Empty legs are the most talked-about way to fly private for less, and the most misunderstood. The savings are real, but so are the trade-offs, and plenty of the deals you see advertised are gone by the time you enquire. Here is how they actually work, from the buyer’s side.
When you charter a jet one way, the aircraft still has to get back, or on to its next trip. That repositioning flight often flies empty. Rather than fly it with nobody on board, the operator sells it at a discount. That discounted repositioning flight is an empty leg. The aircraft was always going to make the trip, so anything it earns beats nothing, which is why the price can fall 25 to 75 percent below a normal charter.
The discount is genuine. What is not always genuine is the number you are quoted. Empty legs pass through the same broker layer as any other charter, and a broker can still add a commission on top of the operator’s reduced price. You came for a discount and quietly hand part of it back. The only way to know is to see the operator’s real repositioning price and the fee on top of it as two separate numbers.
Empty legs come from operators, and they appear and disappear fast. The public live lists on booking sites are often stale, already sold, or bait to capture your details. The flights that are genuinely available usually surface a few days out, sometimes hours, and rarely line up perfectly with the date and route you had in mind. Finding a good one is less about scrolling a list and more about having someone watch operator repositioning directly and move quickly when the right one comes up.
An empty leg flies on the operator’s schedule, not yours. The date, the departure time and the route are largely fixed. It can also be cancelled: if the original charter that created the repositioning changes, your empty leg can disappear, sometimes at short notice. It is almost always one way, with no guaranteed return. For a flexible traveller they are excellent value. For a fixed, must-happen trip they are a gamble, and you should keep a backup.
Be flexible on timing, be ready to confirm fast, and know your fallback if it falls through. Then work with someone who sources directly from operators, shows you the real repositioning price with no markup added, and tells you plainly when an empty leg is too risky for the trip you are taking. That is how a discount stays a discount.
We watch operator repositioning directly and quote you the operator’s real number, with one flat advisory fee agreed up front, never a commission folded into the price. If an empty leg fits your trip, you keep the full saving. If it is too risky for your dates, we say so and show you the alternative. Either way you see the real cost, not a marked-up one.
Frequently asked
See the real number
Tell us where and roughly when you want to fly. We’ll watch for an empty leg that fits and show you the operator’s real price, with no markup.
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