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-   -   The emptiest flight you've ever been on (https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/travelbuzz/1025197-emptiest-flight-youve-ever-been.html)

Short hair Francis Dec 8, 2009 11:42 pm

Hardly impressive compared to others reported, 10 people this Nov on YYZ-LGA, ER3

ksandness Dec 8, 2009 11:49 pm

Flying from NRT to SFO during the 1991 Gulf War with a group of 9 students. I don't know how many people were on that JAL flight in all, but all the rows in Y had one person them.

I was seriously tired after three weeks of chaperoning students, and that transpac flight was the shortest I ever experienced. I had dinner and read for a while, and the next thing I remember is one of my students saying, "Look, there's the Golden Gate Bridge!" I'm sure the uncramped conditions helped me sleep so soundly.

A UA flight from PDX to LAX a couple of months after 9/11 was similar: one person per row.

The moral of this story: Fly during a terrorism scare if you possibly can, since 1) Your chances of getting blown up by a terrorist are no greater than your chances of dying in a "normal" crash, and 2) All the ninnies will have stayed home, leaving you with plenty of room.

Flying Framer Dec 8, 2009 11:57 pm

Back in the 90's a very good friend of mine flew from Bologna to Birmingham UK and was the only passenger. When I met him in Bimingham he was a bit hyper and told me he spent the entire flight up front chatting with captain and co pilot
Ah - those were the days :)

CousinNick Dec 9, 2009 12:18 am

Three total passengers (self included) on a morning flight from FAR to ORD in 1989. This is before they started flying RJs into FAR on a regular basis.

MariaSF Dec 9, 2009 1:34 am

GRU-IAD with less than 20 passengers on a 767. No wonder RG went out of business.

Smahatma Dec 9, 2009 1:50 am

Last year on a mileage run, 8 pax total on my last leg late night dfw-aus AA MD-80

Error 601 Dec 9, 2009 2:21 am

I remember as a child having an entire widebody being ferried from the maintenance base and back into service to ourselves as my family and a few others had missed a connection thanks to storms at LAX.

I remember the flight attendants were not terribly happy with the situation as we boarded with all our luggage in the cabin. As I remember the details the plane was to fly to London the following morning and there would be nobody at the gate to receive the plane.

Me and my brother were invited to the cockpit,

Otherwise I have had tons of empty flights on regional jets especially.

scruffy Dec 9, 2009 2:33 am

In case anyone who enjoys this thread would like some further reading, see:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/trave...ne-flight.html

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/trave...st-flight.html

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/us-ai...passenger.html

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/trave...senger-me.html

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/us-ai...assengers.html

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/conti...its-scary.html

pacer142 Dec 9, 2009 2:57 am


Originally Posted by dabears1020 (Post 12949376)
It got me thinking, what's the emptiest flight you've ever been on? It seems like lately it's become the standard to just cancel severely underbooked flights and reshuffle the passengers to other flights, so empty flights like this are becoming a rarity. Does anyone have any unique experiences regarding flights like this?

A Thai 777 with about 20 passengers plus luggage on board from Bangkok to Chiang Mai. The acceleration was incredible, and we were over 30,000ft in no time at all.

supermasterphil Dec 9, 2009 3:22 am

Just this Monday on LH850, A321, MUC-DUS. We were about 30 which is a lot compared to most of you guys but this bird holds about 220. Everybody was tired so lots of space to sleep. First rows of coach were asked to move all the way to the back for balance / take-off reasons. Captain made an announcement that 140 passengers of an incoming TG flight didn't make it.

Needless to say we had an easy take-off...

I remember flying as an UM in the early 90s / late 80s on a dba (German BA) between Cologne and Munich on a 737. There were maybe 5 pax on board and back in time when I was still cute, the FAs were all over me :-)

Rambuster Dec 9, 2009 3:25 am

SQ 777 SFO-ICN: 0 in F, 7 in C, 86 in Y

Finite Elephant Dec 9, 2009 8:17 am

ICN-GUM on OZ January 2003: 2 in F, 6 in Y. I don't remember what plane it was, but I'm thinking it was 767ish.

garethmorgan Dec 9, 2009 8:52 am

I had a pretty empty flight on the first shooting day of the first Gulf War.

What I remember though is being on the first AF plane ATL - CDG after 9/11. The airport was crammed with people trying to get back to Europe and I was sat in F - on my own.

No upgrades at all, C wasn't full either.

svenskaflicka Dec 9, 2009 10:09 am

9/18/2001 Exactly one week after 9/11 when no one was flying. On all flights to and from OGG there were only a couple of handfuls of people. It was heaven to have only two other people in F from DFW to OGG. The DFW flight always has to go to bring people back, so that flight was assured.

Maui was deserted. We loved it. Never got so much attention. We wern't afraid to fly at all considering God bought us some time. We were supposed to be on the BOS to LAX flight on 9/11 that crashed, but changed our minds and decided to go out a week later. Gives me chills to think about that now!! :eek:

BarbiJKM Dec 9, 2009 10:28 am

Last summer, in Tahiti, MOZ-->PPT on Air Moorea's 19-pax lagoon-jumper (12-mile route, 7 minute flight), my husband and I were the only pax, with only a captain and co-captain aboard. Since then, Air Moorea has changed policy to cancel flights unless fully booked... rats!


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