I think we can all agree that airports can be absolute hell at times. The notion of them being a parallel of purgatory is patently false. They are a submersion into the depths of the nether; of a Hieronymus Bosch painting. Even ‘simply’ getting to the airport is never straightforward: either the cab driver has decided to chew your ear off with mindless and irrelevant nonsense, or he’s sat-nav inept. I’m unsure as to which is worse. Then when you get there, there are the incessant queues. There’s the irritating demand to take off your boots, jewellery and remove laptop from its pouch. There’s the plethora of screaming, snotty and snivelling children who take joy in crashing into your shins only to then disappear into Duty Free, (hopefully) never to be seen again. They’re quite simply some of the the most uncivilised places on earth, and they dangerously increase one’s desire for hard alcohol once eventually boarded and seated. A recurring double measure of gin, tonic and thinly sliced lime, thankfully, does the trick.
You might well ask yourself — in addition to “who thef***is running this place?” — wouldn't it be wonderful if there was an app like Uber for air travel? An app that cuts out the endless queues, departure gate waits and general unpleasantries? Well, thankfully there is one: JetSmarter.
The mobile app and tech world is a space whereThe Rakerarely tread, but when it benefits your sanity and travel plans, is relevant and blissful, it is quite simply our duty. Founded in 2013, the JetSmarter app-based subscription service allows you to either charter your own private jet, or share a seat on a jet with another user. But one element of the romance attached to JetSmarter is that above all it’s a social experience, not just a means of getting from A to B. “Members only have to arrive fifteen minutes before take-off,” JetSmarter’s CEO Sergey Petrossov tells me, and he says that flying with JetSmarter is an insurance that you are to be on board with like-minded individuals. “Or top models,” Petrossov adds “travelling from city to city for different photoshoots and fashion shows.” Where do I sign?
