Every day, at least eight million people travel via plane. At least 33% of all Americans who travel this way report wanting airlines to make improvements to the seating to make it more comfortable. While most people consider this to be out of their price range, flying air charters is one of the safest and most convenient ways to travel. What many people do not realize is that many private jet charters make some seats available on their planes. When companies have empty leg charter flights, they sell those spots at a greatly reduced rate.
When most of us think of jet charter flights, we think of rock stars or billionaire business moguls. These flights seem exotic and certainly lack all of the indignities of flying commercial. The waiting in lines, dealing with the Transportation Security Administration, delays, delays and probably more delays. Flying on commercial airlines feels like it gets worse every year. Eventually, it sometimes seems, the airlines and security people are going to make us all fly wearing the gowns we have to wear when we are at the doctor’s office.
That is where empty leg charter flights may come in. If a private jet charter service sends a plane to a city to pick someone up, for the flight the plane takes to get to that city, the charter jet company is sending an empty plane. These are called empty leg charter flights. They will often sell these segments at a much cheaper rate that they normally charge. This ends up being a win-win. The private airline charter company makes some profit on the empty leg charter flights and some lucky passengers get to have the private jet experience for a lot less money. There is also something really cool about being able to show up no more than 15 minutes before your flight. No waiting in the security line!
The prices companies charge for these empty leg charter flights are not considered to be really cheap but the rate is for the plane, not per person. If you have nine of your friends go with you, that ten seater airplane may become a little more affordable than you may have thought.
Consider this possibility, you have a week to play with and are flexible with where you are going. You can call around to several private jet charters and ask them about their empty leg charter flights. The only real drawback is that you are not completely guaranteed your flight. This is because you are depending on another party to keep their plans. If they cancel their flight, they cancel yours as well.
To get the best deal and be in the best position to not lose your flight, check for flights between three and ten days in the future. If you are a member of the National Business Aviation Association will give you access to their list of empty leg charter flights. It is in the private jet charter services companies’ best interests to make this information as widely available as possible. As many as 33% of all charter plane trips have empty leg charter flights so the chances for getting good deals on these flights are good.
If you and your friends or family want to have the private jet experience, are flexible with where you are going and when, this can be a great opportunity to live like a celebrity or rock star. These flights do have all of the luxury and fun that comes along with private jet travel. Yes, there will even be champagne.
