One of our readers enjoyed a rather interesting experience yesterday: everyone on his flight was upgraded to first class!
Coining203 hopped on Delta Air Lines flight 1013, flown on a 757-200, from Atlanta to Orlando on Wednesday.
“Due to a 20-minute weather hold,” Coining203 told us, “I missed my 1 pm connection to Orlando. Roaming the terminal like I always do, I noticed this flight said it was originally scheduled for a 7 am departure and it was delayed.
“When I asked to get on it, I was told ‘sure’ and upgraded. I get on the plane. No one else in sight — only crew!”
For a while, he was the only person on board. It looked as though he’d maybe have the plane to himself.
This has never happened to me and it’s awesome I have an entire Boeing 737 to myself.
— 🇩🇴 (@Coining203) October 16, 2019
Alas, his de facto solo charter would not be.
“We had to wait for catering, so this gave the chance for a few others to join me.”
Party of Nine!
“It was a small party,” he said. “Pictures were being taken, a lot of selfies with the crew. A lot of pictures. (It was) super-relaxed; the flight attendants were amazing. The pilot was amazing.
“The crew had started their day at 3 am in Jacksonville but due to weather they got stuck in ATL and were waiting for this flight all day.”
The ATL-MCO flight isn’t very long — around 90 minutes. But it gave Coining203 time to check out the plane.
“At one point, I grabbed an entire economy row and took a 15-minute power nap,” the Diamond Medallion said.
Why the Nearly Empty Plane?
The flight was delayed due to a maintenance issue on a previous leg and we were able to rebook the bulk of the customers on earlier flights,” a Delta rep told us, adding there were nine passengers on board.
“I’ve done Etihad business, KLM business, Air France business, Delta One; but nothing like this.”
“(Of) all (the) flights I have taken this was the best! I’ve flown into Iraq using fly Dubai and those were some wild commercial flights but this beats everything.”
It’s certainly nice to hear about everyone getting upgraded — especially in light of the Delta shenanigans that we hear about or experience. Or IT problems preventing Medallions from receiving upgrades.
What Would You Do? Have You Ever Experienced Something Like This?
Have you ever had a flight with hardly anyone on board?
If you had free roam of the plane, would you sit up front, take an entire row, or sample both at different times of the flight? Tell us in the Comments section!
—Chris
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Imagine how fast that takeoff of an empty 757 was!
Yes, several years ago when Delta flew from DTW to TOL I was the only passenger in the flight. Arrived early from LAX and transferred onto the flight. Otherwise, the crew would have flown with no passengers on board to pick up their passengers in Toledo. A 12 minute flight once in the air. Wish they still flew out of TOL.
Years ago my husband and I were flying Continental CLT to LGA free travel agent tickets . Had our Yorkie with us. Checked in requested a upgrade. Agent told us to go have a drink so we did. When we came back the whole waiting area was full. Damm no upgrade. WRONG ! Agent wavied us over with our boarding passes First Class. Opened jet way for what I thought was pre boarding as we stepped onto the plane the agent said to the captain and crew to be nice to this young lady she’s the only paying passenger. Yes we still had to pay $50 for the dog. The captain said get her out of that bag one FA grabbed her to show the other FA’s. 4 FA’S slept to NYC and one fed us and one the dog. Best flight ever.
LAS to LAX on early morning southwest flight. 7 people on a 737 800. What fun
Actually had that happen a few times in 2018 due to weather. Those who were in a real hurry took the non delayed fight and this allowed me to same day confirm and get first class.