Passenger gets plane to himself

toering · Tue Apr 02, 2019 4:52 pm

Pretty cool.
Only one ticket sold on a 2 hour 737 flight to Italy. Can anyone think of other times this has happened?

http://www.startribune.com/lithuanian-m ... 507996972/

Did a search and couldn't find any other threads...

Toering-

compensateme · Tue Apr 02, 2019 5:02 pm

These stories come up occasionally, typically similar situations - he was traveling on a live charter. Other times it’s people who took a severely delayed aircraft home.

I’ve never been the only person on a flight, but I’ve been close a few times: one of two passengers on a USA 3000 A320 operating a live repositioning flight in the middle of the night; one of three passengers on an NW 757 a few weeks after 9-11; and most recently, one of four passengers on a UA 739 that was a one-off (but scheduled months in advance) repositioning flight operating after the final IAD departure bank.

SCQ83 · Tue Apr 02, 2019 5:08 pm

Vitoria-Ibiza and Zaragoza-Ibiza

https://www.diariodeibiza.es/pitiuses-b ... 37095.html

"Live charters" for the IMSERSO in Spain https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Instituto ... s_Sociales

HBJZA · Tue Apr 02, 2019 5:13 pm

It happened to me as a crew. We were operating the 1st charter of the season from GVA to SSH and we normally ferry the aircraft back on this instance. But the tour operator sold a single ticket by mistake for the SSH-GVA.

PlymSpotter · Tue Apr 02, 2019 5:16 pm

Happened to me as a passenger, I did a TR on here about it years ago.

hawaiian717 · Tue Apr 02, 2019 5:20 pm

I've had it happen as a passenger too. LAX-SAN on a US Airways Express (Trans States) Jetstream 31. There was another flight 20 minutes earlier so they offered to let people take the earlier flight, but since I had a fixed time for my shuttle from SAN, getting there earlier wouldn't have done me any good so I opted to wait for my scheduled flight and was the only one on it. Had to move to another seat further back than my assigned seat for weight and balance.

einsteinboricua · Tue Apr 02, 2019 5:33 pm

Wasn't there one person who posted a TR on how they flew Phuket to Bangkok on a 777 when they were the only occupant?

mast2407 · Tue Apr 02, 2019 5:38 pm

Was with a handful of other passengers (maybe 10, and crew). Aer Lingus B747 in December 1992 or 1993 approximately. It was a positioning flight from Dublin to London Heathrow to take home passengers for Christmas. At the time, my family were all living in London so I was going in the opposite direction. I have a logbook with the flight in it, I must locate that, now that I think of it.

LAXLHR · Tue Apr 02, 2019 5:42 pm

toering wrote:
Pretty cool.
Only one ticket sold on a 2 hour 737 flight to Italy. Can anyone think of other times this has happened?

http://www.startribune.com/lithuanian-m ... 507996972/

Did a search and couldn't find any other threads...

Toering-

In the past it has happened more times than you would think.

I was once on a plane with 1 or 2 other passengers and over 100 empty seats... it was a little spooky at first.

compensateme · Tue Apr 02, 2019 5:47 pm

I'm certain it's common with charters/repositioning flights. USA 3000, for example, operated a bunch of odd ball one-off flights, generally in the middle of the night, and sold them as live flights. When you operate BNA-PIT at 2AM with no other scheduled flights (to PIT, or from PIT), you're not going to sell too many seats. Toward their end, they stopped dong this.

Continental767 · Tue Apr 02, 2019 5:56 pm

I saw this with a DL MD-90 a few years back.

teknotim · Tue Apr 02, 2019 5:56 pm

I once had the opportunity to have an entire 747 to myself! It was with America West Airlines on a rather short flight from LAS to PHX. It was quite the experience flying over the desert in an early morning sunrise in the Queen of the Skies! I miss those days!

wingsofman72 · Tue Apr 02, 2019 6:02 pm

Had this happen a couple of times. Fiirst time was back in the 90s and was working at CO at the old AUS airport and was heading back to IAH when done and missed the 3p flight. However this flight took a mechanical and all the passengers were moved to the 5p flight. About 430 as I finished up at the gate and the agent came out and asked if I wanted to go and they were ready right now. Great 30 min flight with the whole plane to myself. A few years later we were in GSO setting up the CALLITE hub (that was a crazy idea), and there was a problem at GSP, so I hopped the 7a ATR42 all by myself. That was a odd flight.

wingsofman72 · Tue Apr 02, 2019 6:02 pm

Had this happen a couple of times. Fiirst time was back in the 90s and was working at CO at the old AUS airport and was heading back to IAH when done and missed the 3p flight. However this flight took a mechanical and all the passengers were moved to the 5p flight. About 430 as I finished up at the gate and the agent came out and asked if I wanted to go and they were ready right now. Great 30 min flight with the whole plane to myself. A few years later we were in GSO setting up the CALLITE hub (that was a crazy idea), and there was a problem at GSP, so I hopped the 7a ATR42 all by myself. That was a odd flight.

TMccrury · Tue Apr 02, 2019 6:15 pm

In the mid 90's, some friends of mine were flying Air Pacific from the Samoan Islands (I believe that is correct) back to Fiji and they were the only 2 passengers on the 767 that afternoon. They had coach tickets and when they boarded were shown to seats 1A/B.

BostonBeau · Tue Apr 02, 2019 6:17 pm

Has happened to me twice, once on TWA and once on Northeast. TWA: Back in the days of printed timetables, TWA added a red-eye LAX-BOS, effective the first day of a new schedule, which happened to be the day I was going home. The timetable said it was going to be an L1011, but when I showed up at the airport, it was a B747. They must have been repositioning the B747 for one of the Trans-Atlantic flights from Boston. Anyway, with the flight not being well-publicized yet, there were 14 of us rattling around in the B747. Northeast: I was coming back from Europe on Pan Am to JFK, with a connecting flight to BOS on National. I was delayed in customs and missed my original connecting flight, so I went over to Northeast to see if they had any room. The agent told me coach was sold out, but they had room in First Class so I took it (this was when the coach fare was $10 and the FC fare $14). Then I get on the plane and see there are 12 of us in FC, with the entire coach cabin completely empty. Computer glitch apparently.

VIflyer · Tue Apr 02, 2019 6:20 pm

Like said before I've rarely had this happen on flight I've worked. Probably the best I've experienced working was a gov contract flight which was on a rj so 2 pilots, 1 fa, a company agent, a company aircraft maintenance technician, and a representative for the contracting company so 7 employees all for a whopping 1 passenger there and zero back. Probably the easiest day working I've ever had.

itchief · Tue Apr 02, 2019 6:20 pm

toering wrote:
Pretty cool.
Only one ticket sold on a 2 hour 737 flight to Italy. Can anyone think of other times this has happened?

http://www.startribune.com/lithuanian-m ... 507996972/

Did a search and couldn't find any other threads...

Toering-

This has happened to me 2 times. HOU-DFW on WN and LIT-DFW on. AA Not a big deal.

FlyingElvii · Tue Apr 02, 2019 6:26 pm

Once took an ATA L10 LAS-IND with 8 people on it. Was added 13 or 14 hrs before to cycle through Maint. ATA did this kind of stuff all the time, rather than DH, they would at least try to get some revenue for it. Another time, I was on an NW DC-9 with 6 people.

piedmontf284000 · Tue Apr 02, 2019 6:32 pm

I too had it happen right after 9/11. The only person on a flight to Chicago from PBI. The flight crew was obviously very attentive and I had long conversations with them. They were all still very spooked by what had happened and didn't like their jobs anymore. I imagine that slowly went away as they did more and more flights. Crazy enough, I checked my bag. I can only imagine the ground crew's reaction when they found one suitcase in the baggage hold.

russyyz · Tue Apr 02, 2019 6:32 pm

Ok I will chime in as well: Manhattan Heliport to JFK on US Helicopter. They did not last long and i would assume it was because: fare was high, two pilots, TSA-type staff at the heliport (3), gate agent (1 at heliport and 1 on ground at JFK meeting the flight in a van), van driver (for my 1 piece of luggage). Plus ramp staff at both ends. I loved the experience and the view leaving Manhattan and into the ramp at T2 at JFK but I assume the rigidity of the lower airfares dissuaded people from booking. I know I booked outbound only, fearing that my inbound to Manhattan would have to change if I arrived into JFK late on my Delta flight. The fee was almost as much as the ticket.

FlyingElvii · Tue Apr 02, 2019 6:35 pm

hawaiian717 wrote:
I've had it happen as a passenger too. LAX-SAN on a US Airways Express (Trans States) Jetstream 31. There was another flight 20 minutes earlier so they offered to let people take the earlier flight, but since I had a fixed time for my shuttle from SAN, getting there earlier wouldn't have done me any good so I opted to wait for my scheduled flight and was the only one on it. Had to move to another seat further back than my assigned seat for weight and balance.

I wasn't counting Turboprops.
Flying in and out of such wonderful vacation destinations such as Terre Haute(HUF), Bloomington, In(BMG), Lafayette(LAF), and Matoon(MTO), I had lots of hops with only 1 or 2 on board. Especially on late trips to ORD, when everyone else misconnected.

225623 · Tue Apr 02, 2019 6:45 pm

Happened to me between TOD Tioman and XSP Singapore Seletar. I guess this is what you get leaving a holiday destination on a Friday afternoon during off-season.
Berjaya Air stopped operating these flights in 2014. TOD airport is an experience though.

jaybird · Tue Apr 02, 2019 6:47 pm

It happened multiple times on the Eastern Air-Shuttle from LGA to BOS/DCA in the 60s/70s. The guarantee was - you show up before departure time and you get a seat. It was great PR when someone would show up, the plane scheduled for the flight was full - and they would indeed roll-out one of the back-up aircraft to fly that passenger.

Back in '78 I has flying back on a charter from RIO to EWR with friends - which arrived late. Was able to get a seat on a Delta DC-8-61 around 2am from EWR-BDL - with just the 3 of us. Still have the blanket. :-)

ryan78 · Tue Apr 02, 2019 6:49 pm

Never been the only person but I've come relatively close in my opinion. My most empty flight has been Air Canada Rouge from FLL-YYZ on a 767-300ER. A few days before Christmas and the last flight of the night (10pm departure), there were only 26 people on the manifest or a load factor of 9.3%. My other was with Air Transat flying YYZ-ZAG on an A330-200. The last flight of the summer season in October and there were only 62 passengers for a load factor of 17.9%. The return flight, ZAG-YYZ, however was nearly full.

jomur · Tue Apr 02, 2019 6:51 pm

I've checked in the only passenger on a flight from the UK to Greece in 2017. It was at the end of the season and the last flight out. It was full on the way back though.

Aeroflot001 · Tue Apr 02, 2019 7:05 pm

My family and my dad's best friend had an American Eagle ATR to ourselves on SJU - STX back in 2008 I believe. The flights from SJU - MIA were very full so we went on the first flight out to St. Croix to spend a day on the island and make it to Miami as Non-Rev's.

vatveng · Tue Apr 02, 2019 7:41 pm

I've been the only revenue passenger on a CR2 half-full of nonrevs commuting to PHL for their flights. It was the first flight in the morning (5:30am).

ScottishDavie · Tue Apr 02, 2019 8:27 pm

https://www.unilad.co.uk/featured/woman ... t2-flight/

Door4Right · Tue Apr 02, 2019 8:32 pm

I was a flight attendant at Reno Air mid 90s. Once we had one pax SJC-SAN 0600 departure. Of course we put him in FC and we all had a lot of fun with it.

commpilot · Tue Apr 02, 2019 9:21 pm

I once flew with myself and another non-rev as the only passengers between MKE and MSP on Skyway many years ago. Just a matter of timing and day of the week.

deebee278 · Tue Apr 02, 2019 9:29 pm

I've never had a plane all to myself but I have two anecdotes. Once, I was on an MD80 with three passengers for a thirty minute flight. We were told to move up to first class for weight and balance, no problem! Another time, I was a 767 Captain, HNL-STL on Christmas night, 21 pax on board. All 21 found a row to themselves and went 'horizontal'. I wake up from my rest break, a little drowsy, somewhere over the Pacific Ocean and I'm staring at a dim, empty cabin. I thought I was in an episode of "Twilight Zone".

deebee278 · Tue Apr 02, 2019 9:29 pm

Server failure, repeat post

beeweel15 · Tue Apr 02, 2019 9:34 pm

Although I was working as a security rep on the flight I remember flying down to Georgetown Guyana from JFK Airport while working at Tradewinds Airlines on their L1011-1 we took a full flight of 300pax the Georgetown but the return flight had only 10

rbavfan · Tue Apr 02, 2019 9:54 pm

Western Airlines HNL-LAX in 1981. We had a DC-10 with 5 passengers and 6 crew. We were all moved to first class

BTV290 · Tue Apr 02, 2019 9:56 pm

I dispatched a DL Conx flight BTV-LGA back in 2014 with one pax on it. It was a Saturday and the originator had a severe mechanical. By the time the a/c came back online, everyone had been rebooked off either to other conx cities or onto later LGA flights, which actually left earlier. When it came time to leave, all that was left was this one Quebecois girl who was 19 years old... She'd seen the delay before leaving Montreal and had just stayed up there, and arrived for departure... Which turned into her own private jet. She got pics in the cockpit, etc. Kinda cool!

VSMUT · Tue Apr 02, 2019 10:17 pm

Been one of 3 pax on a CRJ1000 once.
Been the sole pax in business class many times.
Flew many flights as a pilot with just 1 passenger onboard. Also 3 with zero passengers. On one memorable zero pax flight, cargo consisted of just a case of beer :lol:

But hey, customer paid us, so we couldn't refuse.

Done some zero cargo flights too. Was due to public holidays or something. Company could have saved the flights and just put us in a hotel for a couple of days, but the beancounters in charge of saving money on hotel bookings had the most to say. Aviation in a nutshell - rather 7 blockhours without payload than pay for a hotel for 3 nights.

dcaproducer · Tue Apr 02, 2019 10:33 pm

Happened to me in the early 90’s on an Ansett flight from Sydney to Canberra. Just me and two other American exchange students on a 737.
They still made us take our assigned seats near the back.

CairnterriAIR · Tue Apr 02, 2019 10:39 pm

Happened to me several times.
*Pittsburgh to Clarksburg WV....had the Allegheny Commuter Twin Otter to myself.

*Zurich to Prauge....on a CSA TU-154. Myself, my folks, the crew, four other passengers....
....and a lot of empty seats. The Tupelov can really climb without a payload!

*Hartford to Buffalo...on a Best Airways DC-9. Myself, my father, the crew and two others.
(Gives you a good idea as to why this start up carrier folded)

ROCDLFAN · Tue Apr 02, 2019 10:42 pm

Happened to me once- it was a United Express (GoJet I think?) CRJ 700 that was scheduled to leave ROC at 9pm going to ORD that delayed until midnight. There was a 7pm on an Airbus that had enough open seats to accommodate all other passengers but as long as they had a feeling they wouldn’t cancel I wasn’t going to pass up the opportunity. This was 3 years ago.

Honorable mention to August of 2018 when I got extremely lucky coming home from MAD and took an extra section to accommodate for a cancelled DL MAD-JFK the day before. There was a grand total of 7 of us onboard and everyone had to sit between rows 1-6 for weight and balance. 7 people on a 767-400 across the pond is an unforgettable experience.

eal · Tue Apr 02, 2019 10:45 pm

How exactly does one end up on a repositioning flight if not working for the airline, I imagine such an opportunity would be closed off to non-employees.

teva · Tue Apr 02, 2019 10:48 pm

in March 1992, we had only one pax on the last Air Littoral F100 flight CDG-AMS.
And in December 1991, we had between 1 and 3 on a flight CDG-VCE (operated for a very short period of time.
once again, it was a F100

SASViking · Wed Apr 03, 2019 12:18 am

I had a flight on a SAS A321 flying CDG-CPH shortly after the tragic terror attacks in Paris in November 2015. There was only 7 pax on, I was the only one in SAS Plus, which on that flight, was on rows 1-19. The flight was 3 hours late due to an aircraft change, and we was the last flight to depart from that "pod" in T1, even if we had departed on time. There was more staff and armed police/military in the pod than pax. We were all, including the police/military, gate agents and a cleaner, invited to use the SAS lounge for free drinks and food until the flight arrived. That was a surreal experience

EstherLouise · Wed Apr 03, 2019 12:22 am

Years ago, I was one of 9 passengers on a NW DC9 from AUS to MSP.

slcdeltarumd11 · Wed Apr 03, 2019 12:38 am

This isn't that rare. Happens especially with a long delay and another flight with room that leaves earlier. They rebook everyone but the one or two people. It happens

snn2003 · Wed Apr 03, 2019 12:51 am

I've worked flights like this twice. Once with CO from Calgary to Houston. The inbound had diverted to Edmonton due to weather the night before. At the time we didn't serve Edmonton so it was a bit of a cluster and so out 7am flight to Houston left 14hrs late and with only one passenger. The second time was Chicago Denver. It's always fun.

DashTrash · Wed Apr 03, 2019 12:56 am

I flew one with a single pax once and at least one scheduled revenue flight with no pax. Plenty on the return flight so can’t really cancel it.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

RWA380 · Wed Apr 03, 2019 1:00 am

deebee278 wrote:
I've never had a plane all to myself but I have two anecdotes. Once, I was on an MD80 with three passengers for a thirty minute flight. We were told to move up to first class for weight and balance, no problem! Another time, I was a 767 Captain, HNL-STL on Christmas night, 21 pax on board. All 21 found a row to themselves and went 'horizontal'. I wake up from my rest break, a little drowsy, somewhere over the Pacific Ocean and I'm staring at a dim, empty cabin. I thought I was in an episode of "Twilight Zone".

I also had a 30 minute hop on a TW MD-80 SEA-PDX, they also asked us three to move into first class for the early morning flight that landed at KPDX around 1:30am. The one & only time I was by myself was flying PDX-AST. I was the only passenger & an AD90 to boot. They did make me wait until check in to confirm me & assign a seat. It carried the AS code, but wasn't Horizon. Short lived operation.

hz747300 · Wed Apr 03, 2019 1:08 am

I think it happened on a BA LHR-JFK flight after 9/11, made the news. I recall the return flight was full so they didn't cancel it. Must have been a short takeoff roll!

Shrewfly · Wed Apr 03, 2019 1:21 am

Happens quite a lot on small aircraft on short routes. I've flown with Eastern Airways on the Saab 2000, and been the only passenger at least twice.

They used to have a flight to Aberdeen from Southampton via Newcastle. Flybe had a flight that left Southampton for Newcastle about the same time, that was always much cheaper, so usually the only passengers boarding the Eastern at SOU would be those of us doing the full journey to ABZ.

It was often single figure loads to NCL, then a full flight onwards. Same in reverse, full to NCL then hardly anyone on the second leg, as the Flybe was just so much cheaper!

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