If you are a budget traveler, chartered planes will cross your travel planning trail at some particular point in time.
The standard of charter flights can be both bad and good. During the high season, flying to a popular locations can be extraordinarily dear. That is when charter flights can come to the rescue. I did this exact thing once, booking a round trip ticket to Europe in the summer season. The seat set me back $400, a savings of $350 at the time. A great way for me to afford cheap international flights.
However, the chartered flight had bad and good points. I don’t need to get sued, so I will leave out the name of the company in the following:
Bad Points. I was flying out of L. A. and into Paris on a nameless charter flight. The fun started on arriving at the airfield. The flight left at 2pm in the afternoon, but the ticket window was not open at 12 pm. An hour later, a particularly long line of passengers were beginning to complain about being ripped off since the ticket window still had not opened. Replying to roars asking how we were supposed to all board the airplane in fifteen mins, the ticket agent kindly made us aware the flight had been delayed by 3 hours!
Bad Point Number 2 : Due to the emergency exit, my seat didn’t recline! Frankly, this was more bad luck than anything to do with the charter company. The flight was eleven hours, the majority of which I spent cursing myself for being cheap.
Good Points. There’s one superb point when it comes to flying charter. While the opening booking is inexpensive, most travelers fail to take advantage of the character of a charter flight. Hardly any folk who can afford first-class tickets will take a charter flight. In reality, the 1st class section of the plane might be close to empty. When you check in, make an effort to ask if you can upgrade to first-class for the flight. If this works out, it is mostly extremely inexpensive way to travel first class. On my return flight from Paris to Los Angeles, I upgraded for a gigantic $50 and straight away changed into a travel snob. Excellent!
Charter flights definitely are an inexpensive way to fly. Just bear in mind you get what you pay for.
