Whether you take a scheduled airline flight or go with a charter mainly depends on why you're flying. If you're going on a vacation alone or with your family then you'll probably want a scheduled flight. Is your entire chapter of Beekeepers of America traveling to the national convention in Miami? Then you might want to consider chartering a flight to get you there. What follows is a primer on the differences between the two modalities.
Chartered flights are relatively new developments in the history of flight. While the first scheduled airline flight is considered to be a 1914 trip between St. Petersburg and Tampa, Fla., chartered flights didn't come into vogue until more than three decades later, after World War II.
Basically, chartered flights are those in which an entire aircraft (usually a small jet) is reserved for a specific purpose: corporate travel, organizational travel, medical emergency, etc. Scheduled flights are those with which most of us are most familiar: flights at a specific time with tickets available generally and sold through travel agents or directly by the commercial airlines.
Chartered flights are also used by sports teams, entertainers and the military for special occasions. Scheduled flights are used for general travel, as well as some business travel.
Chartered flights are considered "general aviation," while scheduled flights fall under "commercial aviation." General aviation passengers are usually not subject to the same stringent security checks that commercial passengers must undergo.
One advantage that charter flights have over scheduled flight is that many times, charter flights can travel to areas that are not served by the larger commercial carriers.
