Now a domestic tourist is not limited to traveling around his country. Western and Central Europe, Africa, Southeast Asia, the Caribbean states - all this is now accessible to everyone, there would be money. Someone is not limited in funds and orders a tour package at the highest level. And others are trying to save. And budget cuts in travel often come at the expense of airline tickets. A charter flight to a vacation destination will save your money and allow you to spend it on something else. This article is intended to clarify three issues that have plagued many independent travelers. What is a charter, where to buy a ticket for such a plane and is it possible to purchase it without a tour package? Below we will try to answer these questions. Charters fly out of many major cities. But in this article we only briefly touch on those that follow from Moscow airports.
What is a charter
This is a form of chartering a vessel - both sea and air. You can compare the charter with a wedding limousine: you order it, of course, with a driver and other services, set the route along which you should be taken, and time. And who will go in this limousine is up to you. So with the charter. Only in this case, the limousine is an airplane provided by some airline, and the travel agency is the customer. And often not alone. Fill the entire board for a certain time can only a few companies that charter a bucket aircraft. However, there are such mastodons of the tourism business (for example, TUI) that have their own aircraft at their disposal. But in principle, a charter is an irregular flight, which companies order to transport their customers. And sometimes such flights are in no way connected with tourism. Some large business companies order a plane to transport employees to conferences or corporate events.
Why charters are cheaper
Regular flights are rarely filled to capacity. Therefore, companies calculate the risks. It turns out that passengers flying on a regular flight pay extra for empty seats in the cabin. Charter is another matter! This is a plane flying, as a rule, to a resort place, and in the midst of the tourist season. The salon is filled with the efforts of several travel agencies that redeem their sectors in advance. Therefore, the salon is guaranteed to be one hundred percent full. In addition, under the charter airlines send seasoned aircraft, which, however, does not affect the safety of passengers. You cannot refuse a charter - unless you reissue a ticket to a different name. So the carrier company does not bear commercial risks: all tickets have already been purchased by travel operators. And this directly affects the price of the trip. Service in such aircraft is much lower than in scheduled ones. But this is also not always, there are exceptions.
Can I buy a charter ticket
Of course, a travel company is interested in selling the entire package of services. It includes plane tickets (round trip), transfer from the destination airport to the hotel, accommodation, meals and even some excursions. For each item from this package, which will be performed by workers in the country of rest, the Russian travel agency receives its interest. Therefore, she will first of all sell a ticket for a charter to those who buy a ticket. But not so simple. The departure date is approaching, and the operators understand that not all the seats purchased by her from the air carrier are sold out to “organized tourists”. To reduce losses, the company begins to give up tickets to "savages", that is, independent travelers. Moreover, the closer the purchase to the departure date, the cheaper it will be.Thus, you can pay two or even three times less for a charter ticket than for a regular flight on a similar route. It’s a sin not to take advantage of such an offer.
Charter Benefits
First of all, this is the price. And cheapness in this matter is not limited to only one budget flight. Charters fly where often there are no regular flights. And if you want, for example, to get to Hurghada in Egypt or Zakynthos in Greece, then you will not need to go to Cairo or Athens first. Thus, you also save on the road to the local resort. Also, not all Russian cities can reach European capitals or Asian countries regular flights. It is necessary for the inhabitants of the outback to go to Moscow or St. Petersburg. Thus, a charter is an opportunity to fly out of your hometown and land directly at the airport of the selected resort, and for little money. And in order to buy such low-cost airline tickets, you don’t need to bind yourself with travel agencies. You can only pay for the flight.
Charter Disadvantages
If there were no fly in the ointment in this barrel of honey, everyone would ride exclusively on such irregular flights. Charters have disadvantages, and it will be dishonest to keep silent about them. Purchased plane tickets cannot be returned. Their cost will not be refunded to you, no matter how good the reasons for refusing to fly. Reservations cannot be made. Charters do not fly wherever you want, but to the most popular holiday destinations. So lovers of exotic should look for other ways to get to Burundi, Sierra Leone and other similar countries. In addition, charters fly during the high tourist season, when prices at resorts reach their peak. Thus, saving on the road, you lose on the cost of living. Many people would like to visit Thailand or the Dominican Republic in the so-called "rainy season." But with charters this is unlikely to be possible. 
Nights at the airport
But the biggest drawback of the charter is not this. Even major airports have a limited number of runways. And in order to start on its route, the aircraft line up. Priority here are regular flights. After all, a charter is an airplane that is not even on the schedule. He is allowed on the runway when none of the scheduled flights claims it. This circumstance greatly delays boarding of charter passengers. Therefore, if you plan a trip by connecting flights, do not mess with this mode of transport - you may not be able to catch your plane. But airports such as Sharm El Sheikh or Puerta Plata, where charter flights mostly land, will receive you without delay. You can not say about Barcelona, Prague or Palma de Mallorca. Of course, regular flights are delayed. But then the carrier company compensates for the inconvenience of its customers: it gives out food packages, sometimes even lodges for an overnight stay in hotels. And passengers of charters are forced to turn around in the waiting room.
Service
The rule “Do not expect anything super-good from cheap” also applies in the sky. For lunch, you will be served, at best, salad and sandwiches. And they can be limited only to soft drinks. If you fly four hours, you can tolerate. And if ten, twelve? And further. Cheap charters are for adults. But for small passengers, children's tickets are not provided. If a child occupies a separate seat, parents pay for it as an adult. And of course, you will not find any club privileges or “bonus miles” in the charter. This type of transport is comparable to low-cost airlines - low cost airlines. They fly on schedule, but their flights are also not considered priority. Low ticket prices are achieved by saving literally on everything except passenger safety. But low-cost customers may complain to their company.Charter passengers purchased a ticket at a travel agency, but she is not responsible for international air travel. The freighter acts only as an intermediary.
“The principle of two weeks”
Most travel packages last for fourteen days. Therefore, agencies charter an aircraft with the expectation of delivering their customers back to Russia in two weeks. And it is worth considering those independent travelers who want to "get hooked on a charter." The price of tickets will directly depend on the date of your return flight. We give an example. A ticket for a charter flight "Moscow - Thessaloniki - Moscow" will cost three hundred thirty five euros. But such a price will only be possible if you fly back exactly two weeks after departure from the capital of Russia. If you want to relax in Thessaloniki for a month, then a similar ticket will cost you four hundred eighty-five euros. This is actually the price of a regular flight.
Charters from Moscow
And now let's move on from theory to practice. How to buy charter tickets? Theoretically, this can be done only by the residual principle. That is, an independent traveler can buy a seat on an airplane that could not be sold to an “organized tourist”. There are such tickets, and you need to be able to hunt for them. It’s not at all necessary to run around the tourist bureaus of your city with the question “do you have any extra tickets left in such a direction”. For charters there are special sites and even search engines. Travel agencies drop off all relevant offers on them, because sellers are also looking for their buyers. And this niche of international air transportation is worthy of competition for regular flights. From Moscow on a charter you can fly to different parts of the world. Varna and Burgas, Nha Trang, the islands of Greece, Punta Cana, Eilat, Goa, Aqaba, Varadelo and Cancun - this is not a complete list of destinations.
