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TRAVEL Bloomberg Pursuits August 3, 2020④ The real
divas are
personal
assistants
Cabin attendant AmberZdrakas is
quick to point out that celebsare
usually well-behaved—especially
singers. “When you work a concert
tour, youbecomepartoftheentou-
rage,”shesays.Sometimesshegets
invited backstage or, even better,
serenadedonboard.Thedutiescanbe
lessglamorous,too:Sheoncechauf-
feuredaforgotten teddy bear to an
ultrafamous (but very appreciative)
pop star’s hotel room.
Hands down, everyone’s most-loved
celebrity is a certain big-deal sitcom
actor who’s genuinely down-to-earth
and always knows her pilots’ names.
Her personal assistant, however, makes
the JetSuite team want to bang their
head against their desk.
As a general rule, famous flyers are
verywellliked.It’stheirPAswhoevoke
constantdread—they’reusuallyintheir
early30sandseemconstantlyupset,
saysZdrakas,whoaddsthat“85%of
thetimethey’remakingthesituation
wayworsethanit hastobe.”
Caseinpoint:PAs’demandsdon’t
often syncup totheir VIPs’actual
needs,Zdrakassays.Hyperspecific
itemsonriders—suchasallowingonly
bluehydrangeasontheplaneorhaving
a discoballhangingwhentheyboard—
arealwayshonored.Butmanyofthem,
especiallyrequeststhatcabincrewnot
makedirecteyecontactorspeakto
theirguests,areroutinelyoff-base.
Dietary considerations are the
biggestquagmire.Zdrakasconstantly
receives strict instructions from
assistantstoprovidecarb-freemeals—
onlytohavethebossshowupasking
fora pizza. Andonegluten-phobic
singer-actor will reliably scarf down
a burger, fries, and ranch dip—as
long as his health-conscious wife isn’t
there to see.⑤Luggage
getspushed
tothelimit
There’snopredictingwhatflyerswill
trytobringonboard.Theteamonce
droppeda clientinmiddle-of-nowhere
Arizonaonlytopickhimupa weeklater
witha 300-poundelk.Gettingit onthe
planerequiredon-sitebutcheryand
creative packing—elk antlers are huge!
Then there are shopping addicts who
use jets instead of FedEx, filling them
with goods for their second and third
homes. “A couple heading to their villa in
Cabo completely filled the aircraft with
TVs, blenders, irons, microwaves, and
even coat hangers,” says pilot Andrew
Adair. “High-tech TVs I get, but you
can definitely buy hangers in Mexico.”
Another pair tried to fly from St. Tropezwith more Louis Vuitton merch than
could fit on the plane. “We had to tell
them to pick their favorites and ship the
rest,” says Dufay, the charter sales head.⑥ Food, not
fuel, is the
most wasteful
aspect of
private flying
If fuel consumption is private aviation’s
most egregious offense, food waste is
its most surreptitious one, as com-
panies strive to accommodate every
dietary whim. International safety rules
expressly forbid the arrival of most food
items upon landing in the U.S., which
means that all the provisions stocked to