• Jet Linx jet card sales are up 65 percent year-to-date, with summer flight activity up 5.8 percent over last year

• Flights to Westhampton Beach have tripled year over year; Nantucket is up 42 percent; San Antonio has doubled

• The median booking window has fallen from 13 days to 10, with a quarter of summer flights booked within four days of departure

• Nearly a third of summer flights carried five or more passengers, pointing to multigenerational travel

The wealthiest travelers in America are flying private more than ever, and paying for it differently. Data from Jet Linx, the private aviation company operating private terminals in 22 markets, shows jet card sales up 65 percent year-to-date and summer flight activity up 5.8 percent over last year, driven by a customer the company calls the frugal wealthy: buyers of access rather than aircraft, spending on value rather than vanity.

The geography tells its own story. Flights to Westhampton Beach have tripled year over year, confirming the Hamptons' pull has strengthened rather than faded, while Nantucket is up 42 percent. The bigger surprise is Texas: San Antonio flights have doubled, Houston is up 24 percent, and Dallas up 10 percent, a reminder that private aviation growth is no longer a coastal phenomenon.

According to Jet Linx, the new private flyer is roughly a decade younger than the traditional customer, converted during the airline disruptions of recent years and never returned to the terminal. The planning window has compressed to match: the median booking is now made 10 days out, down from 13, and a quarter of summer flights are booked within four days of departure. Spontaneity, once the most expensive luxury in travel, is becoming the default expectation.

Nearly a third of summer flights carried five or more passengers, which Jet Linx reads as multigenerational travel: grandparents, parents, and children moving as one unit, splitting a cabin the way an earlier generation split a beach house. Executive Chairman Jamie Walker's team sees the pattern as structural rather than seasonal.

Private aviation's growth story used to be about aircraft. This summer's data says it is about behavior: younger, faster, more communal, and unapologetically practical. The frugal wealthy did not trade down; they renegotiated what the money is for. The full data set is available from Jet Linx.