How realistic was Vinnie Chase’s Marquis Jet experience? On a recent episode of the HBO series Entourage, a canceled flight leaves star Vincent Chase and his buddies stranded just as they’re headed to Cannes for the film festival. What’s talent agent Ari Gold’s bold move? He barks to assistant Lloyd: “Call my boy Kenny Dichter over at Marquis Jet.”

Marquis Jet has no available planes on Ari’s short notice, so the agent pleads unsuccessfully with director Sydney Pollack for a ride in his Marquis Jet Gulfstream IV. The boys luck into celeb-buddy Kanye West, who agrees to give them a lift to Cannes on his Boeing Business Jet.

Though Entourage is fully fictional, Marquis Jet and its celebrity clients are the real deal. Marquis Jet founder/CEO Kenny Dichter is quite real and must be extremely pleased. The placement of Marquis Jet is breath-taking and a coup for the jet card pioneer. That’s saying a lot for Entourage, where no scene is complete until the camera caresses somebody’s logo: Apple, Cisco, Motorola, Aston-Martin, and on. The show’s plugs bear the grace and nuance of Johnny Drama’s method acting.

Marquis Jet’s presence spans nearly the entire episode, featuring Pollack and West solely as Marquis Jet customers. There are several interior and exterior shots of a Boeing Business Jet from partner NetJets’ fleet.

The episode accurately presents key aspects of the service: the jet you want when you want it. The Boeing Business Jet is indeed part of the Marquis Jet & NetJets fleet (see Halogen Guides’ profile of this service here). When Vinnie’s best pal Eric mentions a $200,000 round-trip cost, he’s in the ballpark for a lesser jet, but well south of Kanye’s spend on the Boeing Business Jet.

Amidst the travel crisis on Entourage, the plotline correctly reveals that even Ari Gold cannot simply summon forth from the NetJets fleet. Marquis Jet generally requires ten hours notice.

Finally, any behavior with respect to flight attendants is all Hollywood. Or so we’re told.

One notable aspect is the group’s selective use of private jets. An international commercial trip may be fine on a top-notch foreign carrier, but for routine domestic travel, private jets tend to offer a stronger payoff. As one non-fictional flyer tells us: “If I’m flying international, my day’s shot whether I go commercial or not. So I fill my briefcase, bring some headphones and go first class. But if it’s a two-hour domestic flight, the difference between commercial and private is huge.” This portfolio approach to private jets has become more commonplace.

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