[T2_t2]

Not really. Buffett bought a jet, after calling it indefensible for years, and actually named it The Indefensible.

I reckon it is a good investment for many CEOs. There time is worth FAR MORE to their companies than whatever a jet costs to run, the saved time is invaluable as is the clarity that comes with better conditions when flying.

[CalChris]

Buffett, yes. But I remember talking to a group secretary who'd been an executive secretary in the Dot Com heyday. She flew to Paris on the Concorde for bi-weekly meetings.

Cuz it was important.

[eschutte2]

A major advantage to buying a jet is depreciation.

[dwaltrip]

How much time does owning a jet actually save?

[bilbobagends]

Door to door from NYC to NC is about 4hrs best case commercial and 2hrs private (Teterboro). Longer distance saves less as a percentage.

[karthikb]

It's not just door to door time, but schedule flexibility. Not every route has a direct flight, multiple flights per day, etc.

Many people schedule meetings to end right before they have to leave for the airport and catch the last flight back home for another important meeting the next day. Would prefer that someone making decisions impacting the livelihoods of thousands of people each day is focused on the issue at hand, not catching the next flight.

[sjg007]

Because video conferencing is so 1990s

[sokoloff]

I am a [piston-engine] pilot (only use mine for business a few times/year; most is personal/family travel). However, I spend a lot of time with other entrepreneur pilots and many believe that their airplane is instrumental in their business.

Being able to show up, in-person, walk around, shake hands, interview the customer, look them in the eye, walk their factory floor or otherwise see things first hand and then still make it home to put the kids in bed is far more impression setting than dialing into a video call.

What little I've used mine for business, being able to be out and back the same day, direct, makes it more likely that I'll bother to show up (vs call or visit annually). Video conferences are better than phone calls, but a poor substitute for an in-person visit.

[bartread]

Because video conferencing, at least the kind that most of us can afford without specialist equipment, is still annoyingly unreliable in 2017.

Not saying every meeting has technical issues, or even most of them, but some do and finding a technology that everyone who needs to be in the meeting can use given different corporate standards is a PITA.

It's still also no substitute for meeting face to face over the long term.

[bilbobagends]

He changed the name to the Indispensable.