting with certified carriers.

“These individuals hold out much like an airline does, but that comes with a very specific set of rules,” he says.

The key issue is “holding out”. Publicly advertising seats counts as holding out, but private members-only groups occupy a grey area. “That’s why some companies restrict access and argue it isn’t public,” says Reis. Violating Part 135 (illegal charter) and Part 380 (holding out) are separate offences, though often conflated.

The biggest issue the FAA has in tackling the use of private messaging groups for seat selling is that regulations only apply to operators, aircraft and pilots.

Without jurisdiction the agency is focusing on outreach — through social media, collaboration with regulators and publishing lists of licensed operators. It has also created a Special Emphasis Investigations Team to pursue complex cases and issue fines.

Despite this action, illegal charter incidents are potentially occurring more than ever. Hernandez says there could be hundreds of “scams” going on right now, but they never end up in court due to their illegality.

“When every Part 135 or Part 91 flight lands at Naples or Opa-locka, have an FAA inspector on the runway to ask about the nature of the flight,” he suggests. “Every flight plan is filed with the FAA. If it’s Part 135, they know the passengers. But if it’s Part 91, all you have to do is focus on the flights. Look at the flight plans, and if the names of the passengers aren’t related, that’s a red flag.”