Chapter 10: Flying Private — Summary and Analysis

⚠️ Spoiler Warning: This guide contains detailed spoilers for the entire novel. Proceed only if you've finished reading or are comfortable knowing the plot.

Summary

Chapter 10 opens with a blunt confession: Olga has already profited from Richard Eikenborn III before ever meeting him, extracting somewhere between $20,000 and $30,000 from his accounts through administrative fees, product markups, and a cleverly engineered late-fee clause. That clause, which she considers a stroke of brilliance, came to her during a Sunday dinner at Tío Richie's house on Long Island. A cousin complained about credit card late fees compounding with interest, and Richie lectured about fiscal responsibility. Olga realized her wealthy clients had the money to pay on time but never did—only the first and last checks arrived promptly, what she calls the motivation payments. When she called to remind clients, they grew annoyed; one father of the groom even accused her of implying he was trying to stiff her.

Her solution was to behave like a credit card company. She added a clause to her contract, buried in fine print, charging a daily fee for late payments—calculated as a percentage of the total fee, under 1 percent, so it seemed nominal. After fifteen days, she would auto-charge their card on file. She expected pushback, but discovered the ultra-rich hate talking about money even more than they hate spending it. One client asked about the fee, and when Olga pointed to item 26a in the contract, he apologized and hung up.

The Eikenborns exemplify this contradiction. Mrs. Eikenborn happily spends on luxury bathroom trailers, fine wine, oysters, Kobe beef, and custom tuxedos for the bride's two dogs, yet balks at feeding the staff who install tents and lighting and complains about the photographer needing breaks. She once booked Olga on a double layover to save $200 on a $750,000 event, turning a two-hour flight into a six-hour ordeal. When Olga and Meegan arrive, the guest cottage is under repair, so they share a drafty, twin-bedded room next to the bride's suite, whispering complaints in the dark.

For the food tasting, Olga refuses to let them book her travel and suggests billing them back. The bride, Victoria, insists Olga fly with her father on his private jet, framing it as saving money and reducing the wedding's carbon footprint. Olga has come to detest Victoria, whose sense of style is beige and whose social justice monologues—about women's inequity in Ecuador or Yemen—strike Olga as hypocritical, especially given how the family treats the people who work for them.

Olga rides to Teterboro, trying to meditate rather than be irritated, focusing on the hilarity of the ultra-wealthy being penny-wise about human sweat and dollar-foolish about everything else. She boards the Legacy jet promptly, but Richard Eikenborn III does not arrive for two hours. She grows hungry and desperate to use the bathroom but refuses, wanting him to see that he kept a person whose time is also valuable waiting. In her mind, he becomes increasingly homely. When he finally arrives, she barks at him about the point of flying private if you still wait on the tarmac, then rushes to the bathroom, thinking: that is one fine white man.

Within fifteen minutes of takeoff, their mutual desire is understood. Forty-five minutes in, she rationalizes the lust as a counterbalance for the despicable behavior of his wife and child. By landing, they have planned a nightcap at her hotel. Afterwards, she wonders whether she would have made the same choice had they booked her direct.

Key Events

Olga's late-fee clause is explained: a daily charge under 1 percent of the total fee, auto-charged after fifteen days, inspired by a cousin's credit card complaints at Tío Richie's dinner.
The Eikenborns book Olga on a double layover to save $200 on a $750,000 event, turning a two-hour flight into six hours.
The guest cottage is under repair, forcing Olga and Meegan to share a drafty room next to the bride's suite.
Victoria insists Olga fly with her father on his private jet for the food tasting, citing cost savings and carbon footprint reduction.
Olga waits two hours on the tarmac at Teterboro, refusing to use the bathroom so Richard will see she has been kept waiting.
Richard Eikenborn III arrives; Olga and he immediately recognize mutual desire, plan a nightcap, and Olga later questions her choice.

Character Development

Olga reveals her business pragmatism and her willingness to exploit the very systems that exploit her. The late-fee clause shows she has learned to treat her labor as a commodity and her clients as marks. Her refusal to use the bathroom while waiting on the tarmac is a small act of resistance—she wants Richard to acknowledge her time has value. Yet her immediate attraction to him, and her rationalization of that attraction as a counterbalance to his family's behavior, shows how easily her principles bend when desire is involved. Her final question—whether she would have made the same choice had they booked her direct—reveals genuine self-reflection about whether her decisions are driven by resentment or by genuine want.

Richard Eikenborn III is introduced almost entirely through Olga's perception. He is wealthy, late, and initially imagined as homely, but his physical presence upends her expectations. His willingness to engage in a flirtation with the wedding planner suggests a man comfortable crossing boundaries, though the chapter keeps his interiority opaque.

Victoria is sketched as a hypocrite: passionate about global inequity in her professional life, yet oblivious to how her family treats the workers who make her wedding possible. Her insistence that flying private reduces the carbon footprint is a pointed example of self-deception.

Themes, Symbols, or Motifs

Commodification of time. Olga's late-fee clause treats her time as billable in a way her clients never do. The double layover and the two-hour tarmac wait are both assertions of power: the Eikenborns show they do not value her time, and Richard shows he does not value hers either—until desire changes the calculus.

Penny-wise, dollar-foolish spending. The Eikenborns spend lavishly on objects and experiences but resent paying people. This motif recurs throughout the chapter, from the $200 savings on a $750,000 event to Mrs. Eikenborn's refusal to feed the staff.

The private jet as status symbol and stage. The jet is both a symbol of wealth and the setting for a power play. Olga's wait on the tarmac inverts the usual dynamic: the person with the least status makes the wealthiest man wait to see her.

Sexual transaction as counterbalance. Olga explicitly frames her desire as a rationalization—a way to balance the ledger against the family's exploitation. The chapter leaves open whether this is genuine desire or a form of revenge.

Hypocrisy of social justice advocacy. Victoria's human rights monologues contrast sharply with her family's treatment of workers, underscoring the gap between performative concern and actual behavior.

Why This Chapter Matters

This chapter deepens Olga's characterization as a woman who navigates the wedding industry's excess by adopting its logic. Her late-fee scheme is a small act of rebellion, a way to reclaim value from clients who treat her as invisible. But the chapter also complicates that rebellion: her attraction to Richard Eikenborn III suggests that even her resistance is entangled with the very world she resents. The final question—whether she would have made the same choice had they booked her direct—invites readers to consider how much of her behavior is strategic and how much is reactive. It also sets up a relationship that will likely have consequences for the rest of the novel.

Study Questions and Answers

1. Why does Olga add the late-fee clause, and what does it reveal about her clients?

Olga adds the clause after realizing her wealthy clients consistently pay late, despite having the money. Only the first and last checks arrive promptly. The clause, under 1 percent of the total fee, is designed to seem nominal so clients ignore it. It reveals that the ultra-rich avoid discussing money and resent paying for labor, even as they spend freely on luxury goods.

2. How does the chapter use the private jet scene to explore power dynamics?

The jet scene inverts expected power dynamics. Olga, the hired worker, makes Richard wait—not intentionally, but by refusing to use the bathroom so he will see she has been kept waiting. Her outburst about the point of flying private challenges his assumption that his time matters more. Yet the subsequent mutual desire complicates this: attraction becomes a form of negotiation, and Olga's rationalization of it as a counterbalance suggests she is using the relationship to reclaim power.

3. What does Olga's final question reveal about her character?

Her question—whether she would have made the same choice had they booked her direct—reveals self-awareness and uncertainty. It suggests her attraction to Richard may be partly a reaction to how his family has treated her, rather than purely genuine desire. This moment of reflection shows Olga questioning her own motivations, a sign of the moral complexity that defines her character.