Fifth freedom flights are the ultimate secret in air travel, according to CBS Travel Reporter Peter Greenberg, The Travel Detective. What is a fifth freedom flight? It is a route that a carrier flies outside of its home country. Fifth freedom flights must have pick up rights in that country. For example, you may fly Air New Zealand between JFK and London without ever touching ground in New Zealand, but even though Qantas flies daily from JFK to London, you can't book that flight because the airline doesn't have pick up rights.
Here are some samples from travelcodex.com as of Dec. 2016
North America
- Philippine Airlines: New York JFK to Vancouver
- Cathay Pacific: New York JFK to Vancouver
- Air China: Montreal to Havana
South America
- Emirates: Rio de Janeiro to Buenos Aires
- Turkish Airlines: Sao Paulo to Buenos Aires
- Qatar Airways: Sao Paulo to Buenos Aires
- Air Canada: Santiago to Buenos Aires
- KLM: Buenos Aires to Santiago
- Air France: Buenos Aires to Montevideo
Europe
- Air China: Vienna to Barcelona
- Air China: Athens to Munich
- Korean Air: Vienna to Zurich
- LAN: Madrid to Frankfurt
- Ethiopian: Stockholm to Vienna
- Emirates: Lanarca to Malta
- Emirates: Athens to Lanarca
- Air Malta: Munich to Catania
Transatlantic (North & South America)
- Singapore Airlines: New York JFK to Frankfurt
- Singapore Airlines: Houston to Manchester
- Emirates: New York JFK to Milan
- Air India: Newark to London Heathrow
- Air New Zealand: Los Angeles to London Heathrow
- Air Tahiti Nui: Los Angeles to Paris CDG
- Jet Airways: Toronto to Amsterdam
- Uzbekistan: New York JFK to Riga, Latvia
- South African Airways: Washington Dulles to Dakar, Senegal
- South African Airways: Washington Dulles to Accra, Ghana
- Air China: Madrid to Sao Paulo
- Ethiopian: Sao Paulo to Lome, Togo
- Ethiopian: Los Angeles to Dublin
- Ethiopian: Newark to Lome, Togo
- Ethiopian: Dublin to Toronto (westbound only)
- Ethiopian: Dublin to Washington Dulles (westbound only)
- Pakistan International Airlines: Manchester to New York JFK (westbound only)
Transpacific
- Air France: Los Angeles to Papeete
- Singapore Airlines: San Francisco to Hong Kong
- Singapore Airlines: Los Angeles to Seoul
- Singapore Airlines: Los Angeles to Tokyo Narita
- China Airlines: Honolulu to Tokyo Narita
- United: Manila to Koror
- United: Hong Kong to Singapore
- United: Tokyo Narita to Seoul
- Delta: Tokyo Narita to Singapore
- Delta: Tokyo Narita to Manila
- Delta: Tokyo Narita to Taipei
- Delta: Tokyo Narita to Shanghai
- Delta: Tokyo Narita to Saipan
- Delta: Tokyo Narita to Koror
Gulf
- Lufthansa: Doha to Kuwait
- Lufthansa: Bahrain to Dammam
- SWISS: Dubai to Muscat
- KLM: Bahrain to Doha
- KLM: Muscat to Abu Dhabi
Oceania
- AirAsia X: Gold Coast to Auckland
- Emirates: Auckland to Sydney
- Emirates: Auckland to Brisbane
- Emirates: Auckland to Melbourne
- Emirates: Sydney to Christchurch
- LAN: Auckland to Sydney
- China Airlines: Auckland to Brisbane
- China Airlines: Auckland to Sydney
Other Intercontinental
- EVA: Bangkok to Amsterdam
- EVA: Bangkok to London Heathrow
- EVA: Bangkok to Vienna
- Emirates: Bangkok to Sydney
- Emirates: Singapore to Melbourne
- Emirates: Singapore to Brisbane
- China Airlines: Delhi to Rome
- Royal Brunei: Dubai to London Heathrow
- Qantas: Dubai to London Heathrow
- Garuda Indonesia: Singapore to Amsterdam
- Garuda Indonesia: Singapore to London Heathrow
- British Airways: Singapore to Sydney
Tip of the hat to Fly Pointy End.com