Cheap flights by waiting at the airport?

I was told, albeit not by an experienced source, that it is possible to get a cheap flight by showing up at some big airport, say LAX, and waiting until a free seat is available. I want to travel to South America, not too bothered exactly which country I fly to, and I can live in an airport for a day or 2 if need be. Does anyone have any actual experience of using this method?

Nope. Wrong. Urban legend.

Most flights today are deliberately overbooked so that there are no empty seats.

I have also watched the last seat on a plane go for about 10X what the advance purchase seats cost, just days before departure.

You'll be living in the airport for weeks. You'll also have to make a career out of checking fares. One-way flights are often more expensive than round trips.

Or, you might find out there is a better last-minute deal, but it is on a flight from a different airport 300 miles away.
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Kahua is correct; however, just so you know the source of the legend.

It did used to be that way. Back in the day, before 21 and 14 day advance purchase rules, there was such a thing known as flying stand-by. Stand-by has pretty much gone the way of the dinosaur, but once upon a time you could get the very last unclaimed seat(s) on an airplane for big discounts.

That was a while ago though.

How would someone clear security without a boarding pass?

To expand. Many, many years ago, airlines did indeed discount last minute tickets. But as computer analysis got better, they figured out a couple of things.

First, airlines could better decide on flight frequency and airplane seat configuration, in order to minimize empty seat.

Second, they figured out that last minute fliers were mostly people who had to fly with little notice and would pay whatever it took. Most of these are business travelers whose employers are paying for the flight. So the airlines eliminated stand-by fares and began charging last-minute fliers full fare.

The only cheap stand-by fares left are for airline employees and their families.

SusieGirl, Back then anyone could walk to a gate.

This was before the need to have a boarding pass in order to get to the gate areas.

Lake: Ah, I remember those days. There also used to be military and student standby fares.

That was back in the "olden days" of the 1960's - early 70's. By 1977 those standby opportunities were already a thing of the past.

It's not like all flights are run full to the brim. Most still have at least a few empty seats--at least, most flights I've been on, which is plenty. But no, you don't get the cheap fares by sitting around in an airport: you get the cheap fares by staying at home in front of your computer and obsessing over them.

Wasn't so long ago I used to fly on round trip tickets and sell the unused half of my ticket to strangers I found by running want-ads in newspapers. I also took driveaway cars cross-country. And minimum wage was $1.65 an hour, AFAIR.

Mark

Sounds like someone is sending you on a snipe hunt.

Oh cool. Are we going snipe hunting!!!!!!!?

I'll give the OP the benefit of the doubt. I'll bet the "unexperienced source" said something like, "when I/my Mum/my Grandad went to university in the 1970s, young folks used to go camp out at the airport and..." (The OP is from the UK, so Mum would have gone to university. In the US,Mom would have gone to college.)

OK, yeah, back inthe70s a friend "hitchiked" across Alaska by hanging out in regional or small airports and asked pilots readying their small planes for flight if he could pitch in for gas and come along. It worked and he flew with private pilots from Anchorage to Ketchikan hopping from small airport to small airport.

Other than that, ready your catch-bag for the snipes.

I love snipe hunting. But I always wind up naked and left in the forest......

#14 - So, you gone snipe hunting more than once then?

I meant how would someone get past security now without a boarding pass.

I remember the security "light" days myself. Though they are funniest when seen in an old movie.

Oh, I got ya. Yes that's a good point. Can't really get to a gate to hang out waiting for a last minute seat anyway.

I guess you could hang out in the terminal, but as stated there's no reason to.

Also the practise of overbooking is far more common in the USA than anywhere else. Where you can benefit, is by being flexible and taking up the voucher offers that get offered to unload passengers.

I was offered a $400 voucher to offload on a flight from Dallas to Guatemala. Which would have been fine, but as an Australian a $400 voucher for an American airline isn't much use to me. In hindsight I guess I could have ebayed it for $300 :-)

@SusieGirl17

Many civilised parts opf the world still do not enforce draconian security.

In Australian domestic airports one does not need a boarding pass to go to the gate, and many countries are the same. International travel is a different ball game, but domestic airports in many places anyone can go in regardless of holding a boarding pass. In fact where I live I will often go to the domestic airport to go to the bar there or the food court as its sometimes close to where I am working. As long as you go through the security screen, anyone can go in.

Justin23 in #18, . . . Nope - you couldn't even e-bay your voucher as they are non-transferrable.

I once had a ticket from Anchorage Alaska to Seattle which I hawked in the Anchorage airport at half price, but that was years ago. No way you could do anything like that nowadays.

I have two sons who are about to WWOOF in New Zealand & are trying to find the best deals on airfare from Texas (Dallas) to CA, then Air New Zealand on. What are the best suggestions you guys have that could save them some money? Any special websites or should they go direct to the airline websites? Help!!! :)

Just a bit of numbers: Airlines manage to fill about 70-85% of their seats on yearly avaerage (which is called the "load factor") but some routes might have a load factor close to 90%.

TexasChick, you will get the best response by posting your question as a new thread. When you make your new post, could you clarify something? Are they just looking to get from Texas to California because they have already bought the ANZ tickets (in which case, what Calif city?) or are they looking to price the whole trip?

Well there was some truth to the story, but industries all change, especially as budget airlines force lower airfares. When airlines could charge a lot more for a seat, any extra last minute bookings were a bonus. With cheaper airfares they need to fill the planes to make a profit.

Yes. I just did it. Fall 2011; I jumped ship in the Windward Islands (drunk doctors on a sailboat, and I got off quick) got a flight to Puerto Rico and wanted to get back to NYC. Walked up and down airport lobby for two hours; $350, $320, etc. Getting late , most flights had left, was about to give up and find a hotel; with 10 minutes left this airline had a few seats open, and the ticket agent sold me one for $120.