Yes, insurance is the key point to stress here. As I posted earlier our business insurance excluded aviation except as passenger on multi-engined aircraft operated on an AOC. Current rates for personal life assurance are about £12 extra (over and above normal premium) per £100000 life cover per month. So a typical PPL holder OR PASSENGER with £300,000 mortgage will pay about £36 extra per month or go without insurance cover.
I wonder how many Wingly etc. passengers realise their families could be left penniless and homeless should their flight end in disaster? I think the CAA which tolerates these illegal charters under the guise of cost sharing should at least point out the financial risks. In my 26 years of flying I knew of two such fatals, and in those days any form of payment was illegal except for licensed commercial operations.