In high school, I decided to travel with my father for a few days. He was a pilot for Continental and was starting a 3 day trip on December 23 and finishing up on Dec 25. We were scheduled to fly DEN-CLE-EWR-MSY-HOU-LAX. We would be joining my mom and sister in California for the holidays. Back in those days, flying space available was usually a piece of cake. No issues the first day and a half but on Christmas Eve we were told that his flight to MSY was sold out and no room for me. It was the last flight of the day to MSY so I couldn't hop on a later flight. Instead, I booked a room at hotel close to the airport and celebrated Christmas Eve with room service. I thought about trying to catch an early flight out on Christmas day to HOU so that I could fly the final leg with him to LAX but discovered that there was a Continental 747 heading non-stop to LAX. I have always loved the 747 so I bailed on my dad and listed myself on standby for the direct flight. Couldn't have worked out better as the plane had a light load and I got a seat in First Class. It remains the only time I have flown on Christmas day.