Terms of service

Encore is a service of Encore Diversified, 10105 E Via Linda, Ste 103-1183, Scottsdale, AZ 85258. You can reach us at flights@encorediversified.com or (623) 227-6688.

Encore is not an air carrier. We do not own, operate, lease, crew or control any aircraft. Every flight arranged through this site is performed by an independent, FAA-certificated direct air carrier. That carrier exercises full operational control of the flight, which means every decision about airworthiness, crew, fuel, routing, weather, delay, diversion and whether the flight departs at all belongs to them and to the pilot in command. Nothing we say to you overrides that, and nothing you agree with us obliges an aircraft to fly.

Before an operator can see a single trip on this site we check their FAA Part 135 certificate, their U.S. Department of Transportation Part 298 air taxi registration and a current certificate of liability insurance. We suspend an operator's access the day any of those lapses.

A trip listed on this site is a group of travelers who want to go the same way. Until a specific flight has been cleared for sale, it is an expression of demand and not an offer of transportation — no price is shown, no seat can be bought and no money changes hands. When a flight is cleared, a price and a way to pay appear on its page, and only then.

When you start or join a trip you tell us the most you would pay for one seat. That maximum tells us — and the carriers looking at the trip — what the group is worth. It is not itself a purchase and it does not by itself authorise any charge.

Everyone on a flight pays the same price. That price is the charter total the operator agreed, divided by the seats sold. It is calculated as described on our How it works page. It will never exceed the maximum you set, and with enough travelers it comes in below it.

The price can fall after you have paid. It never rises. The charter total is fixed when the operator accepts the flight, so if further seats sell before departure that same total is divided among more passengers. The price per seat falls for everyone on the manifest and the difference — including the corresponding part of our service fee — is credited to each passenger and refunded to the card they paid with. Credits accrue as seats sell and are refunded in a single payment after the flight has departed, normally reaching your card within five business days of that.

You may raise your maximum, or cancel an unmatched request, at any time before a flight matches. You may not lower your maximum, because operators price against the demand shown on the board and a ceiling that can be walked back is not demand.

We may decline a maximum that is too low to fly. A ceiling below what a repositioning leg costs cannot produce a flight, and a board full of such requests misrepresents demand to the operators reading it.

Aircraft size is not guaranteed until an operator commits one. Before that, seat counts shown on this site are estimates based on the aircraft that could serve the route. If the operator who takes a flight brings a smaller cabin than the trip has passengers for, not everyone on the trip will fly. Seats are allocated by the clearing rule described above; travelers who are not seated are not charged, are told why, and their request returns to the board.

No card is taken when you start or join a trip. We ask for a card only when a carrier has committed an aircraft, the flight has been cleared for sale, and there is a seat and a price in front of you.

At that point you pay the clearing price for your seats plus Encore's service fee, which is 8% of the seat price with a minimum of $49 per seat. The fee is always shown as its own line before you pay and is never folded into the seat price. If the seat price falls, the fee falls with it and the difference is refunded alongside the rest.

Card payments are processed by Stripe. We do not receive, store or have access to your full card number. Prices are in U.S. dollars. Government taxes and fees imposed on air transportation, including federal excise tax and per-passenger segment fees, are included in the price shown to you.

If your card declines when a flight matches, your seat is held while we contact you, but a seat we cannot collect payment for may be released to another traveler.

Before a flight is confirmed: free, always. Cancel an unmatched request at any time, for any reason, at no cost. A request that never matches expires quietly and your card is never charged.

After a flight is confirmed: bookings are non-refundable. When an operator accepts a flight they commit an aircraft, a crew and an airport slot on the strength of the confirmed manifest. Cancellation by you after that point, for any reason, does not entitle you to a refund. This does not affect the price-drop refunds described in section 2, which are automatic and are not cancellations.

If we or the operator cancel, you get everything back. Weather, mechanical, crew duty limitations, airspace, or any other reason — you receive a full refund of everything you paid, including the service fee. This is the one outcome we guarantee unconditionally.

Delays and diversions. Departure times are set by the operator and can move. A change of departure time, of departure or arrival airport within the same metropolitan area, or of aircraft type is not a cancellation and does not create a refund. If a change is significant enough that the flight no longer does what you booked it to do, contact us and we will deal with it as a cancellation.

We are not liable for your other arrangements. Private flights are delayed and cancelled for the same reasons airline flights are. Do not book connections, events or hotels on the assumption that a flight will depart on time, and buy travel insurance if the consequences of a delay matter to you.

No-shows. A passenger who is not at the airport at the time the operator requires is not entitled to a refund, and the aircraft will not wait.

Some flights on this site are chartered by a private individual who is selling the seats they are not using. Those listings name the host and show the aircraft and the charter company operating it.

If you are buying a seat on one: the price is set by the host and does not change — the price-drop rule in section 2 does not apply, because there is no charter total being divided. Encore is the seller of that seat and your contract for it is with us. The flight is operated by the carrier named on the listing, who exercises operational control exactly as on any other flight.

If you are the host: you warrant that the charter exists, that you are the charterer of it, and that the details you gave us are accurate. You keep the full per-seat price you set — our service fee is charged to the buyer on top and is not deducted from your side. Money for seats sold is paid to you after the aircraft has departed. You are responsible for telling your charter company that you are sharing the aircraft, and for providing passenger names and weights for their manifest.

If a host's own charter is cancelled or changed, every passenger who bought a seat on it is refunded in full by us, and the host is paid nothing for those seats. A host who repeatedly lists flights that do not operate loses access.

Accurate details. Give us real names as they appear on government ID, a working email and phone number, and honest passenger weights when we ask for them. Weights are a safety input, not a formality — an aircraft loaded on bad numbers is an aircraft loaded wrongly. Deliberately false information voids your booking without refund.

Identification. Every passenger must carry government-issued photo ID and present it if asked. Passengers under 18 must travel with a responsible adult unless the operator agrees otherwise in advance.

Baggage. Small aircraft have hard limits on weight and volume. Tell us in advance about skis, golf clubs, instruments, pets or anything unusual. The operator decides what can be carried and may refuse baggage at the aircraft.

Conduct. You are sharing a small cabin with people you have not met. Behave accordingly. The operator may refuse carriage to anyone who is intoxicated, abusive, or in their judgement unsafe, and no refund is due in that case. Prohibited items — firearms, hazardous materials, anything illegal — are the operator's rules to enforce and yours to obey.

Your account and codes. The booking codes we email you are how your flight is accessed. Treat them as private.

Fair use. Do not scrape the site, submit requests you do not intend to fly, or use the marketplace to advertise anything. We may remove requests and suspend access without notice for any of these.

Operators who bid through Encore warrant that they hold a current FAA Part 135 certificate and DOT economic authority appropriate to the operation, that they carry liability insurance meeting or exceeding the limits stated in their application, and that they will notify us immediately if any of that changes.

A bid is an offer to fly the whole aircraft for a stated charter total. Encore is under no obligation to accept any bid. Once accepted, the charter total is fixed; seats that sell afterwards do not change what the operator is paid, and do not entitle the operator to additional compensation.

Operators see travelers' names, routes, dates and prices in order to fly them. That information is provided for the operation of the flight and for no other purpose. Using it to solicit Encore travelers directly ends the relationship.

Encore arranges transportation. We do not perform it. Our liability to you for any claim arising out of a flight or the arrangement of one is limited to the amount you paid us for that flight.

Claims about the flight itself — its conduct, safety, delay, injury, or damage to or loss of baggage — lie against the operating air carrier, not against Encore. Their liability is governed by their contract of carriage and by applicable law. We will give you their details and help you reach them.

To the fullest extent the law allows, neither party is liable to the other for indirect, incidental, special or consequential damages, including lost profits, missed connections, missed events or lost opportunity, however caused. Nothing in these terms limits liability for death or personal injury caused by negligence, for fraud, or for anything else that cannot lawfully be limited.

The site is provided as it is. We work hard on the prices and estimates shown, but a price estimate is an estimate, an aircraft suggestion is a suggestion, and neither is a guarantee that any flight will be available at any price.

Talk to us first. Most problems are a phone call. Email flights@encorediversified.com or call (623) 227-6688 and give us thirty days to put it right before starting formal proceedings. We will do the same for you.

These terms are governed by the laws of the State of Arizona, without regard to its conflict-of-laws rules. Any dispute that cannot be resolved between us will be brought in the state or federal courts located in Maricopa County, Arizona, and both of us consent to that jurisdiction.

If any provision of these terms is found unenforceable, the rest continues to apply. Our failure to enforce a provision is not a waiver of it.

We may update these terms. The date at the top always reflects the current version. Material changes will be emailed to anyone with a live request or booking at least fourteen days before they take effect. The terms that govern a booking are the ones in force when you made it, not the ones on this page today.

A note on where this stands: Encore is a young company and these terms describe a service that is still being built. Where the site and this page disagree, tell us — the answer is that one of them is wrong and we would like to know which.