flyerfirsts

Interesting. The routes around here if there is a difference it is only 1", but a lot of the delta planes don't even have a first.

ctsgoblue

I flew STR (Stuttgart, Germany) to ATL early last year and it was a very empty flight—would be surprised if there were more than 40 people total, and most of those were military. I was one of maybe 3-4 people in the entire business class section. It’s hard enough as it is not to drink a lot on those transatlantic flights and with no one else to attend to, I was getting refilled about every 3 mins. Definitely got some looks wobbling through the airport at like 2PM...

awone123

I had a BizEx flight on a BAE146 from JFK to PVD that had 2 passengers on it.

cmd320

These planes are the worst. They feel infinitely tighter than the 757/A321 because of the higher cabin floor, lower windows, and fuselage taper near the front. It also doesn't help that the lavs are microscopic, the plane is extremely loud, and the air vents barely function. I won't fly on these planes at all anymore.

DCAproducer

Love seeing these stories today since almost every DL flight I'm on is completely full.

Two weeks ago flying a CRJ900 AVL-ATL, a quick 36 minute hop, we had 19 on the plane.

A couple of years ago I was one of a handful of passengers on a DL CRJ900 from DTW-DCA. It was the late flight back to DCA and the aircraft went mechanical. At first they were going to cancel the flight, but then decided to delay for a long time. Many passengers decide to rebook. They ended up swapping the aircraft out since they needed the plane to overnight in DCA for the early am flight back to DTW. I was one of the few still around. We left DTW just before midnight.

In 12 years with DL, I've never been on a mainline flight that has been super empty.

kale73

You’ve clearly never spent a nanosecond on any incarnation of The Devil’s Chariot.

cmd320

Haha, well yes, those are truly the worst. Fortunately I’m almost always on mainline so I barely even think about the regionals anymore. Last time I flew the CRJ was probably 8-10 years ago.

WidgetKid

Last summer, I flew out of ORD the day after a particularly bad weather day where everything was majorly delayed and was talking with one of the agents there when I was leaving. They told me the last LGA flight of the night had left with about 5 people on it and the last RDU-ORD-RDU turn left completely empty both directions (apparently everybody was able to get on the earlier flight).

landgraf13

Obviously it's not possible to beat the solo passenger story, but I did have one close a few years back. It was CMH to NYC (I believe LGA) on an RJ (it's been so long I can't remember which version). I was one of 3 on board and I had first to myself. Lots of bad weather earlier in the day and we were delayed quite a bit. Probably the bumpiest/scariest flight I've ever been on but the pilot flew that plane like he stole it and we got home in one piece and quicker than I can remember. I was surprised we went out with such a light load and in such poor WX but from what I can remember, and it's fuzzy, they had to get both the crew and plane back for other requirements the next day.

Daitheflu84

This is absolutely something I would do. I have an upcoming JFK-SEA on this beast and am not looking forward to it.

CarmenOM

A few years ago I flew LHR-BOS on the Sunday of Labor Day weekend. I would guess there were no more than 40 pax in Y and a handful in J. I was in C+ with 2-3-2 (or maybe 2-4-2?) seating. I had the two seats by the window to myself and also the whole row of center seats when I wanted to sleep.

Daitheflu84

I had a JFK-FLL flight earlier this year that had maybe 40 people on it. I got UG'd at 120 hours out and had an empty seat next to me. This was on an A321 and there ended up being 6 or 7 empty seats in FC and 120 or more empty in the back.

Also, my GF and I flew SEA-LIH last fall on a 757 and I believe there were 68 seats taken. I was a GM at the time and we both got UG'd at 3 days out and had 4 empty FC seats. Was one of my better UG/FC flight experiences!

Singleflyer

I miss the Shorts, the flying school bus

ss278

Back in the day, Eastern flew an hourly no-reservation needed shuttle between LGA-DCA (LGA-BOS as well), all you had to do was show up at the gate 5 min before scheduled departure and you were guaranteed a seat even if they had to roll out a standby plane.

One day I show up nine minutes before departure. Flight was full, already being pushed back. Gate agent says “well your here on time, the standby plane is at the next gate over.” I felt guilty, I said wasn’t in that big a hurry I can wait an hour. He smiled.

At seven minutes before schedule another guy shows up. He MUST be on that flight! Agent shakes his head a little, “ok, next gate.” How could I not tag along? Two of us on a 727-200.

Another one. Two days after we bombed Libya I was on a Pan Am 747 JFK-FCO. One guy in First, one guy in Business (me) and nine in the back.

D3Kingg

Back in the day on more than one occasion I’ve been on a 767 with 15 open seats in business class and only 40 passengers in the main cabin. Then the captain refuses to board the 10 non revs into business class for weight and balance restriction.
how is that possible ? Couldn’t they move cargo around instead ? Or they don’t want to carry more fuel for non revs ?