"Welcome aboard sir , your the only one travelling with us tonight"

[mbeder]

We were 3 of 16 on a Qantas 747 from Mel-Syd in the mid 1990s - they seated the 3 of us in the upper deck and we were the only ones there - definitely a somewhat surreal experience

 

[beardoc]

On my birthday this year, I flew from MAD-AMM on RJ110 in J - I got on board and sat in my seat, and then was told by the flight attendant that I was the only one left in the cabin.

The flight attendants were lovely - the male J flight attendant tended to sit down and not do much, whilst the female flight attendant got me anything I wanted. RJ heat up a complete buffet of 3 meat dishes, a vegetarian choice, rice and vegetables - and it was all heated up just for me. The attendant kept on trying to offer me alcohol - given I don't drink, I had to keep refusing.

It was some of the best 4 hours of flying I've ever done. When I landed at AMM, RJ have a J pax bus, and I was the only one on that too, so I was in the airport way before anyone else.

My flight out RJ116 AMM-CDG was much busier, though.

I loved it. So much so, I'm flying MAD-AMM-CDG again because I had such a wonderful time!

 

[PineappleSkip]

Best I can do is 2 of 4 on a 717 CNS-DRW on a Sat evening. And got the opposite of deluxe service.

For some reason they tried to move all the PAX to the earlier flight via GOV, there was a problem with our a/c, but we were out of mobile range. Approaching CNS we both got a heap of mobile messages asking to ring one of 2 QF numbers. I rang one of them and explained we wouldn't be at the airport in time for the earlier flight. No worries they said.

Checked in and went to the QP. Met by the most fire-breathingest dragon I ever saw. Seems they had to keep the QP open just for us and why didn't we ring them like they asked? :shock::shock: She was absolutely livid. Explained we were out of range, eventually had messages asking us to ring various numbers and we picked the 13 number. And the 13 person said don't worry about the other number. Dragon wasn't very mollified. I think we and the delayed flight had buggered her Saturday night.

Strange experience being the only PAX at the barn-like CNS QP, especially with all the fire and smoke coming from the reception desk. With all the food and wines laid out for us. Considered posting on AFF to relate our amazing reception, but the computers were off and didn't want to see what would happen if we asked the fire-breathing dragon to turn one of them on. Probably would have torched it and me.

To make it worse, another PAX on the same flight, lets call him Mr Importance, also lobbed up at the QP after quite a while. Maybe the dragon overcompensated, but the got the most fawning reception. It appeared he was a regular. We remained dumbstruck. And spent quite a while cringing in the corner of the QP while they fixed the problem and called our flight.

Another PAX arrived at boarding, that made 4, we were all up the front of the a/c, but can't remember the service being anything special at all. It might have been. Can't really remember anything at all about the service. Mainly because we were still singed from our QP experience and our brains were full of smoke. Did feel slightly good that we were in row 2 with Mr Importance and the non-QP PAX in row 3.

Thought afterwards maybe we should have escalated relations at the CND QP and bunged on a fine DYKWIA act. Obviously if you need a dragon slayer, a pineapple is not your man.



Cheers skip

 

[IainF]

I have had two experiences like this...
The first was LAX-BNE on QF in 2005, leaving LAX on Xmas eve, arriving BNE on Boxing day.
There was maybe 30 people in Y, we all grabbed the 4 seats in the centre and slept like babies.
Best Xmas ever.
The second was on CX F from BKK to HKG via SIN (using AA points) in 2008.
I was the only one in F and got treated brilliantly as it was also my birthday.
Got a card signed by all crew and several bottles of champers to take home.

 

[simongr]

I was the only one in J DXB-JED this morning... staff to pax ratio of about 4 to 1 and was informed that I should just give 20 mins notice to get my breakfast ready whenever I wanted it...

 

[Hvr]

I have mentioned it before but it is appropriate for this thread.

Earlier this year I was the only passenger in J travelling from ICN-NRT.

Very nice to have several JAL FAs fussing over me and at the end of the trip giving me some origami figures they made for me as well as a card thanking me for travelling with them. It has a drawing of me on it. I still have it.

 

[chrispy3276]

Wow, some amazing stories here. Think the closest I've ever come was a quarter-full A330 Syd - Per last year. Although still quite a few of us on board, it was the first (and only) time I'd been offered seconds in Y. Very good service that flight.

Any tips on times of travelling/airlines to likely see a reduced number of passengers on board?

 

[Groundfeeder]

Checked in and went to the QP. Met by the most fire-breathingest dragon I ever saw

I call her "Hyacynth", as I was so much a regular in the CNS QP they send my mail there!!

Not altogether bad as she gave me a bottle of red for moving to another seat (row 4!)

 

[PineappleSkip]

I call her "Hyacynth", as I was so much a regular in the CNS QP they send my mail there!!

Not altogether bad as she gave me a bottle of red for moving to another seat (row 4!)

Ahhhh, you must be Mr Importance then!

Cheers skip

 

[Stephen65]

The least populated flight I have been on was a Gulf flight from Bahrain to Shiraz in Iran back in about 1995. There were only about 8 passengers including the two of us on board. I'm not sure of the aircraft type but it was a small airliner, probably a 737 or A320.

 

[pagingjoan]

I am coming late to this discussion but recall many years ago, having a week in Samoa, then being scheduled to fly from Apia to Vava'u in Tonga. The day before the onward flight to Vava'u, I was told that the flight had been cancelled. By that stage, I was in relaxed Samoan mode. "Fine. I will just take the next flight, thank you. Er... When is that?"

Answer: "One week from now."

My relaxed state disappeared, as I was to stay in Tonga for only a few days before returning to Australia and work. Enquiring about the reason for the cancellation, I was told that there were no other passengers, and that, although the flight had been in the timetable for about a year, it had never flown, as nobody had ever booked it!

I insisted that my booking had been confirmed and that I wanted to take the flight as scheduled. After quite a delay, it was agreed that the flight would depart, as scheduled. At crack of dawn next morning, I was driven to the airport, where the gates had to be unlocked to let us in. The crew eventually turned up and I watched as the pre-flight ritual unfolded - including the pilot finding the life jackets stowed in the baggage hold, retrieving them and re-directing them to the cabin!

Before I was invited to board, I was surrounded by a PR person, a photographer, and the crew of three or four (memory is a bit hazy at this stage), and the inaugural flight of a year old scheduled route was duly recorded.

We island hopped from Apia to Vava'u, on a glorious day - just me, and my crew. A surreal experience.

 

[PineappleSkip]

We island hopped from Apia to Vava'u, on a glorious day - just me, and my crew. A surreal experience.

This one will be hard to beat

Cheers skip

 

[darrend]

Many years back I was on a flight Brisbane - Cairns with Ansett. It was delayed and I elected to jump on a flight via Hamilton Island. Flight was full to Hamilton Island but the Hamilton Island to Cairns sector was me and the crew. A great flight, got to ride up in the coughpit in the jump seat. An ILS approach into Cairns - heavy tropical rain all the way down to minima before visual with the runway. Very special.

If you count the PE/J section of Virgin then I've been on many solo voyages. Beats me why they don't try to fill up those seats with some form of incentive - that said I guess lately they have - anyway that is a little OT.

 

[flychrisfly]

My closest experience to this was back in 2001-2002 when I was working in Tokyo. I boarded QF22 in Tokyo to head home to Sydney and had a window seat in whY with two large Scandinavian men next to me. I was feeling claustrophobic and had to force myself to relax. Shortly before we left the gate a flight attendant asked those of us in the first couple of rows of whY if we wanted to change seats. In those days QF21/22 was operated by the old 747-200s which had a small economy section upstairs in 3x3 configuration with lockers next to the windows. The flight attendant took just enough people upstairs so that we each scored a 3-seater which, together with the side lockers, provided just enough room to stretch out for the night flight home.

Happy days!

 

[pshepvic]

If you count the PE/J section of Virgin then I've been on many solo voyages. Beats me why they don't try to fill up those seats with some form of incentive - that said I guess lately they have - anyway that is a little OT.

lol - I was just thinking of posting to say I've lost count of the number of times I've had a DJ Premium cabin all to myself! I don't think 1 of 8 seats really counts, particularly before the aircraft were refitted!



Sent from my iPhone using AustFreqFly app

 

[Must...Fly!]

Closest I can get to is earlier this year, January on a 0705 departure from PER to SYD. Me and 2 others in a 767 J cabin. Good service, chat from the CSM etc, including being asked..."how do you afford to fly up the front?"!!

 

[ozbeachbabe]

Closest I can get to is earlier this year, January on a 0705 departure from PER to SYD. Me and 2 others in a 767 J cabin. Good service, chat from the CSM etc, including being asked..."how do you afford to fly up the front?"!!

Were you on a JASA & if so, did you enlighten the CSM to the benefits of AFF?

 

[PineappleSkip]

Yeah and

."how do you afford to fly up the front?"!!

Cheers skip

 

[pshepvic]

Last week I was booking MEL-SYD and noticed that DJ had the A330 servicing the 6:15am flight, so I booked it and upgraded to check out the J cabin, as i was thinking about flying it to PER later in the year. The seat map showed the cabin half full, which surprised me a little considering that flight normally only has 8 J seats.

Upon boarding, I turned left into the J cabin, and immediately was greeted by an FA who said "Good morning Mr Shep, welcome on board - please feel free to select any one of the 27 seats in here - in fact, feel free to sit in every single one of them if you like!"

After takeoff in the cabin announcement, I even got a personalised message - "We'd like to welcome aboard our business class guest - Mr Shep, Alicia will be with you to serve breakfast shortly. We'd also like to welcome aboard our guests seated in economy..."

Was a great flight - didn't even get to check out the IFE (apart from the "pilot's view camera") as I was talking to the FAs most of the way!


Sent from my iPad using Aust Freq Fly app

 

[KiwiBob]

I had it the other way once, around 1995. Qantas SYD to HKK, in J, completely full. FA told us economy was nearly empty, so most of us went down to grab a row of seats to sleep, then back to J for breakfast.