How Empty Leg Flights Work

Imagine the following situation: you are planning a flight from Moscow to Berlin, and you want to spend a significant amount of time in Germany. The jet has delivered you to your destination, but since you do not plan to return soon, the aircraft will fly back to its base empty. In professional terms, this situation is called Empty Legs.

In such cases, the airline not only loses potential revenue but also incurs additional costs.

The Empty Legs system is a solution to this problem, benefiting both carriers and passengers. Airlines offer the option to book seats on jets that are returning empty on the return flight. These seats are sold at attractive discounts.

How the Empty Legs System Works

Essentially, the process of booking seats under this system is no different from purchasing regular tickets. You need to visit the airline's website, choose one of the available flights, and book it.

What is more interesting is how offers for these "empty" flights are generated and processed:

• The client books a charter for a specific route and states that they do not require a return flight;
• The airline posts an offer on its website indicating the departure and destination cities, dates, jet model, and number of available seats;
• Interested passengers purchase tickets and use the services of airlines at a more favorable price.

Sometimes the flight price decreases if the departure date is approaching and not all seats on the jet are reserved. This is an opportunity to save. However, there is a risk that all tickets for available charter flights will sell out before you can purchase one, and you will have to fly at full price. There are no more secrets.

Advantages of the System

The advantages of this system for airlines are obvious. They reduce their costs and have the opportunity to gain additional revenue. Let's look at the benefits for customers who choose to buy tickets through this system:

• savings on charter flights of up to 50-75%;
• the reduction in price does not affect the comfort and safety of the flight;
• the ability to plan a route in advance.

Additionally, some companies are willing to adjust the destination based on the client's request. So if you need to go to St. Petersburg instead of Moscow, you can negotiate with the airline.