Hearing that your flight has been delayed, and then delayed again, and then delayed again, to the point where it seems like you’re never going to take off is a frustrating experience for anyone. But one guy who took his frustrations all the way back to his hotel came back to the airport when it was finally time to take off and was met with quite the reward for his patience — a flight almost entirely to himself.
A Brooklyn-based Delta passenger trying to get from Cleveland to LaGuardia yesterday was facing continued delays for a 9:39 a.m. flight after his first flight was canceled, reports ABC News, so he simply left the airport and waited it out at his hotel with text alerts letting him know when the plane would actually take off.
When he arrived back at the airport, he discovered that everyone else on his plane had been rebooked to an earlier flight. He would’ve been too, as he says the Delta staff had tried to page him but he wasn’t at the airport.
Instead, he got on his flight and found he was the only passenger on it. He tweeted the evidence:
Alas, after getting a personal in-flight safety briefing, the plane returned to the gate to pick up one more passenger. That guy didn’t try to chat him up however, and just reclined his seat all the way back and slept.
Sure, kind of a bummer that it wasn’t a private flight after all, but still not bad.
“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,” he told ABC News. “There were no screaming babies, no one listening to loud lyrics or reclining their seats or taking their shoes.”
It’s unclear how many people were supposed to be on the flight, but a Delta Air Lines spokesman confirmed to ABC that there were two passengers on it when it took off in Cleveland. And while those passengers surely felt special, the plane was likely needed in New York for a later flight. They just happened to stick around to take it.
Delta Flight Delay Causes Plane to Take Off With Just 2 Passengers [ABC News]
by Mary Beth Quirk via Consumerist