AIRACER EMPTY LEG BOOKING POLICY
1. Overview
An Empty Leg flight is a repositioning flight operated by an aircraft that would otherwise fly without passengers due to an existing operational, positioning, or subsequent flight requirement.
Because Empty Leg flights arise from an operator’s pre-existing aircraft schedule, they may be offered at a reduced rate compared with standard charter services. However, they are also subject to greater uncertainty with respect to timing, routing, airport, aircraft availability, and actual operation.
All Empty Leg bookings arranged through Airacer are subject to this Policy, together with any booking-specific written terms, Booking Confirmation, applicable Charter Agreement, operator terms, and other governing documents.
2. Airacer’s Role and Operational Control
Airacer acts solely as an air charter broker and assists customers in sourcing, coordinating, and arranging flights operated by independent third-party air carriers.
Airacer does not own, operate, maintain, crew, or exercise operational control over any aircraft.
The operating carrier retains sole authority and responsibility for all operational matters, including aircraft assignment, crew assignment, routing, airport selection, safety decisions, weather-related decisions, maintenance, payload limitations, fuel planning, and regulatory compliance.
All decisions concerning flight safety and actual flight operations are made solely by the operating carrier.
3. Nature of Empty Leg Flights
Empty Leg flights are opportunistic inventory arising from an aircraft’s existing operational schedule and are not on-demand charter flights arranged specifically around the Customer’s preferred schedule.
The existence of an Empty Leg may depend entirely on another flight, positioning requirement, or aircraft movement unrelated to the Customer.
If the underlying operational requirement changes, the Empty Leg may also be delayed, rescheduled, rerouted, substituted, withdrawn, or canceled entirely.
Customers should therefore expect a greater degree of schedule and operational flexibility than with a standard charter.
Empty Leg flights are not recommended for travel requiring strict schedule certainty, including commercial or international connections, medical appointments, major events, cruises, or other time-critical travel.
If a Customer elects to rely on an Empty Leg for such travel, the Customer assumes the associated risk.
4. Schedule, Routing, Airport, and Aircraft Flexibility
Because Empty Leg flights are tied to an operator’s operational needs, any of the following may change:
- departure time
- arrival time
- flight duration
- routing
- departure airport
- arrival airport
- aircraft type
- specific operating aircraft
Changes may result from factors including aircraft positioning requirements, changes to the underlying flight, crew duty limitations, maintenance, weather, air traffic control, airport restrictions, slot availability, curfews, government requirements, permits, customs, security considerations, or other operational reasons.
Reasonable schedule adjustments, nearby airport substitutions, and comparable or upgraded aircraft substitutions do not automatically constitute a cancellation.
Airacer does not guarantee that an Empty Leg will operate exactly as initially displayed, quoted, or requested.
5. Availability and Confirmation
All Empty Leg listings, quotes, aircraft details, and schedule information are dynamic and remain subject to prior sale, operator confirmation, aircraft and crew availability, operational review, regulatory approval, airport and slot availability, and receipt of required payment.
No quote, aircraft, itinerary, or schedule shall be considered final until Airacer provides written confirmation.
Airacer may withdraw, revise, or amend any Empty Leg offer before written confirmation.
6. Payment and Pricing
Because Empty Leg flights are generally short-notice, limited, and dynamic inventory, Airacer may require immediate payment, full prepayment, wire transfer, credit card payment, or other accelerated payment arrangements.
An Empty Leg shall not be considered secured until the required payment has been received, the operating carrier has confirmed the flight, and Airacer has provided written confirmation.
Empty Leg pricing may change at any time before final confirmation.
Unless expressly stated otherwise in writing, quoted pricing may exclude taxes, Federal Excise Tax, international taxes, airport fees, FBO fees, ground handling, de-icing, permit fees, pet fees, cleaning fees, catering, Wi-Fi or communication charges, overnight crew fees, parking charges, or other variable operational costs.
The final amount payable shall be the amount stated in the applicable Booking Confirmation or other final written confirmation.
7. Airacer Credits
Airacer Credits may not be used toward any Empty Leg flight.
Empty Leg flights constitute special, limited, and dynamically priced inventory and are priced and paid for separately from the Airacer Credit program.
Any prior refund, compensation, account balance, promotional balance, or other form of Airacer Credit may not be applied toward the cost of an Empty Leg flight.
8. Passenger Timeliness and No-Show
Empty Leg flights often operate within strict positioning and downstream scheduling requirements and may have little or no ability to accommodate passenger delays.
The Customer and all passengers must arrive at the designated FBO and be ready for departure at the time specified by Airacer or the operating carrier.
If passengers are not ready to depart at the required time, the aircraft may be unable to wait.
Late arrival, failure to appear, incomplete passenger information, passport or visa issues, non-compliant baggage, incomplete pet documentation, or Customer-requested delays may be treated as a Customer cancellation or no-show, and amounts paid may be non-refundable.
9. Passenger Documents, Baggage, and Pets
The Customer is responsible for ensuring that all passengers possess all required passports, visas, entry permits, transit visas, immigration documents, customs documents, health documents, minor travel authorizations, pet documentation, and any other documentation required by governmental authorities.
Airacer may assist with general operational information but does not guarantee a passenger’s eligibility to enter, transit, or remain in any country or jurisdiction.
All passenger capacity, baggage allowance, and payload limits remain subject to the actual operating limitations of the aircraft and final approval by the operating carrier.
Published seating capacity does not guarantee that the same number of passengers may be carried under all routing, weather, fuel, runway, or payload conditions.
All pets must be disclosed in advance and are subject to operator approval. Any additional cleaning, handling, documentation, quarantine, or related charges may be payable by the Customer.
10. Aircraft Information and Amenities
Aircraft images, cabin photographs, configurations, year of manufacture, refurbishment information, amenities, and other aircraft details provided by Airacer may be supplied by operators or third parties.
Unless Airacer expressly confirms a specific aircraft registration in writing, aircraft images may be representative only.
The operating aircraft may be substituted for operational reasons.
Wi-Fi, Starlink, streaming, cabin service, flight attendants, galley facilities, sleeping configurations, entertainment systems, and other specific amenities are not guaranteed unless expressly confirmed in writing.
11. Operator Cancellation, Rescheduling, or Withdrawal
An Empty Leg may be canceled, rescheduled, amended, or withdrawn if the underlying operational requirement changes.
This may include, without limitation:
- cancellation or modification of the underlying primary flight
- elimination of the positioning requirement
- aircraft reassignment
- aircraft maintenance or AOG events
- crew limitations
- weather
- air traffic control
- slot restrictions
- airport closure
- curfews
- government restrictions
- permit delays
- security issues
- other operational circumstances beyond Airacer’s reasonable control
Airacer will notify the Customer as soon as reasonably practicable after becoming aware of such a change.
12. Refunds
If an Empty Leg flight is canceled, withdrawn, or materially changed due to operator or operational reasons, any refund payable to the Customer will be determined based on the amounts actually refunded or credited to Airacer by the operating carrier and any applicable third-party suppliers.
The refundable portion attributable to the operating carrier shall not exceed the amount actually refunded or credited by the operating carrier to Airacer.
Airacer service fees, handling fees, brokerage fees, payment processing fees, and any other fees identified as non-refundable at the time of booking may be retained by Airacer and deducted from any amount otherwise refundable to the Customer.
Any third-party costs already incurred and not recovered by Airacer, including permit fees, airport fees, ground handling charges, catering costs, payment processing fees, or other non-recoverable expenses, may also be deducted from the refund.
The Customer’s final refund amount will reflect any applicable non-refundable Airacer fees and any unrecovered third-party costs in accordance with the applicable booking terms.
If the applicable Booking Confirmation, Charter Agreement, or other booking-specific written terms contain different or more specific refund provisions, those terms shall control.
13. Replacement Flights and Additional Costs
If an Empty Leg is canceled, withdrawn, or materially changed, Airacer may use reasonable efforts to assist the Customer in sourcing an alternative.
Airacer does not guarantee the availability of an alternative with the same route, timing, airport, aircraft type, aircraft category, or price.
Any replacement flight shall be treated as newly available inventory and shall be subject to new pricing and operator approval.
Unless expressly agreed otherwise by Airacer in writing, any additional cost associated with a standard charter or other replacement transportation shall be the responsibility of the Customer.
Airacer is under no obligation to provide replacement charter service at the original Empty Leg price.
14. Customer Cancellation
Cancellation by the Customer after confirmation may result in partial or full cancellation charges.
The applicable amount may depend on the timing of cancellation, operator terms, whether the aircraft has been secured or committed, third-party costs already incurred, and other non-recoverable costs.
Because Empty Legs are special and opportunistic inventory, some bookings may become fully non-refundable immediately upon confirmation.
The applicable cancellation terms shall be those communicated for the specific booking.
15. Limitation of Liability
To the maximum extent permitted by applicable law, Airacer shall not be liable for indirect, incidental, special, or consequential losses arising from the cancellation, delay, rescheduling, modification, withdrawal, or non-operation of an Empty Leg flight.
Such losses may include, without limitation:
- missed commercial or international connections
- hotel costs
- ground transportation costs
- lost business opportunities
- canceled events
- missed weddings, meetings, or cruises
- lost profits
- reputational loss
- other downstream financial losses
Any commercial airfare, ground transportation, hotel accommodation, standard charter, or other replacement transportation arranged by the Customer shall generally remain the Customer’s responsibility unless Airacer expressly agrees otherwise in writing.
16. Force Majeure and Events Beyond Reasonable Control
Airacer shall not be liable for cancellation, delay, rescheduling, modification, or other performance impacts resulting from events beyond its reasonable control.
Such events may include severe weather, natural disasters, air traffic control restrictions, airport or runway closures, governmental action, war, terrorism, security events, strikes, public health events, travel restrictions, permit delays, customs or immigration delays, aircraft maintenance, AOG events, crew illness, crew duty-time limitations, or similar operational events that cannot reasonably be predicted or controlled.
17. Third-Party Operator Terms and Order of Precedence
All Empty Leg flights are operated by independent third-party air carriers.
Customers remain subject to the applicable requirements of the operating carrier, including safety requirements, passenger manifest deadlines, passport requirements, pet policies, baggage limitations, dangerous goods rules, check-in requirements, payment deadlines, and operational restrictions.
If the operator requires additional documentation or signatures, the Customer must provide them in a timely manner.
If there is any conflict between this Policy and written terms applicable to a specific booking, the applicable Booking Confirmation, Charter Agreement, or other booking-specific written terms shall control over this general Policy.
The operating carrier’s safety, regulatory, and operational requirements shall control with respect to actual flight operations and safety matters.
18. No Waiver and Customer Acknowledgment
Any refund, credit, exception, waiver, compensation, complimentary service, or other special arrangement provided by Airacer in a particular case applies only to that specific case and does not create an obligation for Airacer to provide the same treatment in any future booking.
By making payment, signing or accepting a Booking Confirmation, confirming a booking, or traveling on the flight, the Customer acknowledges that the Customer has read, understood, and accepted this Policy and all other terms applicable to the specific booking.
The Customer further acknowledges that Empty Leg flights involve greater uncertainty than standard charter services with respect to schedule, routing, aircraft, and actual operation, and voluntarily accepts those risks.