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Delta will now let you upgrade your flight to a private jet, if you're extremely lucky

Delta will now let you upgrade your flight to a private jet, if you're extremely lucky

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Private aircraft are typically the exclusive playground of millionaires and billionaires, but Delta is rolling out a new program that might — might — put them within reach of the normals.

The airline is going to start offering private jet upgrades for $300 to $800 to Medallion members (Delta's name for its frequent flyers), but only if the stars align: there needs to be an aircraft that's going to be sitting unused near their starting point, which can happen if, say, someone takes a chartered flight and there's no return flight planned. The upgrade "includes transportation to the airport's private aviation area and complimentary on-board catering," which presumably means something slightly better than a bag of peanuts.

The catering might not suck

The process of upgrading a passenger from a regular airline flight to a private jet is so complicated that Delta's press release notes that it's patent-pending. A big part of that mess is availability: Bloomberg Business reports that the customers of its private jet subsidiary Delta Private Jets can request aircraft anywhere in their operating footprint with as little as 10 hours' notice, which complicates the upgrading of the non-wealthy more than a few hours in advance (though some upgrades will come through as many as two days before the flight).

Regardless, considering the limited size of Delta's private jet fleet and the fact that its actual charter customers will always come first, this will be the rarest of opportunities — but if it ever does come through for you, you can check Delta Private Jets' site to see exactly how many golf bags your ride will hold.