Have You Just Showed Up at the Airport with No Tickets? (reservation, airline)
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I did it quite a few times without problems but I wasn't in USA. I didn't have any problems doing it. I actually did it once internationally with Spirit Air flying in to USA.
I didn't actually do that but once a couple of years ago I showed up for a flight exactly 24 hrs late and was able to buy the ticket I needed. Ouch though.
Me, being the spontaneous person I am, have done so a few times. Just go to the airport and grab the next flight out to....where ever just 'because'. A standby flight may not get you the seat you want but you still get there and my word search book and/or a nap fills the time anyway.
You would get a ticket on the flight if there are seats and you have the money to pay for it. What you may be hearing on these last minute tickets is two things.
1. airlines are flying fuller planes which makes the number of availabe seats smaller. Less available seats means less chance of getting a ticket. Flying during slow periods or when multiple flights are leaving to the same destination, will get you a better shot at a ticket. But it all comes down to if a seat is empty.
2. Last minute flights presents some security issues with airlines checking names against security list. Show up too late, and if things are busy, you may not get an empty seat because they can't clear your name. usually this is last (and I mean last) minute bookings. You can be guarantee not getting a ticket even with the plane empty if you show up at the very last minute, try paying in cash, and your identity is flagged in some security database.
If you do this a lot, work with a travel service who specializes in corportate travel. You need a last minute flight, call them, they book the flight with the airline, and you get a confirmation number, all in the time it takes your cab driver to navigate the departure area to drop you off.
What ever you end up paying by doing it that way think about getting that same flight for probably half of what you are paying by walking up at the last minute,you also wont have any guarantees that there is room on the flight.
Definitely an expensive and unreliable way to travel.
Lots of times. I have had a client or my boss say, "Drop what you are doing and go to thus-and-such a place," and I just step up to the counter and pay full fare.
If you have an iPad, you can often find good last-minute deals and you don't have to pay full fare; I've even stood in front of the ticket agent, found a much better fare on another airline, and walked away in the middle of the transaction.
I did it quite often back in the 70s, when I was a callow youth, footloose and fancy free.
I'd just turn up at Heathrow, or Gatwick, with a passport, drivers licence, razor, toothbrush, and fresh socks and underwear.
I'd check what was available, and would usually end up that evening in a bar in Spain, France, Greece, or Portugal.
It was simple and quick to rent a car at the airport, then scope out a hotel, or apartment rental somewhere.
Anything I needed I'd buy where I landed, shirts, shoes, chinos and a small valise to carry them back home in.
They do it a lot on the reality game show, The Amazing Race, though the contestants are given a credit card by the production staff to purchase the tickets, which I would guess are not too cheap. There are a few rules as well, they can only buy coach, so if there is room in only business and/or 1st then they can't buy them and they need to be able to book 4 tickets, two for themselves, and two for the production crew assigned to them which includes a camera guy and sound/mixer guy. If they can't get 4 tickets on the flight, then they have to book a different flight.
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