me:
US Airways 757 Charlotte to Orlando: 1 passenger
Mesaba/Northwest Airlink Fort Wayne, Indiana to Detroit: 1 passenger
Singapore Airlines 777 Bangkok to Tokyo: estimated 20 coach passenger, few in business class.

others:
I read that American Airlines had one passenger on a US to London flight just before the 1991 Gulf War. On the return, every seat was filled.

2/3 empty was the emptiest flight i was on.

Two that I will always remember:

1) 1986 or so- me and 3 other guys coming back from a
conference In Vancouver. We are the only 4 (plus the crew)
on a Canadian Airlines DC-10 YVR-YYC. Too bad it was only
a 1 hour flight- the F/A's treated us very well!

2) 4 years ago , my wife and I on our way to Maui, and the
UAL 757 SFO-OGG has only 12 pax. The F/A comes on the IC after they close the doors and says "Welcome to your private jet to Maui". They let us move up to Economy plus,
but not into Business class :(
Still, it was cool for the 5 1/2 hours.
:)

UA 801 JFK-HKG (spring/summer 2001)
 

When United launched their first nonstop 744 service from JFK to HKG in April 2001, I jumped right on. I found that the lower C cabin was remarkably empty, with only a few other pax among, IIRC, 60 some-odd business seats. Once, there was only one other pax down there, and I thought that the service would be amazing. Well, even back in those days, UA was UA, and the service was about what it would have been in a full cabin. None-the-less, those flights were the most comfortable I've ever experienced, including uncountable transpac suite journeys up front. I just about cried when that non-stop 744 route terminated in August '01, only five months later.

AC Feb 2007 - YOW-BOS - 4 Passengers (and my bags still didnt make it :confused:)

Air Asia - I cannot remember the route, but it only had about 10 passengers, and I grabbed a row near the back (the rest of the passengers were at the front), the FA who was to do the security for the tail section just came and said "You don't look like you are from here, so I know you've been on a aeroplane before, need I do the announcement?" ;)

Normal people? Uh people who travel every week for work and know the three charecter airport codes they fly into? Wow how bizarre. You know you are not in the Northeast-grandmas-quilt-knitters forum, right? :rolleyes:

Even this North Central grandma who knits and used to travel every other week for work knows most of those airport codes:).

Romelle

With the previous several posters setting the mood, I can't resist questioning why, after commenting about normal people not knowing codes, such a code was immediately used in prose. After all, isn't NYC the standard IATA identifier for the catch-all of major New York City airports (EWR, LGA and JFK)? :)

The US Airways 10:30 PHL-PVD flight - 732 - had four passengers in Y. Used a paper upgrade, then when I saw there was nobody on the plane, asked for (and cheerfully received) my upgrade back and caught a nap on a row of three.

Welcome to FT, planegeek! :) ^

You'll find that many of us are plane geeks to an extreme degree... :D

Last year I was on an Air Asia flight somewhere in southeast Asia with at most 10 pax. The cockpit door was open most of the time. Wish I'd struck up a conversation with the pilots...would have been neat to see the cockpit during flight.

:):):):):):):)

Only passenger twice in one day
 

I was the only passenger on a flight from Kansas City to Topeka, and from Topeka to Salina, KS (I WILL not use airport codes, because I don't know the codes for Topeka OR Salina). The first flight was supposed to go from Kansas City to Topeka, and continue on to Salina, however, I was told I had to make an extra connection in Topeka, because this flight was full from Topeka to Salina. When I got off the flight in Topeka, they closed the door and took off without boarding any more passengers. A couple hours later, the same airplane, with the same flight crew and passengers, landed in Topeka to take me to Salina. The pilots were just as confused as I was as to why I had to make that extra special connection in Topeka.

I flew from PDX via SMF TO SFO and I was the only passenger on the plane.
The FA didnt bother with the usual safety announcement.

QF flight SYD-CBR.... one of the few jet services that day (737)...about midday IIRC

Waited by myself at the gate.. Just before boarding 4 people with briefcases/laptops appeared (from the QP?)... we got onboard.. those 4 were in Business.. I was alone in economy..:eek:

I had just arrived form LAX on UA... no wonder Qf didn't care about my excess baggage!!! :D

Less than three weeks ago.... SQ 220 SYD-SIN... A380 with less than 200 onboard... UD Y was VERY quiet.......