We're going to undersell this on purpose, because we'd rather you book a leg knowing exactly what to expect than feel misled afterwards. So here's the unvarnished answer.
Why empty legs cancel
An empty leg only exists because of an underlying contract — the revenue-generating flight that puts the aircraft in the wrong place. If that primary charter cancels, the empty leg evaporates. It also evaporates if:
- The primary charter changes timing and the positioning leg moves with it
- The aircraft goes AOG (technical issue) and needs unscheduled maintenance
- Crew duty time is exceeded and a relief crew can't be sourced
- Weather forces a re-route that makes the empty leg infeasible
The actual rate, in numbers
Across the European market in 2025, our reading of the data is roughly:
- ~85–90% of advertised empty legs fly as scheduled
- ~6–10% get re-timed by a few hours but still operate
- ~3–6% cancel outright and require a refund or re-book
For comparison: scheduled commercial flights run roughly 1–2% cancellation in Europe (excluding ATC strikes, which would push empty legs higher too). So an empty leg is 3–4× more likely to cancel than a Lufthansa flight on the same day. It's also 95%+ likely to fly.
What good operators do when a leg drops
On Ledig, every operator commits to one of two outcomes within 24 hours of an empty leg cancellation:
- Rebook — find you a comparable empty leg or contracted flight on the same route within 7 days, at the same price you originally paid.
- Refund — full refund processed via the original payment method, no partial deductions, no platform fee retained.
Operators that miss the 24-hour SLA twice in a quarter are flagged. Three misses and they're removed from the platform. We don't publish the SLA-miss rate yet because we're too small for the sample to mean anything, but the policy is enforced from day one.
How to use empty legs intelligently
- Don't book empty legs for time-critical travel. If you absolutely must be in Geneva by 9am for a meeting, book a scheduled flight or a charter. Empty legs are leisure-grade reliability.
- Have a Plan B. A refundable backup train or commercial ticket costs almost nothing if you don't use it.
- Book legs as close to departure as possible. A leg confirmed 24 hours out is much less likely to cancel than one booked 10 days out.
- Go for popular corridors. Empty legs on London-Nice or Geneva-Ibiza in season cancel less often than on rare routes, simply because operators have more flexibility to swap aircraft.
Bottom line
Empty legs are reliable enough for non-time-critical leisure travel, especially if you can be flexible by a few hours. They're not the right tool for must-arrive-by-9am business. Used correctly, you fly private at 30–60% of the charter price with very little real downside. Used as a substitute for scheduled service, you'll get burned occasionally.
See current legs across Europe at /empty-legs/europe.