Jeannie in NJ Posted March 22, 2014 Share Posted March 22, 2014 2 days ago dh flew from Philly to Greensboro NC or whatever the big airport is there around that area and he said that it was a US Air regular jet that seats about 129 people and there were only 8 passengers total including him. Wow, I don't remember the last time I flew that the plane was not absolutely full, I think it must have been in the 70's or 80's. Dh was actually shocked that they just didn't cancel the flight. When I lived in Los Angeles from 1975 to 1980 I would fly home to Dallas, Texas a couple of times a year and the planes were usually only 1/3 full but no way nowadays or so I thought? Actually once when I was in college in Texas, I flew on a Texas airline and I was the ONLY passenger, now that would be very freaky today. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
edelweiss Posted March 22, 2014 Share Posted March 22, 2014 Wow, I am absolutely shocked that they didn't cancel that flight! That is almost unheard of these days. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J-rap Posted March 22, 2014 Share Posted March 22, 2014 That is really strange! They must have added it thinking they'd have more passengers, and then didn't have them. Every flight I have been on in the last several years have been 100% packed. Years and years ago I'd fly on planes that were half empty, but not anymore. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mom in High Heels Posted March 22, 2014 Share Posted March 22, 2014 I would love to be on a flight like that. On our most recent Trans-Atlantic flight, we were lucky enough to get 2 rows all to ourselves. It was glorious! We were not sitting together because there weren't 4 seats together, but the people on the row behind James Bond and Indy offered to trade with me so we could be together. The guy next to JB and Indy, moved to an empty window seat. The middle rows were 4 seats, so we had plenty of room to stretch out. When I flew to my mom's house this past Nov, they put me in a 3 seat row, but the middle seat had been converted to a table, so no one could sit next to me. I've never seen that before, but I liked it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mandylubug Posted March 22, 2014 Share Posted March 22, 2014 The plane was probably needed in another city. I've had many flights like that flying standby with DH and having to catch the red eyes. They are lovely, except when flying through severe weather. Did that once with about five on the plane. Could have sworn I saw it flexing. I've flown all my life and in some rough weather but have never been terrified like I was that night. I think the emptiness of it made it more eery. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Butter Posted March 22, 2014 Share Posted March 22, 2014 When we flew to Ireland last March we had to go from BWI to NY first. It was a smaller plane with just two seats on either side of the aisle, but there were the 6 of us and 3 other people on the flight. That's it. It was weird. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JeneralMom Posted March 22, 2014 Share Posted March 22, 2014 When we moved from San Antonio to Western Australia, the flight from SATX to Dallas was packed/overbooked. I was really worried about the flight overseas hoping we would get the seats we requested so the 6 of us could stay together and it looked like the flight was really booked. When we got to Dallas the waiting area was packed but when we got on the plane it was only about 1/3 full. The crew seemed really confused too. I think a large group/tour must have missed a connection or something. The crew came around and told everyone that they needed to spread people out for take off because the plane was unbalanced the way it was but once we were in the air we could move. We stayed together, but almost everyone else was able to spread out and have whole aisles to themselves. We were so light that we made excellent time in the air and got to Brisbane so early that we had to circle because customs wasn't even open. It was an experience. My DH has flown back to North America several times since we moved and he has had a few flights with whole rows to himself. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
meena Posted March 22, 2014 Share Posted March 22, 2014 There could be a couple of issues at play. First, the airline may have needed that aircraft to be at that airport for service back to PHL or on to elsewhere. Otherwise, if the flight was cancelled they would have to reposition/ferry a plane there which still takes fuel, messes up crew scheduling, and gets no revenue in return. Aircraft positioning and utilization is important, especially in the hub-and-spoke model that most airlines use. Second, the airline may have a contract agreement with the airport or community which requires flights to operate regardless of load. This occurs more often at smaller, regional airports. If that flight (route/day of week/time of day) is low-performing on a regular basis it may end up getting cut from the schedule or reduced to a smaller aircraft but it's unlikely to be canceled on an individual flight due to light passenger load. I've flown on lots of flights that were not even close to full. It just depends on the airline, day of week (Tuesday & Wednesday are usually the lightest), and to where at what time of year. Trying to get in/out of FL during spring break is much different than say a random weekday in October. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
QueenCat Posted March 22, 2014 Share Posted March 22, 2014 Wow, I am absolutely shocked that they didn't cancel that flight! That is almost unheard of these days. The plane still needs to get to where it's going for another flight it is scheduled for. May as well fly it with passengers rather than empty. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeannie in NJ Posted March 22, 2014 Author Share Posted March 22, 2014 once 8 years ago we were at the Orlando airport waiting to fly back to Atlantic City airport. We were waiting for hours and hours. Our plane had some problem that they were trying to fix. They finally decided not to use that plane but the airline (Spirit) did not have another plane available for us so they ended up having a pilot fly an empty plane from Chicago to Orlando to pick us up . We were all joking that Spirit only had one plane that they used for the Orlando-Atlantic City route. Maybe it really wasn't a joke. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lanny Posted March 22, 2014 Share Posted March 22, 2014 I worked in the Scheduling Department of a U.S. Flag airline, in the corporate HQ, when I was very young. There are *many* reasons why they did not cancel that flight. The aircraft are in a "pattern" of flights. Although the flight your DH was on only had 8 passengers, from his origin airport to his destination airport, the next flight for that aircraft, from his destination airport, might have been very full. The cockpit and cabin crew people are also scheduled to be on those flights. The airline needs to have the aircraft in the cities the pattern shows for it. I agree that would be an unusual experience now. The domestic flights within Colombia, and the International flights to/from Colombia usually have extremely high load factors. Many years ago, my wife and I had to go to Miami and there were no coach seats available for the day we needed to go. I had seen an ad in the local Cali newspaper, for a 2 for 1 deal in First Class. We took the airline (Avianca) up on that deal. :-) I remember going up to Miami, the flight was *full*, in both cabins, but that on the nonstop flight from Miami back to Cali, we were the only passengers in the First Class cabin. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
edelweiss Posted March 22, 2014 Share Posted March 22, 2014 The plane still needs to get to where it's going for another flight it is scheduled for. May as well fly it with passengers rather than empty. True. After I posted, I started thinking about how the plane needing to be re-positioned would be the only reason that they'd fly the plane that empty. At any rate, that was one expensive flight for the airline! Unless this empty flight was an absolute fluke, the airline will certainly be looking to see if that flight is necessary. I wouldn't be surprised to see that it doesn't exist in the near future. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seasider Posted March 22, 2014 Share Posted March 22, 2014 Years ago I made a trip like that on Christmas Day. The flight crew treated us right - first class fare all around at no extra charge. I think there were fewer than 20 passengers on that flight. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mschickie Posted March 23, 2014 Share Posted March 23, 2014 That happened to me one time years ago. I was flying from Rochester to Laguardia (NYC). It was a 6am flight and they had to have the plane down in NY for the return flight which was pretty full. The plane did not have a 1st class section but I sat up front, had my choice of muffins and such for breakfast and basically just chatted with the flight attendant. It was fun. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mom2OandE Posted March 24, 2014 Share Posted March 24, 2014 Likely, the flight didn't cancel because the return flight was booked. Airlines don't just cancel flights because of passenger loads. I was a flight attendant for ten years and always enjoyed flights like that. It gave me time to chat with passengers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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