You Can Sometimes Fly Private for as Little as $300 per Person—Here’s the Catch, According to an Aviation Expert

Flying private is more popular than ever, but the luxury experience and its corresponding price tag makes these flights out of reach for most people. 

A recent Instagram post touting the ability to fly private for as low as $300 per person, however, was too intriguing to skip. And while it may seem too good to be true, it turns out it is occasionally possible to catch a deal this good through what is known as an "empty leg."

This is what travelers need to know about the cheapest way to fly private before they start packing their bags.

What are empty legs?

Empty legs are flights where the aircraft operator is traveling to pick up the next customer, said Meaghan Wells, the chief growth officer for private aviation company WheelsUp . Sometimes referred to as repositioning flights, they have no customers on board.

This happens less with commercial planes, which tend to fly to a destination with a set of passengers and then pick up new ones immediately for the next flight. But flying private means customers dictate the schedule and destination. 

Private jet companies need to get their plane to its next pickup destination, regardless of whether there are customers on board or not. But since they don't make money if no one flying, they offer these repositioning flights at reduced rates.

"The whole idea is that our customers are paying to fly from where they want to where they want at the exact time that they want to fly," Wells said. "Very rarely does [a private plane operator] fly into an airport and have a customer waiting on the other end."

This is similar to what cruise lines do when moving ships between itineraries, often offering trips at a cheaper cost than traditional voyages.

What to consider before booking an empty leg

Empty legs can be a great value compared to the typical cost of flying private, Wells said, but they don't offer the same flexibility. 

"If you are trying to fly private, you really can't rely on empty legs," Wells said. "You might get lucky and have a plane going where you want from point A to point B at the time you want to go... but it's not the best entry into private aviation."

Travelers who are considering booking one of these flights can use websites like SkyAccess , which posts available empty leg inventory for flights weeks or months in advance. Travelers should note these flights may get canceled if the original itinerary changes at all. Empty legs are also one-way flights so passengers will need to find an alternate way back home. 

A private flight later this month aboard a Beechcraft Hawker 800XP aircraft from Sanford, North Carolina, to Janesville, Wisconsin, for example, can be booked for as low as $9,431 for up to eight people, per SkyAccess . As for those $300 per person deals? Wells said they pop up every once in a while, but are exceptionally few and far between.

"You can still get good deals from dynamically priced organizations," Wells said, "but you ultimately still have to be willing to put up $5,000, $10,000, $50,000 [for an empty leg] depending on which trip you're trying to take."

Wells said booking these flights can be "unreliable," but in the end "could be a very cool one-time experience for someone who otherwise couldn't really experience flying private."

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