Every traveler has a very specific set of dreams. Dreams that are just in the back of your head almost every time you fly. Just realistic enough that they might one day come true, but still pretty far fetched. Some are a little more lewd than others but some are totally PG, like accidentally getting some first class food or avoiding the overly chatty fellow passengers and having a row to yourself.
Recently, one Delta passenger flying home got to experience the sweet sensation of realizing something so much better than having a row to yourself. Despite Steve Schneider’s initial worries when he showed up to an empty gate area, he stepped onto an empty plane and realized all of his fellow travelers opted to take other flights.
“I was so nervous,” Schneider told WSB-TV. “I couldn’t believe it. I felt like I missed my flight!”
Before the plane took off a he was asked if he’d like to travel home the next day instead, because he was the only passenger on the flight. It turns out, other passengers had found other ways home after the original flight had been delayed more than once. He went against the grain and kept his reservation, and cruise on a private flight that usually seats about 160 people.
“At first I felt really bad, because I didn’t want the plane to only make the trip because of me,” he said. “But after talking to a flight attendant at the gate, she said the plane needed to go back to Atlanta anyway. She called this an empty leg flight.”
“We’re glad this customer enjoyed a somewhat rare solo experience. Other customers were accommodated on an earlier departure,” Delta said in a statement. “The reason we operated the flight was so this customer could have that airplane positioned back in Atlanta [and] so [the plane] could be in place for a departure the next day.”
Talk about new #flightGoals. “It was so cool,” Schneider said. “One of the flight attendants told me she hadn’t seen something like this in the 17 years she was here. Everyone was just so nice.”
