Turning up at the airport...

[stayathomegardener]

Maybe it is an urban myth but I always believed years ago one could turn up at the airport with bags packed and passport ready and get a seat on a flight,is this still a possibility?Was it ever?

If not top tips for a cost conscious last minute random summer break please

It is still possible, as long as you are flexible with location and don't mind paying a lot more than everyone else on the flight.

Are you planning on giving it a go?

DH used to do this in the 80's, early 90's. Not even a suitcase, just a spare outfit, passport, wallet and camera. In those days though, they would accept stupidly low offers just to get something for the seat.

You can do it, and I have bought tickets at the airport. But is always more expensive now - the load factor on flights is much higher, and pricing policy has changed.

I think on lastminute.com you can ask it for anywhere on certain dates

Maybe Shakey is right, I only did it once and needed to get to a specific location and ended up paying a huge amount for the flight (was living in HK and it was three times what I normally paid for a trip back to the UK, but was desperate!)

Would it just be you gardener? If a whole family you may struggle to get everyone on the same flight

X-post with CMOT, that tallies with my experience.

Second lastminute.com though

A few years ago I rang up in the morning for a flight that evening (to Greece) after having a hospital visit cancelled but arranged everything for a week off work.

I'd have thought web searches for last-minute deals (eg lastminute.com etc) would be the way to go these days. Or even trying travel agents - one near me often has a list in the window of bargains for the following week.

Yes, you used to be able to do this on both scheduled and charter flights.

Scheduled -going standby - you turned up at the airport & waited & if you were lucky got a sreat to, say New York for about £100. That was in the 80s but I doubt you could do that these days.

Charter - you asked around for spare seats & bribed your way on!

Ooohhh nice to know it did happen-I was briefly a Stewardess in the 90's and do remember random people on jump seats with seemingly no connection to crew.

Yes was thinking of leaving DH to hold the fort and having an adventure with DD(13) over the summer-Travel agent window less exciting but probably the way forward.

Thank you