FlyUSA Launches $100 Million Jet Card Recovery Program for Flyers with Stranded Prepaid Funds

FlyUSA, a U.S.-based private jet charter and aircraft operator, announced a Jet Card Recovery Program on September 16, 2026, making up to $100 million in promotional flight credits available to private flyers who have lost access to prepaid funds held by other aviation providers.

Under the program, qualifying customers do not make a new prepaid deposit. Instead they pay for flights as they book them and earn a 20% rebate in FlyUSA flight credits on qualifying flight spend, accumulating until the credits reach a face value equal to up to 100% of the customer's verified stranded balance. FlyUSA gave an example: a customer with a $100,000 verified stranded balance would need to spend $500,000 on qualifying FlyUSA flights to earn $100,000 in flight credits. Participants also receive a complimentary FlyUSA Gold Membership, which the company values at $4,995. "Someone who has already had a significant amount of money stranded with a private aviation provider shouldn't have to make another six-figure deposit just to start flying again," said Barry Shevlin, CEO of FlyUSA. "We're not asking them to trust another company with a large prepaid balance. They can pay as they go, and we'll earn their trust one flight at a time."

The program was announced one day after Private Jet Card Comparisons reported that private jet broker ONEflight International was pausing flights for at least 30 days, potentially affecting customers with prepaid balances. FlyUSA operates aircraft under its own FAA Part 135 certificate and offers aircraft management, charter, maintenance, and 24/7 operational support, and it also sources aircraft through a nationwide network for trips requiring aircraft outside its managed fleet. FlyUSA stated that the $100 million figure represents the aggregate maximum face value of promotional flight credits potentially available under the program and does not represent cash held, reserved, or escrowed for participants; it does not assume, purchase, guarantee, or repay obligations owed by a participant's previous aviation provider, and eligibility is subject to verification, availability, program limits, and applicable terms.

The jet card and prepaid-deposit model depends on customers trusting an operator to hold large sums against future flying, and a pause in operations at one provider exposes how little protection those balances carry if the holder halts service. FlyUSA's response avoids that exposure entirely by requiring no new deposit: customers pay per flight and earn credit back, shifting the risk from a lump-sum prepayment to a spend-based rebate that only pays out as flying actually happens.

That structure also means the $100 million figure is a ceiling on potential promotional credits, not a fund set aside for claimants, and FlyUSA has been explicit that it takes on no obligation for what another provider owes. The program works only if enough affected customers choose to fly enough with FlyUSA to unlock meaningful credit, so its real value to any one flyer depends on how much flying they can commit to redo elsewhere.

What happens next hinges on how ONEflight International's situation resolves and whether other brokers holding prepaid balances face similar pauses, since each new case tests whether pay-as-you-go rebate offers can meaningfully substitute for money that customers cannot currently access.