First of all, yes it’s true. And second of all, no, there’s not a catch. It’s just the latest benefit of being a member of Inspirato Pass. I’ve actually been ready for Inspirato to do something new and surprising for its members. They have been consistent over the past 18 months that I’ve been a member with regularly adding value to the Inspirato Pass program. What they are now offering through the Inspirato and Wheels Up partnership is next level. It’s time for all Inspirato Pass members to start adding Wheels Up into their regular travel routines. And how about $17,500 to jumpstart that effort?! I’ll do my best to explain all of this as I just learned about this partnership and promotion through a joint Zoom meeting with Inspirato and Wheels Up where they invited all of their members to take part and hear about this exciting new benefit.
Now, flying private is expensive. There is simply no way around that fact. It’s not for everyone. Shoot, I wish I could say it was something our family routinely did, but that’s not the case…well, not yet at least. All that to say, this partnership does not make flying private reasonable, BUT what it does do is make it extremely convenient and converts flying private into a tremendous value proposition. True story.
I won’t get too deep into the Wheels Up membership details. Your Inspirato Team can do a much better job of that anyway. I’m just going to focus on the value to be received by Inspirato Pass members. The most valuable non-corporate type of Wheels Up membership is called Core Membership, and here are some relevant points about Core:
- $17,500 Initiation Fee
- Annual fee of $8,500
- Pay as you fly, i.e. no minimum hours commitment (hourly rates vary depending on type of plane, schedule, etc)
- Shared Flights – gives you the option to propose flights or join flights of other members to greatly reduce cost
- Shuttle Flights – purchase individual seats on scheduled private flights to and from popular events for a nominal cost
- Hot Flights – Okay, this one seems insane and so fun! View and purchase one-way empty-leg flights on jets, turboprops, and helicopters at a fraction of the cost for the entire aircraft! It’s all very last minute, but sounds like it could be a lot of fun for us Inspirato members that love nothing more to jump on a plane and do a spontaneous trip with little notice!
Now, here’s the deal for Inspirato Pass members
- $17,500 Initiation Fee – WAIVED
- 6 months of free Core Membership
- Pay only the $8,500 of regular member dues after the 6 month promotion period
- You must make 6 Inspirato Pass payments or prepay 6 months of memberships to qualify for this offer
So let’s take that $17,500 and put in right back into some flight hours! I already have my Inspirato Team working on getting me signed up for this. I think our first trip with Wheels Up might be a quick weekender in Scottsdale or perhaps a few days up in San Fran. Our family schedule is absolutely nuts these days, so I’d be thrilled to sneak in a weekend getaway with the fam. Flying with Wheels Up makes a quick weekender so much more feasible as we won’t be wasting all of the time arriving early at the airport, going through security line, waiting forever for our flight, etc. That, in itself, is something to get excited about.
Now, in fairness, let me put together a list of all of the other options out there for Wheels Up partnerships that allow members to have their initiation fee waived for a Core membership:
- ….Okay wait, hold on a sec
- I’m doing some research…
- Still looking…
- Oh, I got it…
- It turns out there are NO other ways to get this promotion! This is exclusive to Inspirato Pass members!
My hat’s off to the Inspirato and Wheels Up teams. This is a coup for both companies. Inspirato is able to provide an amazing benefit to its clients, while at the same time Wheels Up gets instant access to a community of potential clients who are proven to travel often and travel well. This, my friends, is a solid partnership. And we are the fortunate ones who get to benefit from its fruit.
If you are an Inspirato Pass member already, reach out to your Team and get your Core Membership all dialed in. If your not yet a Pass member, reach out to my contact Chelsea at Inspirato stat, and she’ll get you all set up with Inspirato Pass. You can email her here.
Happy travels!
And just maybe we’ll bump into each other on a shared Wheels Up flight in the near future! Or perhaps we’ll end up sitting at the right hand of Wheels Up ambassador and G.O.A.T on a flight some day. However, I somehow doubt TB does the shared flight option too often 🙂
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