Private Plane Bargains

Tired of being cramped in economy? Eager to try a more expansive flying experience? According to an article in the Daily Mail (www.dailymail.co.uk,) if you can fly at the last minute with a group of mates, flying private may be within reach even for budget travellers.

You are no doubt familiar with re-positioning cruises, but private planes too need to re-position from time to time, and thus may have empty seats for sale. A company called Private Fly (www.privatefly.com) in the UK offers the chance to buy seats that would otherwise go empty, and in some cases the per person cost can rival that of budget airlines.

Current offerings include a flight from London to Ajacio, Corsica on Aug. 14 for 2000 pounds, or one from Nice to Birmingham tomorrow for 1400 pounds.  Depending on the number of seats in the aircraft, this can work out well for a large family or group of friends. One London to Corsica flight cited in the Daily Mail article worked out to 235 pounds per person.

There are potential problems with this type of arrangement, since the market for private flights is basically unregulated, and a flight could be cancelled at the last minute. Another source of relatively low-cost private flights in Europe is the company Victor (http://v1.flyvictor.com,) also based in the UK. Membership is free.