Flew with my two buddies one of which worked for the airline. We were flying "standby" when that was still a thing (90's). We flew the red eye from Denver to Vancouver Canada through a thunderstorm on a plane that was practically empty. Lightning actually hit the plane, I had no idea it happened until a stewardess told my airline buddy. On the way back we were at the airport in Seattle and were about to get bumped (again standby) when they gave us first class seats
I once went on vacation with six other family members. There were eight people on the return flight. Just us and the guy who definitely wasn't an Air Marshall
I once went on a school trip and practically the whole plane was filled with students. Must have sucked to have been the six other random people.
I'm pretty sure you have a better chance winning the lottery.
My luck:
Last two passengers stumble onto the plane.
Flight attendant close the door.
They sit down in the empty seats next to me all covered in sweat and smelling not so fresh. "We had to run to make it."
Oh joy....
Carrying bags of fast food…
Nah, this has happened to me plenty of times, I have won the (one of the major ones anyways) lottery 0 times.
You must just be unlucky lol
Heavily depends on the route and time of the day. Some flights are almost always completely full, some others are often half capacity.
yeah this happened to me like 3 weeks ago
I've had it happen at least a dozen times! Should I buy a lottery ticket, or have I wasted all of my luck?
It's even better when they ask you if you want a free upgrade to first class, you say yes, and there's nobody next to you up there. I had that happen to me one time, and I arrived feeling more refreshed than when I left.
Nice way to casually throw out you know what good crack feels like
Once I was on a mostly empty 777 flight across the US. I had the entire row (window to window) as well as the rows in front and behind me, all to myself. It was glorious.
I had a flight like this on Spirit airlines once.
The 5 or so people on that flight, myself included, ended up all clustered near the middle of the plane pounding shots of Tito's with one of the flight attendants to distract from the fact that it sounded like our plane was about to rattle apart in the sky.
I understand now why the Spirit Airlines flights are unpopulated.
I actually don't mind flying Spirit. I do restrict to no layovers and don't check a back. I usually upgrade to the "big seat" for like $20 or $30. For return flights, they have 1 gate in Minneapolis and it's at the front of the terminal. I'm in my car a few minutes after the door opens.
Eh, I took one home from a business trip (direct flight and arrived a couple hours earlier), and it was packed. I enjoyed the flight well enough, and I'd totally do it again for the price. I just mailed my bulky crap through USPS before getting onto the flight, so I only needed my backpack.
Had this happen to me in the middle row, on an 8 hour flight. I put the armrests up and had myself a long, bumpy bed... Sort of.
It was actually not very comfortable, however on principle I slept that way regardless.What's with all that leg room?
This picture must have been taken in the 70s
My friend and I were heading back home from a work trip on a Halloween a few years back. We decided to pay extra for early boarding on a flight that was like 90-95% full. Instead of taking a seat in the front we went all the way to the back of the plane and grabbed seats in the 2nd to last row on opposite sides of the isle. A flight attendant was in the back with us wearing a devil costume. I decided then, that I would be a sick person for Halloween. As the plane filled I got a barf bag out and leaned against the window and made the most im about to puke face I could. my plan worked, 5 hours of flying with nobody in my row. the back 2 rows except mine had 2 people per section. And the row in front of me had 3. Best costume decision ever! Yeah I know total dick move but I have no regrets. The flight attendant thought I was hilarious and we shot the shit most of the flight.
It's better than my costume choice: suicide bomber. Maybe I'll try your idea next time. :)
You'll get your next chance in 25 to life
Bonus, it's on a multi hour international flight.
I witnessed this happen. Guy boards a few people after me, looks like he hasn't slept in a day. Walks miserably to the middle 5-wide row right before mine, moves to the center seat and buries his face in his arms to get a nap, then puts them down in resignation waiting for someone to take all his elbow room.
Every single seat on that plane was full except by some miracle his row. It didn't even fully register until we were in the air. Dude looked around like he was being pranked the entire time from when the door closed until the tires left the ground. As soon as the seatbelt signs turned off he put up all the arms and laid down across all five seats. He didn't move until we landed like 12 hours later.
This once happened to me on an 8 hour flight overseas
Happened to me twice so far (over some 10 years) on red-eye flights. It’s tempting to lie down across the row, though these days, with unpredictable clear-air turbulence being more common due to global heating, long stretches of time without a seatbelt on are not as tempting as they used to be.
Gonna watch Shrek 1, 2 and 3 on the in-flight entertainment screens
I'm afraid of flying so I'd be feeling abject terror anyway. :(
A trick I heard is if you're on an airline with assigned seats that you get to pick, select non-contiguous seats with one in between, and either the one in between won't sell because who wants the middle seat between strangers, or you'll get someone you can kindly offer to trade seats with
Everyone else pretending like they aren't envious.
nice butt stain on that seat
Depending on how I felt that day, I would mostly, A. Sit in the middle seat. B. Sit in the window seat or C. Inform the cabin after we had leveled out, that there was an open window seat over here.
D. would just be me trying to lay down over all of them. The dick move for sure.
Why the middle seat? You can stretch your legs in the aisle (my preference) or look out the window. I see zero benefits to the middle.
Then again, I'm tall.
