I've never worked a scheduled flight with no passengers...have ferried empty planes a few times (broken airplanes, or repositioning before or after special charters, etc).

empty flight
 

LAX to PVR

about ten years ago there was only 7 people on the 737 (4 from my group). The stewardeses sat with us and even had a beer with us.

I've done a few propjobs with me, 1 or 2 other people, and pilots.

Lightest load on a jumbo that I can recall was ORD-LHR on Christmas night in 1995. I got a complimentary upgrade to J on a 767 that had about 50 pax on board. Maybe 5 or us in biz (my guess is that they U/G'ed the Plats) and a few dozen in coach.

Fond memories of AA liberally throwing around upgrade comps... :)

It was the summer of 85, three days or so before Hurricane Gloria was to hit in the panhandle. I was flying from probably New York to Atlanta, then on to Mobile to get in befor ethe storm. I was wroking fo the Red Cross at the time and was one of the people thry flew in just a few days before an event like that to work with local volunteers and get set up for the storm.

There were seven of us on the flight, three Red Cross people, and four CNN people flying down to cover the storm. The only reason the flight was happening was so the airline could fly their people out that were in Mobile.

I think that plane turned aorund in like ten minutues and took off again.

Myself and 1 other flying COU-STL on a Trans States J41 in May 2000. I was a non-rev so only 1 paying passenger onboard.

I just flew STL - PHX on SW (last flight of night) the second week of December with only 10 ppl on board, including myself. The FA's must have been a bit loopy because they were much funnier than usual.

Finnair MD-11 from HKG to BKK during the height of the SARS crisis.

Just myself and 6 others on the 300-seat widebody.

Here's a picture taken from the back of the plane in mid-flight:

www.jeffmckinnon.com/images/finnair.jpg

In May this year, SXB-CFE-BRU (this is the most direct itin, I swear) was cancelled by virtue of me being the only pax. I was offered a good compensation, and was transporter by taxi to BSL for a BSL-BRU where I and 2 other pax were flown to BRU on a Fokker 100. I guess it was a slow day... Actually, I arrived earlier than I thought (thanks to not having to go to CFE first...)

September or early October 1991. Sun Country DC-10 MSP-DTW. Less than 10 pax. Sat right in the first row window seat.

Gee, I've been on some doozies,

Every time this subject comes up I cite a Pan Am flight I took JFK-LHR a day or two before the Gulf War (the Kuwait one) it was me and a few (less than four) passengers who military and were continuing on to Saudi. The plane itself was going somewhere to pick up pax and materiel after LHR and that is why the flight wasn't cancelled. Basically they put us all in F and the plane went empty, technically we had three FA's each.

Flying back to Istanbul a day after the big 1999 earthquake was weird. I flew SR as many other carriers did not have seats or had cancelled their flights. All that was available was business, this was surprising as there were literally 20 pax on board the plane (A320). Me and another guy in Business, and 18 pax in Economy. What was surreal was that the Business divider had been pushed back to three rows from the back. SR had in fact done this as the return flight was being sold pretty much exclusively as Business. Yes that is right people, those Swiss *******s, the sames ones who not too long later broke the airline, decided to extort people who wanted to leave an earthquake zone.

During the Iraq was (initial stage) and Sars, I was on a bunch of very very very light flights in Europe and Asia, this included a KLM 737 with less than 20 on board, and a 747 to Asia, with perhaps 3 in Biz and not a hell of a lot in the back (also during this time I must have flown a half dozen flights in Biz where I was one of only one or two pax).

The winter after 9/11 BA flights to/fr Istanbul were incredibly light for 6 months, especially as a few month before they had gone from 75's to 76's, I recall many a flight when I was either the only, or one of the few pax in Business and the back was light. I think the lightest I saw it was 20 pax or so (the downgraded back to a 75 and an A32, then 2 A32's, just in time for demand to go back up - they were overbooked all last summer (when incidentally they did put a 75 back on).

I actually just now recalled in the early 80's flying with my mother something like ATL-PBI or MIA to somewhere on Xmas day and us being the only pax on the plane. It went off simply because the needed it on the other end the next day.

Sometime in 2002, I flew LGA-PVD on USAirways Express.. it was the last flight out for that route.. only 2 people on board - me and this woman. It was when they were still doing the random security checks before boarding.. of course, it was really a 50-50 chance at that point. Luckily, I didn't get searched. :D

Normally I would have enjoyed the pseudo-private plane experience but it was a dark and stormy night, so.. kinda blah

Sometime in the mid 90's, I was flying SFO - LAX to pick-up Qantas to Melbourne. It was raining in LAX and traffic was backed up. The connection was tight. I asked the connecting carrier what my options would be if I missed the connection. She looked. Surprised, she said that there was a second flight leaving something like 90 minutes later and that it was almost empty. My assigned flight was pretty full.

We did arrive at LAX in time for a Qantas agent to try to hurry those of us connecting through secuity and onto the waiting plane. I asked if my luggage was going to be travelling with me. Probably not, was the reply. I said that I did not want to be separated from my bags, and could I wait for the next flight. Grudingly, the OK was given.

It was a brand new 7*7 extended range. I think they must just have been getting it home or something. It seated well over 300, I believe.

I had a whole cabin to myself.

Oh, it was a December 30 departure, meaning we were arriving on New Year's Day. The steward woke with an offer of champagne. Somehow in my sleepy state, I managed to say, "No, thanks. It's a little early in the year for me." :p

That was the empiest flight for me. Lovely.

Best wishes,

Teacher49

Orient Thai Airlines Boeing 747-146, C 0/16 Y36/444 on Bangkok-Phuket. Also a Finnair MD-82 with Y 7/144 on Oulu-Rovaniemi.

Yes - I had a return flight from Colorado Springs to SNA and COS was fogged in. My flight on Reno Air was cancelled and I was stuck there for six hours. About an hour after the flight was cancelled, the fog lifted and my aircraft took off with just the crew :mad:

Right after AA purchased Reno Air, I started to take the SNA-LAS route (former Reno Air route). I never saw more than 10 pax in the MD-80. The FAs wouldn't upgrade, either :mad:

circa 1980, mia-dfw on eal, there were 3 people in y [don't know about f]...we were all assigned in 1 row [def] which we found out when we boarded! we moved to aisles before the door was closed...none of us knew the others, but all were suits on business, i was going home.