Luxury flights offer premium seats to watch the solar eclipse from the sky

A handful of airlines and charter companies have organized special flights to let travelers watch the solar eclipse from above the clouds, where visibility is clearer. Brussels Airlines, together with Switzerland’s Urania Public Observatory, will carry 100 passengers over France for roughly $350 each, leaving aisle seats empty to improve sightlines. The ASL Group, partnered with the same observatory, is selling seats on a private Embraer E135 departing from Liège for about $920, while UK-based Air Charter Service offers round-trip trips from London to locations in Spain or Iceland at around $1,200, complete with food, drinks and telescope use.

Iberia is not selling tickets to the public but will transport researchers from the Shelios project on a Madrid-to-Northern-Spain charter, broadcasting the flight live via Starlink Wi-Fi. The total eclipse will be visible from the Arctic, Iceland, Greenland, northern Spain and parts of Siberia and Portugal, with totality lasting up to roughly two minutes in some areas.