Lucky Delta Flyer Gets Upgraded From Economy to Private Plane!
Jackie Reddy January 16, 2015
Poor weather in the Northeast has inconvenienced thousands of flyers over the past week, but for one Delta passenger, the inclement conditions brought unbelievable good fortune.
Flight delays rarely work in anyone’s favor, but for one passenger, a late departure proved to be a stroke of luck. Chris O’Leary boarded Delta Air Lines Flight 6259 from Cleveland Hopkins International Airport (CLE) to LaGuardia Airport (LGA) on 12 January only to find that he was the sole passenger on the plane.
Astonished, O’Leary tweeted about the experience and shared a picture to prove that he was indeed the only passenger onboard the 76-seat regional jet.
“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,” O’Leary told ABC.
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
O’Leary’s luck seems to have been the result of a scheduling snafu. He was originally scheduled to depart CLE at 7:15 a.m., but his flight was cancelled due to the weather. He was then rebooked onto another flight, which was scheduled to depart at 9:39 a.m.
The second flight, however, was also delayed for several hours. O’Leary received notice of the delays by phone notifications and opted to stay in his hotel room until it was time for his flight. Upon arrival at CLE, he was informed that all of his fellow passengers had been rebooked onto an earlier flight — all, that is, except for O’Leary, who had missed the pages to get onto the earlier flight.
“Part of this is my own stupidity but it ended up working out in my favor,” he admitted to ABC.
O’Leary’s private in-flight experience was slightly tarnished when, just before takeoff, the plane taxied back to the gate to pick up a second passenger.
A Delta spokesperson has since confirmed that there were indeed just two passengers onboard the flight.
[Photos: Chris O’Leary Twitter]
I was "the" passenger on a Sebana 737 from Brussels to Milan once - back in the late 90s. I felt obligated to watch the safety presentation.
It was a pity that it was a shorter flight served by a "regional jet", which normally means almost as few amenities as a Spirit flight (BYOE and almost BYOF).
Did the FA's make them sit in their assigned seats :)