Why end-of-season ‘dog flights’ are the answer to nabbing a luxury trip for as little as £15

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Louise Thomas

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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.

Current number of empty seats: 168 out of 189, ie 89 per cent.

Getting back: From the lovely Greek island in the Ionian Sea, you can take a ferry to Patras on the mainland and a bus to Athens – or perhaps the daily ferry to Zante, from which more flights are continuing on Jet2, easyJet and Tui to Bristol. Or simply fly back from Kefalonia to a London airport and return by bus or train to Bristol.

Current number of empty seats: 126 out of 156, ie 81 per cent.

Getting back: Unusually, the fare coming back is reasonable at £120 on Sunday 27 October. If that date does not work, plenty of flights are available from Barcelona to Dublin from where you can take the bus direct to Belfast.

Current number of empty seats: 166 out of 189, ie 88 per cent.

Getting back: At the end of the summer season, Ryanair switches its link between the UK and the deep south of Italy from Manchester to Stansted. So, remarkably, you can fly back on another “dog flight” – the first-ever Reggio Calabria-London Stansted flight on Sunday 27 October for €36 (£30) – and take the train (change at Nuneaton) from the Essex airport back to Manchester.

Current number of empty seats: typically 182 out of 186, ie 98 per cent.

The is the most extreme case I have found. From Tuesday 29 to Thursday 31 October easyJet has two flights each day from London Gatwick to Rhodes – a total of more than 1,100 seats – at a flat £14.99 each. On the Wednesday afternoon flight, for example, only four seats out of 168 are spoken for. But coming back on Friday 1 November, flights are extremely heavily booked and the basic fare is £904.

EasyJet is not even bothering to try to sell the outbound flights on 1, 2 and 3 November. Presumably the fixed costs of dispatching a passenger flight are higher than the expected revenue. Instead, the jets will fly out empty – “positioning”, as it is known.

An easyJet spokesperson said: “Like other airlines, at the Iata season changeover and some seasonal routes schedules end for the year, it is necessary to position aircraft to destinations to operate the final flights of the season, in line with demand, in order to bring our customers home. On this occasion, we will be positioning flights to Rhodes on 1, 2 and 3 November which coincide with the end of the half-term and the end of our summer season for our Rhodes schedule.”

The airline’s financial team won’t be too distressed, because all the inbound flights on those dates are selling for upwards of £595.

Getting back: I availed of a “dog flight” from Gatwick to Rhodes in the dying days of last October, with about 30 people aboard. To get home, I took a ferry to Marmaris in Turkey, from which flights were continuing into November at reasonable fares. A ferry or domestic flight to Athens is also a possibility.

Current number of empty seats: 124 out of 300, ie 59 per cent.

Unlike all the other flights covered here, this is not a narrow-bodied trip. It’s a long-haul Dreamliner flight with nine seats abreast – and every chance of catching up on much-needed sleep (the departure is a bruising 6.05am). Of the 49 posh seats at the front, 21 have gone.

But of the 251 cheap seats, only 103 are taken – mostly in pairs, which means there are no fewer than 39 sets of three seats currently showing as empty. If you want one, book the middle seat – it is most unlikely that a couple will want to sit on either side of you.

Getting back: Skyscanner is suggesting an Iberia combo from Dubrovnik to Madrid and onwards to Manchester – with an overnight stay involved at the Spanish capital – for £79. Connoisseurs of nightlife may simply head into town for dinner and drinks through the early hours before returning to the airport.