When Karon Grieve boarded her flight from Glasgow to the Greek island of Crete, she was told that there would be just three passengers in the flight, but the other two did not turn up, leaving Grieve with what she calls a “surreal” experience on her $61 flight.
“You have your own private jet today,” the crew told her, per the Telegraph.
“The captain was fantastic, she would say “Hi there Karon” from the cockpit every time she made an announcement. She even sat besides me and chatted with me for some time, while the first officer did all the flight checks.”
A Jet2 rep explains that it was the final flight of the season to Crete from Glasgow, and it’s not unusual for that flight “to have fewer bookings than normal” since most people are returning home from Crete at that time.
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When the Flight Took Off With Just One Person
Almost all the time, when you fly, whether its for holidays or for work, the flight is always full. On rare occasions, one gets to see a few empty seats, allow a few lucky ones to sleep across the seats (if you’re travelling economy class).
But does it ever happen that one gets to fly with the flight having only a handful of passengers? Yes, it does, though its rare. I’m sure a few of you would have experienced that, but what about you being the only traveler (despite being a common man) on the flight? Very rare, but even that has happened before!
Once, a delta flight took off with just one passenger, besides the pilot of course.
They rebooked everyone but me on another flight to LGA, so I am literally the only person on this plane. pic.twitter.com/ZZNPACUOfR
— Chris O'Leary (@ohhleary) January 12, 2015
“It was definitely the most memorable flight I’ve been on in recent memory if only for the sheer lack of passengers to become bothersome,” said the traveler O’Leary. “There were no screaming babies, no one listening to loud lyrics or reclining their seats or taking their shoes.”
Although it seemed like he was getting to fly home solo, the plane ended up going back to the gate one last time to pick up a second passenger.
A Delta Airlines spokesman confirmed that there were two passengers on board. “Often times when planes fly with a small number of passengers it’s because the plane itself is needed in the destination city for a later flight.”
Recently, there was another instance where a similar thing happened. However, it seems that in this case, the passenger was an influential person who was misusing his position.
For 18 months, a 50-seat regional jet left United Airlines’ Newark hub each Thursday night bound for Columbia, South Carolina. On Monday mornings, United Express flew back to Newark. Federal prosecutors are trying to determine if United offered the flight because David Samson, then chairman of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, spent weekends in Aiken, South Carolina, about 50 miles from the Columbia airport.
Well, it seems greasing the palms of influential people and buying favors is prevalent in the US too.
