First, you’ll need to spend $4,495 to join Tailwind Air’s brand-new members club, Fast Lane Club Plus. And then get a little lucky.
(Bloomberg) — This summer, you may be able to fly to the Hamptons for as little as $1. It will take some luck and an upfront investment to unlock such a steal. But it will be possible.
The deal is built into a new membership program from Tailwind Air, a small fleet of amphibious Cessna eight-seaters that flies from Manhattan’s Skyport (NYS), on East 23rd St., to East Hampton, New York (HTO); Boston Harbor’s Fan Pier (BNH); Provincetown (PVC) and Nantucket (ACK) in Massachusetts; as well as several other destinations. Called Fast Lane Club Plus, the program costs $4,495 per year to join and includes unlimited discounted seats on scheduled flights among all nine destinations the airline serves, plus last-minute access to unsold seats for a buck.
“Our system won’t let us sell these tickets for free,” explains the company’s co-founder and executive vice president, Peter Manice. “We’re required by law to collect certain required federal taxes.” Hence the nominal price tag, which is typically a $1 fare with approximately $4 in additional taxes.
The membership—a twist on a conventional loyalty program—was inspired in part by Frontier Airlines, which this year announced an all-you-can-fly annual pass that costs $1,999. That program allows users to cash in on free domestic flights that depart within 24 hours or international flights leaving within 10 days. Like Frontier, Tailwind sees its club as a way to move unsold inventory. Reservations for the $1 seats will open up between 24 to 36 hours of departure.
“The program is certainly not for everybody,” Manice says. “If you need to be somewhere on a specific day, you’re not going to want to roll the dice this way. But if you have personal flexibility to pick and choose when you want to fly, it’s going to be a great value.”
Manice anticipates last-minute availability will be greatest between New York and Boston, a 70-minute, twice-daily route frequented by business travelers. “Maybe you’re the boss and you can choose when to come in, or maybe you’re a retiree coming down to Manhattan to see your daughter spontaneously,” says Manice. “We’re running these flights anyway, so we might as well get more people on them.”
It should also be easy to get a deal if you’re flying between Boston and Nantucket, a new daily route that will be building its audience from scratch this summer.
Regardless of the destination, it’s worth noting that Tailwind’s Cessnas are small planes which means they have small cargo holds. Regular passengers are restricted to 20 pounds of carry-on luggage; Fast Lane Club Plus members are allotted 30 lbs as an added courtesy.
And while members can book one companion seat on any Tailwind flight, Tailwind will cap those bookings to three flights per friend. (In other words, you can bring a single guest on any flight, but your partner could only come three times before they’d have to get their own membership.)
If you need to plan further out, “member rates” represent savings of 34% to 66%, depending on the route. The cheapest two are Manhattan to Bridgeport, Connecticut, and Boston to Plymouth, Massachusetts—they cost $35 each way (compared to $75 for nonmembers). Manhattan to East Hampton or Provincetown, by contrast, is $695 each way (compared to regular rates of $1,095 to $1,195).
Flights between Manhattan and Boston are the most steeply discounted, running $295 each way (nonmembers would pay $895). The rates are valid until at least Sept. 30, without specified blackout dates.
As for scoring that $1 seat to the Hamptons?
“There will certainly be flights with availability there,” Manice says. The trick will be figuring out when. “If you’re wanting to go out to East Hampton 4 o’clock on a Friday, I’d venture to guess that’s a pretty big crapshoot,” he says with a laugh. “Wednesdays may be more likely.”
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