What is an empty leg flight?

When a private jet is booked one way, it often has to fly empty to its next pickup or back to base - that repositioning flight is an 'empty leg'. Operators sell those seats or the whole aircraft at a steep discount because the plane is flying anyway. It's the single cheapest way to experience private flying, as long as you can be flexible on route and timing.

Is flying private ever actually cheaper than commercial?

Usually no - even a discounted empty leg is typically dearer than an economy ticket on the same route. Where it can rival or beat commercial is for a group splitting the cost, for routes with poor scheduled service, or when you value the time and privacy enough to pay a premium. Set expectations: 'for less' means less than normal private pricing, not less than a budget airline.

How do you find empty leg flights?

Through charter brokers and operators, many of which publish live empty-leg listings on their sites and apps. Because they appear at short notice and sell fast, the people who land them tend to be flexible on dates and ready to book quickly. Signing up for alerts on the routes you care about is the practical way in.

What's the catch with empty legs?

Flexibility and reliability. The schedule is set by someone else's booking, so the date, time and exact airports are fixed and not yours to change; listings can be cancelled if the original charter shifts; and availability is unpredictable. They're brilliant when one happens to line up with your plans, and useless when you need a guaranteed flight on a fixed day.

Travel · Frequent flyer · How it works

How to Fly Private for Less: Empty Legs and Other Tricks

By Jake · 10 October 2026 · Updated 22 October 2026 · 8 min read

Private flying has a reputation for being the exclusive preserve of the seriously wealthy, and at full price it mostly is. But there's a layer underneath the headline rates that far fewer people know about - ways to sit on a private jet for a fraction of the usual cost, if you're willing to be flexible and realistic. I'll be straight with you throughout: this is about flying private for less, not about it suddenly being cheap.

Empty legs: the big one

Here's the mechanic that makes it possible. When someone charters a jet one way, the aircraft often has to fly empty afterwards - back to base, or on to its next pickup. That repositioning flight is an empty leg, and since the plane is flying regardless, operators sell it off cheap: often a fraction of the normal charter price. It's the closest private aviation gets to a bargain bin.

The trade-off is total inflexibility on the details:

The route is fixed. You fly where the empty leg is already going, between the airports it's already using. You take the flight that exists, not the one you'd design.
The timing is fixed. It's set by the original booking, not by you.
It can vanish. If the paying charter changes, the empty leg can move or disappear at short notice. Don't build an unmissable event around one.

Which is exactly why empty legs suit flexible travellers. Sign up for listings and alerts with charter brokers and operators, watch the routes you care about, and be ready to book fast when one lines up with where you already wanted to go. When it clicks, it's magic; it just can't be relied on to order.

Share the aircraft, split the bill

The other honest route to “cheaper” is simply dividing the cost. A charter has roughly the same price whether one person or a cabinful flies it, so the per-head number falls fast with company:

Group charter. Flying somewhere with family or friends? Charter the whole jet and split it. For the right group on the right route, the per-person cost can come within striking distance of premium commercial fares - with none of the terminal.
By-the-seat and shared flights. Some operators sell individual seats on private or semi-private flights on popular routes, so you only pay for your spot rather than the whole aircraft. Availability comes and goes, but it's worth knowing the model exists.

Memberships and jet cards (for the frequent sort)

If you fly privately often enough to care, jet cards and membershipslet you pre-buy flight hours or lock in capped hourly rates, which can work out cheaper and far simpler than booking each charter cold. These aren't a hack for the occasional flyer - the sums only make sense with real frequency - but for anyone already chartering regularly, they take both cost and friction out of it.

Use a broker, and stay flexible

A good charter broker earns their keep: access to more aircraft, visibility of empty legs across multiple operators, and someone to handle the arranging. Combine that with genuine flexibility - on dates, on nearby airports, on being ready to move quickly - and you'll see the best of what's out there. Rigidity is what you pay a premium for in this world; flexibility is the discount.

A reality check

Keep expectations honest and you'll enjoy it far more. Even a discounted empty leg is usually dearer than an economy ticket on the same route - the win is the experience and the time saved, not beating a budget airline on price. Availability is unpredictable, and nothing here is a substitute for a guaranteed flight on a fixed day. Treat private flying for less as a wonderful opportunity to pounce on, rather than a reliable way to get from A to B, and it rarely disappoints.

The wonder of it

Whether you ever step onto a private jet or not, there's something about flight that stays magic - the reason I spend my days around it. If you love that feeling, the frequent-flyer tactics in my travel hacks guide and the lounge guide will get you flying better for less across the board. And a FlyFrame keeps a little of that wonder at home - an e-ink frame quietly showing the aircraft crossing the sky above your house. Sky in a box.

Frequently asked questions

What is an empty leg flight?: When a private jet is booked one way, it often has to fly empty to its next pickup or back to base - that repositioning flight is an 'empty leg'. Operators sell those seats or the whole aircraft at a steep discount because the plane is flying anyway. It's the single cheapest way to experience private flying, as long as you can be flexible on route and timing.
Is flying private ever actually cheaper than commercial?: Usually no - even a discounted empty leg is typically dearer than an economy ticket on the same route. Where it can rival or beat commercial is for a group splitting the cost, for routes with poor scheduled service, or when you value the time and privacy enough to pay a premium. Set expectations: 'for less' means less than normal private pricing, not less than a budget airline.
How do you find empty leg flights?: Through charter brokers and operators, many of which publish live empty-leg listings on their sites and apps. Because they appear at short notice and sell fast, the people who land them tend to be flexible on dates and ready to book quickly. Signing up for alerts on the routes you care about is the practical way in.
What's the catch with empty legs?: Flexibility and reliability. The schedule is set by someone else's booking, so the date, time and exact airports are fixed and not yours to change; listings can be cancelled if the original charter shifts; and availability is unpredictable. They're brilliant when one happens to line up with your plans, and useless when you need a guaranteed flight on a fixed day.

Keep reading

← All journal entries