What Is an Empty Leg Flight & How To Book

In the private jet charter world, the terms “empty leg,” “dead leg,” or “one way” are used often for certain kinds of flights. Many people, however, wonder what are empty leg flights. Surprisingly, a lot of private jets fly across the world empty. Because of this, you can seize the opportunity and fly on one of these discounted private jet flights! They do come with their limitations and restrictions but it also has their perks. Read below about what exactly empty leg flights are and how Charter Flight Group can help you find an empty leg flight.

What is an Empty Leg?

Empty leg flights are a repositioning for the aircraft to be able to fly its live leg. The live leg is either the flight for the next customer or simply to return to its home base. In contrast, the dead leg flight is when a plane flies empty without passengers to get from one airport to another. For instance, an example of this repositioning is a private jet needing to fly from San Diego to Los Angeles because that jet’s next flight is out of Los Angeles and not San Diego. Essentially, the dead leg flights are empty seats on private jets. These legs are perfect for short-notice flights. This is important to know if you want to fly on and find an empty leg flight. They occur most commonly because clients only charter a one-way trip, the charter needs to be repositioned, or because it is returning from light maintenance. Because of this, empty legs are often one-way and never guarantee a flight back.

How Much Do Empty Legs Cost

Empty leg flight costs are not the same for every jet and depend on different factors such as the route and model. They are usually at a discounted price because they are expensive and they try to minimize empty seats on a private jet as much as possible. Many companies falsely advertise that empty legs can be as cheap as $500. However, an empty leg for a private jet is typically 50% off of its retail price. These discounted private jet flights will never be very comparable to commercial flights. Some examples of pricing is an empty leg private jet charter from New York to Florida has been seen as cheap as $5000. Another great private jet empty leg route is from Los Angeles to Las Vegas and the best price that we have seen for that is $2500 for the 40-minute short leg flight. Nonetheless, even though empty legs are at a lower price, they are more expensive than commercial flights.

How to Know Where Empty Legs are the Most Popular

Typically, empty legs are the most popular in the larger metropolitan areas. Specifically, they are larger numbers of them between New York and Florida and back. These areas are your best chance to be able to catch one of those empty legs.

Another important tip to maximize your chances of finding an empty leg flight is to go the opposite way of traffic. For instance, the day after Christmas everyone leaves the Northeast to the Caribbean. It would be in your best interest to go on December 26th from the Caribbean back to the Northeast. Another example is during the Winter flying from Palm Beach to New York City as many people like to escape the winter in New York and enjoy that season in the sunny weather of Palm Beach, Florida.

How to Find Out About an Empty Leg

How do you find out about empty leg flights? Charter Flight Group has access to these empty legs through proprietary software to help you find out about these flights. Charter Flight Group’s JetXchange software is the stock market for one-way and empty legs on private jets. This wide access will increase your chances of being able to catch one of these empty leg flights. The software knows where every aircraft is and where it needs to go to leverage the very best price whether it be a one-way or an empty leg.

However, empty leg flights require flexibility and are often very short notice. Because charters try to avoid empty seats on flights altogether, they become available last minute. Unlike booking a private jet charter, these empty leg flights are accommodating to the original customer which means that the person who wishes to fly on an empty leg will need to adjust around them. This means that there is limited choice on place and time and that empty legs are subject to cancellation and change based on the original owner. For instance, if the original owner were to make late changes to their itinerary, this could interfere with your ability to hop on one of these empty leg flights. If you have a strict schedule or plans, empty leg flights might not be the best fit for you at the current moment. However, if you have this flexibility and prepare for the short notice adjustments, then you can find out about the flights and book an empty leg flight with Charter Flight Group!

How to Book an Empty Leg Flight

Now that you know what are empty leg flights, you can book one with Charter Flight Group. Visit Flycfg.com and put in the desired routing. From there, you can see if any dead leg flights match your desired private jet flight and take advantage of those empty seats on a private jet! In addition, you can sign up on our website for empty legs that match city pairs that you would typically want to fly between and try to find an empty leg flight. Charter Flight Group uses its technology and access to these flights to help fill these flights and our expert team is dedicated to helping you take advantage of these empty leg flights! Charter Flight Group’s empty leg booking process is seamless and as easy to book as Amazon because they want to ensure a consistent and efficient experience for their potential and returning clients.