Surf Air has raised about $11 million in capital, Mr. Eyerly said, from investors that include Velos Partners, Base Ventures and Anthem Ventures, as well as the actor Jared Leto and the developer Rick Caruso. The company has 60 employees, 25 of whom are pilots, and a fleet of three Pilatus PC-12 planes. Its membership is nearing 300, each of whom has made a three-month commitment.

It was not hard to see the lure recently when members arrived and departed from Burbank. It was possible to pull into the small parking lot outside the Atlantic Terminal, which is separate from the main terminal, walk a few dozen steps to the lobby, grab a snack from the concierge cart and walk out on the tarmac to board the plane. There were no tickets, no lines and no body scans. A valet parked the customers’ cars.

“It’s truly transformative for me on several levels,” said Heather Rafter, who runs her own small Bay Area law firm but travels frequently to Burbank to do business, visit children in college or attend concerts. She is an elite-level flier with United Airlines and Southwest, but because of early-booking requirements or change fees, her frequent flights are costly, she said.

“My whole brain is thinking differently,” Ms. Rafter said. “I do business development when I want, I do client meetings when I need to and if I forgot to come home for my daughter’s swim meet, I just come home without stressing about what it’s going to cost. I feel free in my personal and work life.”

For Surf Air, tapping into fliers’ dissatisfaction with the airline industry is the easy part. Making a profit at it is another matter. While Surf Air may be the first to adopt an all-you-can-fly fee structure on small aircraft on a narrow list of routes, others have tried elements of this model with limited success.

“It’s all a great selling proposition,” said Robert Mann, an airline industry analyst and former executive who helped American Airlines begin an all-you-can-fly pass in 1981. “The key is very few people make money doing it.”