Last Minute Flights At Airport

[rocky123]

I am about to book a ticket for my son to visit me from B/ham Eng and a "guy in a bar" told me if hes got time and patience he should go to the Emerates desk and ask if they have a seat for THAT day and wait, he has time on his hands as he is curently unemployed. At this time of year theres always spare seats so I was wondering if anyone has done this.??

[chickenslegs]

The only time I ever tried this was when my wife got a message in the middle of the night that her mother had passed away. She was so upset that I decided to drive her to Heathrow immediately and see if we could get her on a flight to BKK.

I tried Emirates, BA, Thai Int., and several others. Most had economy class seats available on numerous flights to BKK, but none were offering a cheap ticket.

We were advised to visit a travel agency within the airport, who found the cheapest flight that day at about 600 gbp.

In fact we ended up paying just over 650 gbp for a seat on Thai Int. (direct flight).

I have always booked my flights months in advance and never paid more than 550 gbp (sometimes as little as 450 gbp).

I was surprised that most airlines would rather fly with empty seats than make a last-minute reduction.

Maybe your 'guy in a bar' has had better experiences, but I think you will get the best deals by checking the internet each day and looking out for the good deals (usually those involving a 1-stop of several hours.

Best of luck

[whatchamacallit]

I was surprised that most airlines would rather fly with empty seats than make a last-minute reduction.

Last minute reduction can be detrimental to the airline industry - imagine if anyone can just come to the ticket counter at the last minute and get (a guaranteed) 1/2 off :-) Even if this is true - the airline industry will not announce it to the general public.