You name the route.
Operators bid to fly it.

Airlines tell you where you can go. Encore works the other way: say where you want to be, when, and the most you'll pay per seat. Travelers going the same way pool together, and private operators compete for the flight.

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You pay the price the flight clears at — never more than this, and usually less.

Only used to reach you about this flight. Departure times move.

No charge now. You add a card on the next screen, and it is only charged if an operator picks up your flight.

Four steps, and you only pay if it flies.

  1. 1

    Name your flight

    Route, day or window, how many of you, and the most you'll pay per seat. Two minutes, no account.

  2. 2

    Pool with travelers going your way

    Same route, overlapping dates. Every traveler who joins makes the flight cheaper for everyone and likelier to happen.

  3. 3

    Operators bid

    Part 135 carriers in the area see the demand and name a price for the aircraft. They can also say "I'll fly it once it hits six passengers" — and it goes by itself when it does.

  4. 4

    One price, charged once

    Everyone on board pays the same clearing price. Never above your maximum, usually below it. Nothing is charged until an operator commits.

The longer version, including how the price is set

You set the ceiling

Your maximum is a maximum. If the flight clears lower — and with enough travelers it does — you pay the lower number.

Nothing until it's real

Your card is on file, not charged. It's charged the moment an operator commits an aircraft, and not a minute before.

Part 135 operators only

Every flight is flown by an FAA-certificated air carrier with a certificate number we've checked. We arrange; they fly.

Once it's booked, it's booked.

When an operator takes your flight they commit an aircraft, a crew and a slot to it, and they do that on the strength of the seats already sold. So the moment a flight is confirmed, the booking is non-refundable. We say that here, on the form, and on the receipt, because finding it out later is how people end up hating a company.

Everything before that point costs nothing. An unmatched request expires quietly and your card is never touched. If we cancel a confirmed flight, you get every dollar back — that half of the deal is ours to keep.

Name a flight

Fly for a living?

Encore hands you demand that already has money behind it: a route, a date window, a passenger count and the revenue those passengers have committed. Bid the number you need for the aircraft, or set a condition and let it fire itself when the flight is worth doing. Seats that fill after you accept are yours on top. There is no commission on your side.

How it works for operators