If business class isn't in the budget or the award space to book with miles just isn't there, the next best thing (well, after premium economy…) is an empty seat next to you. If you're really lucky, maybe you'll score your own little row – aka “poor man's business class.”
The problem? Planes are full, and airline CEOs near and far have been saying as much for years, bragging about their ability to fill as many seats as possible.
But they're not full everywhere. Among the thousands of long-haul flights operated by dozens of airlines, surely some must have plenty of give travelers better odds to stretch out
To answer that question, I analyzed more than a year's worth of load factors (airline lingo for “percentage of seats filled”) on long-haul international flights departing the U.S., using data from May 2025 through May 2026 from the aviation analytics firm Cirium. The result?
A clear picture of the 20 best international routes if you want more space to stretch out in economy! Click the image for a bigger version!
Before some observations and takeaways, a quick word about this data: It's solid … but by no means perfect.
- This data only looks at flights departing the U.S. – not returning to the States from abroad.
- It only goes through May 2026 … because that's the most recent batch of data available from the federal government and Cirium.
- The data on load factors lumps together business class, premium economy, and economy for one final percentage. But considering how many economy seats are on some of these routes (up to 230, and sometimes more), it should be fairly close.
- We analyzed the monthly averages as well as average load factors throughout the entire 13-month period, which means there could be some days where flights are much fuller than others
- Several routes only have a month or two of data based on when they started or their seasonal schedule. But we figured those were still worth including, for reasons we'll get to shortly…
And an important caveat: Just because a flight has tons of empty seats doesn't mean it's struggling, ripe for cheap flights, or could be on the chopping block. Airlines can make enough money through corporate contracts or just in business class to sustain low ticket sales through the rest of the plane. Others carry so much cargo or rake in enough government subsidies that empty seats are no problem.
New Routes Are a Goldmine for More Space
We track new airline routes closely because there's a proven track record: Cheap fares and award space often follow. Turns out that many are also a goldmine for empty seats.
Nine of the top 20 emptiest long-haul routes all began within the last year or so. Now, that's a tiny fraction of the new routes airlines kicked off in late 2025 or early 2026 … but it's still telling. It includes:
- Cabo Verde Airlines' flight from Providence (PVD) to Praia (PAI) – just in time for the buzz around the West African island nation from the World Cup. This one is technically a resumption: the airline previously operated it almost a decade ago
- All three of Alaska Airlines' first nonstops to Europe from Seattle (SEA) to both London-Heathrow (LHR), Rome (FCO), and Reykjavik (KEF) make the list.
- Ditto for two of United's new European routes that began this spring: Washington, D.C.-Dulles (IAD) to Reykjavik (KEF) and Newark (EWR) to Santiago de Compostela (SCQ) in northwestern Spain. United has already confirmed both routes will continue in summer 2027.
- Same goes for United's latest foray into Australia: A new nonstop route from San Francisco (SFO) to Adelaide (ADL), which began last December, was barely half-full last winter!
- And its flight from Washington, D.C.-Dulles (IAD) to Dakar (DSS) in Senegal underperformed so badly after starting in May 2025, the airline has already scrapped it.
- Finally, one of Aer Lingus's latest additions to the map, a nonstop from Pittsburgh (PIT) to Dublin (DUB), was fairly empty in its first month of service, with just 60.5% seats filled.
Again, this is just a snapshot. Many of these routes will likely be far fuller as we get more data for June, July, and beyond.
Emirates' Wonkiest Fifth-Freedom Route
From its European nonstops to the short hops between Hong Kong (HKG) and Bangkok (BKK) and crossing the Tasman Sea from Christchurch (CHC) to Sydney (SYD), Emirates has tons of fun fifth-freedom flights. The weirdest might just be from Miami (MIA) down to Bogota (BOG) and back.
And that flight to Colombia is also clearly the emptiest. On average, just over half of the seats on the Boeing 777-300 Emirates flies down to Bogota were filled over the last year and change.
My coworker, Peter, flew this route twice last year and can attest: There's plenty of room to stretch out!
Planes to India, Africa & The Middle East Are Going Out Empty
Routes to India, Africa, and the Middle East occupy exactly half of the top 20 slots for empty planes on this list. That's not a huge surprise.
Honestly, these routes are the epitome of that “empty flights aren't necessarily a bad sign” disclaimer above. These are the kinds of routes that are chock full of enough corporate flyers heading to manufacturing facilities or customer service centers, government contractors heading overseas, workers from non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and Americans flying home to visit family to make the math work.
Case in point, many of these flights have been around for years, in spite of routinely low load factors. So if you need to get to this corner of the globe, picking one of these routes could be your best bet for an empty seat (or three!) next to you.
One important note about Ethiopian's flights from New York City (JFK) and Newark (EWR) to Addis Ababa (ADD): They stop in either Lomé (LFW) or Abidjan (ABJ) on the way to Ethiopia, but we used data from both segments. The airline flies nonstop from Atlanta (ATL).
The Rest of the Top 50
Rounding out the top 50, you start to see even more marquee international routes. But it's a mixed bag.
On the one hand, these routes follow many of the same patterns above – especially new routes. Yet there are some surprises, like the ultra-long-haul from New York to Auckland (AKL) on Air New Zealand. Empty seats on that 17-hour flight would be an absolute godsend.
But this secondary list is also a reminder of just how good airlines have gotten at filling up their planes. By the time you get halfway down the list, more than two-thirds of the seats are occupied. That's better than a flight with a 90% load factor, but I wouldn't exactly call it empty, either.
- #21) Orlando (MCO) to Santiago (SCL) — LATAM: 61.5% load factor (4 months)
- #22) Minneapolis-St. Paul (MSP) to Dublin (DUB) — Aer Lingus: 62.5% load factor (13 months)
- #23) Detroit (DTW) to Reykjavik (KEF) — Icelandair: 62.5% load factor (8 months)
- #24) Boston (BOS) to Nice (NCE) — Delta Air Lines: 62.8% load factor (1 month)
- #25) New York City (JFK) to Olbia (OLB) — Delta Air Lines: 63.0% load factor (1 month)
- #26) New York City (JFK) to Tokyo-Narita (NRT) — Korean Air: 63.2% load factor (1 month)
- #27) Houston-Intercontinental (IAH) to Tokyo-Narita (NRT) — ZIPAIR: 63.5% load factor (13 months)
- #28) Newark (EWR) to Glasgow (GLA) — United Airlines: 63.8% load factor (1 month)
- #29) New York City (JFK) to Auckland (AKL) — Air New Zealand: 64.0% load factor (13 months)
- #30) Boston (BOS) to Dubai (DXB) — Emirates: 64.2% load factor (12 months)
- #31) Miami (MIA) to Caracas (CCS) — Envoy Air: 65.0% load factor (1 month)
- #32) San Francisco (SFO) to Warsaw (WAW) — LOT Polish Airlines: 65.2% load factor (1 month)
- #33) Washington, D.C.-Dulles (IAD) to Lomé (LFW) — Ethiopian Airlines: 65.5% load factor (12 months)
- #34) Denver (DEN) to Zurich (ZRH) — Edelweiss: 65.6% load factor (5 months)
- #35) New York City (JFK) to Terceira (TER) — Azores Airlines: 65.6% load factor (4 months)
- #36) Miami (MIA) to Dubai (DXB) — Emirates: 66.1% load factor (10 months)
- #37) Miami (MIA) to Guayaquil (GYE) — Avianca: 66.2% load factor (8 months)
- #38) Seattle (SEA) to Helsinki (HEL) — Finnair: 66.7% load factor (5 months)
- #39) Washington, D.C.-Dulles (IAD) to Delhi (DEL) — Air India: 66.8% load factor (4 months)
- #40) Houston-Intercontinental (IAH) to Dubai (DXB) — Emirates: 66.8% load factor (10 months)
- #41) New York City (JFK) to Frankfurt (FRA) — Singapore Airlines: 66.8% load factor (12 months)
- #42) Washington, D.C.-Dulles (IAD) to Dubai (DXB) — Emirates: 67.3% load factor (12 months)
- #43) Denver (DEN) to Dublin (DUB) — Aer Lingus: 67.6% load factor (7 months)
- #44) Los Angeles (LAX) to London-Heathrow (LHR) — United Airlines: 67.7% load factor (13 months)
- #45) New York City (JFK) to Cartagena (CTG) — Avianca: 67.7% load factor (3 months)
- #46) Newark (EWR) to Split (SPU) — United Airlines: 67.8% load factor (1 month)
- #47) New York City (JFK) to Dakar (DSS) — Delta Air Lines: 67.8% load factor (13 months)
- #48) Atlanta (ATL) to Accra (ACC) — Delta Air Lines: 68.0% load factor (2 months)
- #49) Fort Lauderdale (FLL) to MedellÃn (MDE) — Avianca: 68.0% load factor (13 months)
- #50) Raleigh-Durham (RDU) to Dublin (DUB) — Aer Lingus: 68.1% load factor (2 months)
Bottom Line
If you want more space to stretch out on a long flight abroad, these are your best bets.
Reminder: This is just a snapshot. This list can and likely will change drastically … even if you're getting on a plane today! But at least it can guide you to the safer bets where the odds of having an empty seat next to you on your next long-haul adventure are greatest.
Lead photo courtesy of Delta via Flickr
