Charter Flights – Now get your own flight.
A charter flight differs from a regular scheduled flight in that it does not have a regular departure time. Rather, the charter flight is set to take passengers during times of peak demand, or price-sensitive passengers who would not fly at normal rates charged by scheduled airlines. Charter flights to Florida have remained one of the biggest sources of charter airline revenue. People fly to Orlando for its myriad wonders from all over the world, including from far-away places like Europe. Air Transat charter flights, for example, fly passengers from several French cities to Florida. Perhaps those who went to Eurodisney now want to go to the “mother ship," Disney World in Orlando. Cheap charter flights to Jamaica are also quite popular amongst budget-minded passengers. They have opened up the market to many who would not otherwise consider a Caribbean vacation. The Jamaican Travel Authority has encouraged cheap charter flights to Jamaica in order to fill their hotels and restaurants. In this island of over 2.5 million people, tourism is the main export-currency earner, way ahead of the second earner, which are remittances from Jamaicans abroad.
Cheap charter flights need not always be cheaper than regular airlines. Conscious of the competition, many of the major airlines are now offering charter-like prices through what’s called “Capacity Control," or splicing up the many kinds of fares which can be charged on the same city pair into chunks which are more digestible for vacation travelers. It’s not uncommon for someone on an Air Transat charter flight, for example, to be paying one-tenth that of his seatmate on the same plane and the same trajectory.
Most passengers don’t know how their fare compares to that of their seatmates—thank goodness for the airlines! If they did, they might be incensed that the charter flight that they could have taken could have been a lot cheaper, or that the seat they ended up purchasing on the regularly-scheduled airline ended up costing a lot more than the average for the other tourists on the plane. So, a charter flight is a bit of a crap shoot for the unwitting passenger. Book with care!