You will have seen the stories. Each October there are reports about flights from the UK that carry only a handful of passengers – sometimes just a solitary traveller.
There are good reasons for this phenomenon. Holiday flights wind down as autumn takes hold. The last weekend of October marks the International Air Transport Association (Iata) change of airline season from northern summer to northern winter. And around this time a significant number of holiday routes come to an end.
Often these are serving destinations (eg Greek islands) which have no winter connections. Therefore, the very last flights out are usually very lightly booked, at extremely low fares. Some in the airline industry call these “dog flights” that cannot be filled at any price.
Typically planes coming back are very heavily booked – it being the end of half-term for many schools – and extremely lucrative for the airlines.
The most extreme example this autumn is between London Gatwick and Rhodes on easyJet. Going out, more than 1,100 seats are available on the last three days at under £15. But anyone tempted to fly out for a short break who wants to return a few days later could pay up to £904 for the return flight – astonishingly, 60 times as much for exactly the same distance of air travel.
In the month of October, I have identified some routes that are coming to an end and check the current seating plan to see how many empty seats are currently showing.
Just because the vast majority of seats are shown as unoccupied does not mean that they will remain so. Some passengers may have bought tickets but are waiting for the airline to assign seats. Other buyers will come forward, perhaps having read this article, and fill some of the space. But many places will remain empty.
If you are tempted to spread out on a four-hour flight to the sun, the question then becomes: how do you get back? I have provided advice below.
These are the best deals I have found. Note that the figures for the “current number of empty seats” reflect the seat maps at the airline’s website for that particular departure, and there will be other passengers who have not yet chosen or been assigned seats.
13 October: Bristol-Kefalonia, Jet2, £50
Current number of empty seats: 168 out of 189, ie 89 per cent.
Getting back: From the lovely Greek island in…
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