If you’re wondering what a fifth freedom flight is, that’s completely normal. It sounds like an extremely unusual concept, given its name. I won’t go into all the technical explanations of the “9 freedoms of the air” that exist, but the 5th is the most important and is somewhat (a little) helpful to know for travelers (even more for savvy travelers who are interested in travel rewards).
I’m taking advantage of the amazing new promotion that gives you 1 million points (worth ≈ $12,000 to UNLIMITED) to continue a new series of explanatory articles on certain concepts that travel pros should understand (like the difference between a direct flight and a nonstop flight).
That promotion excludes 5th freedom flights and that’s really unfortunate, because they would have been really useful (I used one to save money and simplify my round-the-world trip for the other 1 million points promotion in 2024).
Here’s what a fifth freedom flight is.
What is the definition of fifth freedom flights?
To be clear, these 5th freedom flights are very rare: there are only about 250 of them worldwide. But taking a fifth freedom flight has several benefits for travelers, which I’ll list below.
Let’s start by understanding what they are.
Here’s an infographic that summarizes fifth freedom flights, if you like a visual representation.
Here’s the definition of a fifth freedom flight, if you like it in text:
- Operated by an airline
- Operated between 2 foreign countries
- Originating or ending in their home country
- Bookable by travelers
The definition of “foreign countries” is obviously in relation to the home country of the airline in question (the flight is between 2 countries that are not its home country).
As you probably know, airlines operate the vast majority of their flights from their home country. That’s normal.
So, Air Canada offers flights that depart from a Canadian airport:
- Either to other airports in Canada (domestic flights)
- Or to foreign airports (international flights)
Very logical. People are generally willing to pay more for an airline from their own country due to familiarity, unfortunately (as I just explained when telling you why it’s normal that Air Canada sells the same flights to Americans at nearly half price), or due to elite status benefits.
So yes, airlines operate the vast majority of their flights from their home countries… but not necessarily all their flights.
Several airlines (about 70 worldwide) also operate fifth freedom flights, which don’t depart from their own country!
Air Canada operates a flight between São Paulo (GRU) and Buenos Aires (EZE)! That’s a 5th freedom flight. São Paulo and Buenos Aires are clearly not Canadian cities. But following a route between Canada and São Paulo, an aircraft continues to Buenos Aires… so you could book just that 5th freedom flight if you were already in South America and you wanted to travel between the Brazilian and Argentine metropolises.
That one in particular is obviously not useful if you’re leaving from Canada: the complete flight that leaves to Canada is not a fifth freedom flight! Only the part between Brazil and Argentina is a fifth freedom flight!
So, fifth freedom flights are very useful if you’re a travel pro who doesn’t just do direct flights from your own country.
Apart from the benefits listed below, in practice, taking a fifth freedom flight doesn’t change much logistically.
If you board at the connection, your plane will have passengers arriving from the airline’s home country. If you board at the terminus, your plane will have passengers continuing to the airline’s home country. That’s all there is to it.
Why do fifth freedom flights exist?
It allows airlines to add an extra destination to their network, without having to add an independent nonstop route (each route is a major investment of several million dollars).
There are 2 main reasons:
- Because there isn’t enough demand for a nonstop flight to the final destination
- Because there’s no aircraft that has the technical capacity to reach the final destination nonstop
This means that 5th freedom flights are often far from the airline’s home country. The farther it is, the less demand there is, and the fewer aircraft can reach it. But not always, because several places have less demand without being far (like in Africa, where there are tons of 5th freedom flights even on African and Middle Eastern airlines).
Not enough demand for a nonstop flight to the final destination
This is the case with Air Canada’s fifth freedom flight between São Paulo and Buenos Aires mentioned above.
There isn’t enough demand for a long flight to São Paulo and another long flight to Buenos Aires nonstop (the aircraft absolutely has the technical capacity to reach it; the range in terms of distance).
But combined together, it allows them to fill the plane enough. Plus, Air Canada has flights to São Paulo from Toronto (YYZ) AND from Montreal (YUL), so people who want to continue to Buenos Aires from these 2 Canadian cities can then be combined onto the fifth freedom flight.
No aircraft that has the technical capacity to reach the final destination nonstop
This is the case with Turkish Airlines’ fifth freedom flights between Southeast Asia and Australia mentioned above.
There’s no aircraft that can do these flights in one go (as I explained, it gives a good hint that it’s a direct flight with a stop and not a nonstop flight when you see a “direct” flight of 20 hours and 20 minutes; the world’s longest flight lasts less than 19 hours).
So the destination can only be served by a fifth freedom flight (or otherwise a flight with a technical stop without passenger transport rights, but fortunately, some countries are less protectionist than Canada and prefer to give travelers a choice; see the next section).
Which flights are not fifth freedom flights (but look like them)?
All flights that are not between 2 foreign countries (that aren’t the airline’s home country) are obviously not fifth freedom flights.
But there are also 4 types of flights that look like fifth freedom flights and sometimes cause confusion:
- Flights without passenger transport rights
- Flights from a territory that’s far from the home country
- Flights on an airline with international subsidiaries
- Flights in the European Union
It’s good to know if you want to be a pro.
Flights without passenger transport rights
In the previous examples, Air Canada and Turkish Airlines have the right to transport passengers who want to travel just on the flight between 2 foreign countries (between São Paulo and Buenos Aires or between Southeast Asia and Australia), without going to Canada or Türkiye.
It’s an important distinction, because there are also routes between 2 foreign countries where airlines do not have the right to sell tickets on the route (such as the Royal Jordanian flight between Toronto and Montreal; I have a funny personal anecdote about this flight for another day).
Those are not fifth freedom flights. That’s why in the definition above, I included “bookable by travelers.” If it’s not bookable as a standalone flight, it’s not a fifth freedom flight.
By the way, everyone complains about American protectionism, but Canada is objectively one of the worst places in the world for airline protectionism, literally. It’s largely why we have among the highest prices in the world, obviously.
If Royal Jordanian could sell tickets on this Montreal-Toronto flight they already operate, prices would obviously go down and you’d also have a more comfortable option on a wide-body Dreamliner (and with employees from a country where the hospitality culture is very different).
(Canada’s Competition Bureau, a federal agency, actually recommends allowing all global airlines to operate domestic flights in a new report!)
Worse than that, earlier this year, Turkish Airlines wanted to offer more flights to Canada from its mega-hub (it’s the airline that serves the most countries in the world), to reduce prices and offer more options here.
The federal government again refused! To protect our Canadian companies (so to keep you captive, give you fewer options, and make you pay more). As it almost always does in aviation. That’s called protectionism.
Elbows up against protectionism* (*except ours)!
Anyway, flights that stop somewhere without having passenger transport rights between the 2 foreign countries exist.
Those are completely useless for travelers, because you can’t take them without taking the entire flight. If you take the entire flight, all it does that’s different from a normal flight is precisely that you’ll have a stop on your direct flight.
Flights from a territory that’s far from the home country
In international civil aviation regulations, the fact that they are foreign countries is really at the core of the definition of fifth freedom flights.
This is why several flights, that have many of the same benefits as fifth freedom flights, aren’t technically fifth freedom flights.
These are flights that depart from a territory that’s far from the home country and therefore don’t depart from the main part of the home country.
This is the case with the Air France flight between Guadeloupe (PTP) and Montreal. It’s not a fifth freedom flight because Guadeloupe is France. But it’s still a flight that doesn’t touch “mainland” France, in Europe. There are tons like that, including on United Airlines from Guam (GUM), in the Micronesia region in Oceania, to Tokyo (NRT and HND), to give another example.
Flights on an airline with international subsidiaries
Several airlines, which are almost always ultra low-cost carriers (ULCCs) or low-cost carriers (not the same thing at all), have international subsidiaries that allow them to operate somewhat differently, without having a single home country.
For example, AirAsia is a major ULCC airline based in Malaysia. It operates flights between Thailand and Vietnam, but these are not fifth freedom flights.
Why? AirAsia has several international subsidiaries, such as Thai AirAsia. It’s still just AirAsia written on the airplane and you book on the same AirAsia website… but since the subsidiary exists and is based in Thailand, a flight between Bangkok and Hanoi is technically operated from Thai AirAsia’s country of origin (one of AirAsia’s many countries of origin).
It’s also the case in the Middle East with Air Arabia, and especially in Europe with Ryanair, Wizz, Easyjet… but those have another peculiarity.
Flights in the European Union
European Union rules allow airlines to operate flights from all countries in the Union.
(Warning: This is not quite the same as the Schengen area, which all experienced travelers are familiar with. That is a system of 29 European countries that have open borders between them, so it’s as if they were one same country in terms of customs for you as a traveler. You can read our post about Europe, the EU, the Eurozone, and the Schengen Area!)
In short, European airlines very often have flights that do not depart from their country of origin. Once again, these are often ultra low-cost and low-cost carriers. These are not technically fifth freedom flights because EU rules allow them to operate from anywhere.
6 benefits of fifth freedom flights
Fantastic promotions that require taking 12 or 15 flights are obviously incredibly rare, so that’s certainly not what makes fifth freedom flights useful.
Here are the 6 main benefits of fifth freedom flights:
- Save money
- Often cheaper than competitors
- Find seats with points
- Often lots of availability
- Test a type of business class on a shorter flight
- That costs less (in points or in cash)
- Have a more comfortable wide-body plane
- On a shorter route
- Test a specific airline
- Without having to go as far
- Take a somewhat “unique” flight
- It’s special
Well, it’s true that the appeal of these flights is mainly for AvGeeks (aviation enthusiasts) like me.
But everyone can at least benefit from the fact that these routes are often cheaper than other direct flights on the same route, and that they make more seats available with points.
Save money
Fifth freedom flights often allow you to save money on that specific route. It’s not always the case, but it’s generally the case. There are obviously no absolute rules when it comes to plane ticket prices.
It comes back to the basics of plane ticket prices and what I explained in the Air Canada article.
Take, for example, the 5th freedom flight from my fall round-the-world trip, which was Kenya Airways between Bangkok (BKK) and Guangzhou (CAN).
At equal prices, Thai travelers will obviously choose THAI Airways, which they know more and which is in their language (or with which they may hold elite status). At equal prices, Chinese travelers will obviously choose China Southern, which they know more and which is in their language (or with which they may hold elite status).
So Kenya Airways has no choice but to be a bit cheaper. Otherwise, at the same price, people who don’t travel often unfortunately always choose familiarity, and people who travel often choose the airline they’re loyal to.
An example of exceptions to this rule is a fifth freedom flight from an extremely well-rated and well-known airline (like those from Qatar Airways, the world’s best airline). Those can often still be more expensive (but then, the 2nd benefit below is even more interesting).
Fifth freedom flights are very rare, but they’re another reason why you should always do the most basic thing when searching for flights: use a comparison tool.
It’s clear that 99% of travelers wouldn’t think of Kenya Airways for a flight between Bangkok and Guangzhou, and that’s normal. But you don’t need to know about its existence if you just do your research on a comparison tool, as you should always do. The 5th freedom flight will appear in the options.
(But don’t BOOK on a site other than the airline’s website!!! There are unfortunately still so many people who make this basic mistake, because they confuse the very distinct research and reservation steps!)
Find seats with points
Fifth freedom flights often allow you to find available seats with points more easily. Again, this isn’t always true.
With the right airline points, which are the best rewards that exist, flight prices are guaranteed fixed prices (regardless of the cash price).
In other words, the price is limited. Necessarily, available seats are also limited. That’s what makes the value potentially unlimited.
But since fifth freedom flights are less known, it’s often easier to find available seats.
And since positioning flights are the key to finding available seats with points (especially to travel in business class for less than economy class), fifth freedom flights give you more possibilities for your searches.
I’ll soon share a list of the best fifth freedom flights for free travel enthusiasts.
Test a type of business class
Fifth freedom flights allow you to try a particular business class product without having to pay tons of points.
If you’ve read our guide on how to fly in business class for less than in economy class (or even our guide on airplane seat classes), you know that quality varies enormously in premium cabins.
Some amazing products, therefore, cost more points (never book business class with cash if you want to save).
But you can try them for fewer points to have a unique experience, thanks to these fifth freedom flights.
The list of best fifth freedom flights mentioned will also be able to help you with business class.
As a teaser, I’ll mention Singapore Airlines’ excellent business class between New York (JFK) and Frankfurt (FRA), which is one of the most luxurious ways to cross the Atlantic. Asian airlines are very hard to beat, especially in business class.
It costs only 60,000 Aeroplan points, which is the same guaranteed fixed price I paid in May for my Lufthansa flight from Montreal to Munich. There are actually 2 new incredible offers that give you up to 180,000 Amex points (transferable to Aeroplan at a 1-to-1 rate), or at least 92,000 points for those who don’t want to spend as much and don’t want a premium card.
Have a more comfortable wide-body plane
Fifth freedom flights often allow you to travel in a more comfortable wide-body aircraft instead of on a narrow-body aircraft, which are almost always the ones used on shorter flights.
Many travelers don’t know this, but wide-body aircraft aren’t just bigger: they also have characteristics that make them more comfortable for long flights. Yes, big planes are designed to be more pleasant than smaller ones by default!
Often, 5th freedom flights will be on big planes, because of their 2 reasons for being that are explained above. So it gives you more comfort. It’s just more pleasant to be on a big plane.
Test a specific airline
Fifth freedom flights allow you to take an airline without having to go to its country, which can be unique and interesting.
Maybe you’ve always wanted to test out the excellent Middle Eastern airlines, but you don’t want to visit their countries (well, you can always just pass through their country for a connection if you’re a travel pro and you’ve understood that connections aren’t the end of the world).
It’s good to have another airline option on a specific route.
Take a somewhat “unique” flight
Fifth freedom flights allow you to just do something unique: it’s extremely rare to fly Emirates between 2 Oceania countries or United Airlines between 2 Asian countries.
This one is really for AvGeeks.
Complete list of fifth freedom flights in the world
You’ll soon be able to see the most up-to-date list of all fifth freedom flights offered in the world.
Learning how to travel for less
Join over 100,000 savvy Canadian travelers who already receive Flytrippers’ free newsletter so we can help you travel for less!
