Buying a Plane Ticket at the Airport. Still Possible?
Discussion
A few years back, we were at Gatwick getting ready to fly to Cuba when we were told our holiday had been cancelled because a hurricane had changed course and hit the island square on.
Once we were assured a full refund from Virgin, we walked across to the BA desk and asked what flights were leaving that day for anywhere interesting.
A few hours later we were at Heathrow, return tickets in hand and boarding a plane for Mauritius.
My brother made a few enquiries about places to rent whilst we were in the air and, by the time we landed, a lovely little bungalow right on the beach had been reserved.
Arranged a hire car at the airport, got to the bungalow and paid the agent there and then.
Had a great couple of weeks !
Once we were assured a full refund from Virgin, we walked across to the BA desk and asked what flights were leaving that day for anywhere interesting.
A few hours later we were at Heathrow, return tickets in hand and boarding a plane for Mauritius.
My brother made a few enquiries about places to rent whilst we were in the air and, by the time we landed, a lovely little bungalow right on the beach had been reserved.
Arranged a hire car at the airport, got to the bungalow and paid the agent there and then.
Had a great couple of weeks !
SS2. said:
A few years back, we were at Gatwick getting ready to fly to Cuba when we were told our holiday had been cancelled because a hurricane had changed course and hit the island square on.
Once we were assured a full refund from Virgin, we walked across to the BA desk and asked what flights were leaving that day for anywhere interesting.
A few hours later we were at Heathrow, return tickets in hand and boarding a plane for Mauritius.
My brother made a few enquiries about places to rent whilst we were in the air and, by the time we landed, a lovely little bungalow right on the beach had been reserved.
Arranged a hire car at the airport, got to the bungalow and paid the agent there and then.
Had a great couple of weeks !
Did you get a great deal on the flights?Once we were assured a full refund from Virgin, we walked across to the BA desk and asked what flights were leaving that day for anywhere interesting.
A few hours later we were at Heathrow, return tickets in hand and boarding a plane for Mauritius.
My brother made a few enquiries about places to rent whilst we were in the air and, by the time we landed, a lovely little bungalow right on the beach had been reserved.
Arranged a hire car at the airport, got to the bungalow and paid the agent there and then.
Had a great couple of weeks !
BigGingerBob said:
Hello!
I have always wanted to arrive at an airport with a few days off and just buy a ticket, say the cheapest available to anywhere.
Is this still possible to do?
Has anyone ever done it? I can imagine there would be some great stories around!
Many thanks,
Bob
Only big airports will have airline ticketing counters these days, there's no point in maintaining them in smaller airports as ticket sales are almost all online or by phone. I have always wanted to arrive at an airport with a few days off and just buy a ticket, say the cheapest available to anywhere.
Is this still possible to do?
Has anyone ever done it? I can imagine there would be some great stories around!
Many thanks,
Bob
Also a ticketing counter will ask where you want to go as they wont know the cheapest ticket to anywhere... If you push them they'll probably send you somewhere horrible like Dresden or Blackpool for the fun of it.
If you want a cheap ticket to anywhere at a days or even a few hours notice,
1. Go to Google Flights
2. Pick the airport you'd like to fly from and the days you want to fly.
3. Look around the map for the cheapest destination.
4. Book flight direct with airline.
However as I discovered long ago, cheap flights do not mean a cheap destination. It's half the cost for me to fly to Spain rather than South America... but in Spain I'm paying twice as much for accommodation and need twice as much spending money. So I can get two weeks in Colombia for the price of 1 week in Spain.
Taaaaang said:
It seems these days that the only way to get lower prices on flights is to book early.
This... but not too early as flights seem to follow a bathtub curve.keith333 said:
I asked one of the BA staff this a few years ago and they reckoned you wouldn’t get a bargain. I was really surprised at that, but hey ho.
Not sure why you're surprised. Last minute flights have not been cheap for decades. If you're booking last minute you're usually desperate or unable to plan in advance so airlines jack up the price.Even last minute travel agents are becoming a thing of the past as fewer seats are available to be sold to them at short notice due to overbooking.
My brother booked a very late deal on last-minute.com. He literally had enough time to throw some clothes in a case and drive to the airport.
I would have thought this was the modern equivalent. If you buy at the airport then it's a sellers market. Buy late and on line it's a buyers market.
I would have thought this was the modern equivalent. If you buy at the airport then it's a sellers market. Buy late and on line it's a buyers market.
Did it once when in Romania. Was due to fly via Paris but it was snowed in. Once I knew they were cancelling it and refund forthcoming, the option was to stay another night in Bucharest, or walk to BA and buy a ticket for the direct flight that left an hour later. Wasn’t silly money, meant I got home and didn’t have to face a sheeps head for dinner again.
captain_cynic said:
keith333 said:
I asked one of the BA staff this a few years ago and they reckoned you wouldn’t get a bargain. I was really surprised at that, but hey ho.
Not sure why you're surprised. Last minute flights have not been cheap for decades. If you're booking last minute you're usually desperate or unable to plan in advance so airlines jack up the price.Even last minute travel agents are becoming a thing of the past as fewer seats are available to be sold to them at short notice due to overbooking.
The exception to this is upgrades, as if a flight is oversold you will get offered a quite reasonable upgrade as they would rather get some money than having to upgrade someone for free.
98elise said:
My brother booked a very late deal on last-minute.com. He literally had enough time to throw some clothes in a case and drive to the airport.
I would have thought this was the modern equivalent. If you buy at the airport then it's a sellers market. Buy late and on line it's a buyers market.
This, all over. I would have thought this was the modern equivalent. If you buy at the airport then it's a sellers market. Buy late and on line it's a buyers market.
Package holiday companies, or tour operators, or whatever you want to call them are the ones with free capacity at short notice, because they're very unlikely to overbook the planes and also are less likely to be comfortable with empty seats. For some reason airlines dont like giving discounted seats even if you want to buy a ticket 10 mins before check-in closes and the plane is only half full.
Only time I've bought at the airport was when the ghdkskx..... akjovoya........ igalgowpy ...the Icelandic volcano went off and flights were cancelled, including my early one at Gatwick and I was standing at Gatwick departures with hoards of miserable people. However I overheard someone say another airline were still flying,Thomson I think. I went to their desk, they said yes (I had an apartment booked in lanzagrotty). I took off about two hours later and got a refund on my original ticket.
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