# What's the least occupied plane flight you've been on? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 2, 2011, 8:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-least-occupied-plane-flight-youve-been-on/569875 "2011-02-02T08:29:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![TBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2011, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-least-occupied-plane-flight-youve-been-on/569875/41 "2011-02-03T00:03:44Z")
I’ve only been on commercial flights twice, and both planes were completely full. ---
**Author:** ![RadicalPi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/radicalpi/32/9806_2.png) [@RadicalPi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RadicalPi)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2011, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-least-occupied-plane-flight-youve-been-on/569875/42 "2011-02-03T01:15:22Z")
> [@Darryl\_Lict](#): > > I was flying back from Salt Lake City and stupidly took the last flight to LA. The plane was delayed from Denver, so I managed to miss my connecting flight to Santa Barbara. Being the cheap bastard I am, I just slept at LAX and caught the 7AM flight to SBA where there was 3 passengers on a 31 seat puddle jumper. While this is not particularly impressive (9.7%), it was the lowest percentage occupancy flight that I can remember being on. > [@hajario](#): > > In my final days as a student, I took a flight from San Diego to Santa Barbara for a job interview. It was a puddle jumper and I was the only one on the flight. The pilots and flight attendant were teasing me like I was a big wig on my own private jet. “Your plane is ready, Sir.” “Is the temperature OK back there?” I fly into Santa Barbara all the time, and the plane is always pretty full. I envy you. I usually end up in the aisle seat that’s also a window seat, sitting with my head tilted at 45 degrees so that I don’t hit the ceiling, wondering all the while if taxiing to the gate at LAX is going to be longer than the actual flight. ---
**Author:** ![Quasimodem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e274bd/32.png) [@Quasimodem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quasimodem)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2011, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-least-occupied-plane-flight-youve-been-on/569875/43 "2011-02-03T01:26:19Z")
When I fly home to Germany it is usually on Thanksgiving Day. I fly Atlanta to wherever the airline hub is (most of the time Charlotte) and from there on to Frankfurt. Although it’s been 2 years since I’ve been home, I found the plane to be the least occupied on that day. Same with the airports. Folks travelling to their families are already there, I reckon. Thanks Q ---
**Author:** ![Jennmonkye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/278dde/32.png) [@Jennmonkye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jennmonkye)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2011, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-least-occupied-plane-flight-youve-been-on/569875/44 "2011-02-03T01:43:35Z")
Chicago to Myrtle Beach about five years ago was the one I remember. I was on a 747 with about 15 golfers, maybe 10 other people and that was it. Everyone had rows to themselves or first class. In the last four years, I’ve not been on an airplane that was less than full. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2011, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-least-occupied-plane-flight-youve-been-on/569875/45 "2011-02-03T01:48:14Z")
> [@RadicalPi](#): > > I fly into Santa Barbara all the time, and the plane is always pretty full. I envy you. I usually end up in the aisle seat that’s also a window seat, sitting with my head tilted at 45 degrees so that I don’t hit the ceiling, wondering all the while if taxiing to the gate at LAX is going to be longer than the actual flight. This was in 1990. I have flown into Santa Barbara well over 100 times since then and I have never experienced that again. ---
**Author:** ![Yorikke](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yorikke/32/4335_2.png) [@Yorikke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yorikke)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2011, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-least-occupied-plane-flight-youve-been-on/569875/46 "2011-02-03T02:07:41Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > When I lived in NJ United ran a flight from Trenton that stopped at Harrisburg and then on to Chicago. They flew a 727 and the first leg often had under five people. The problem was that return flights would often get canceled because they claimed the runway lights were out. (Someone probably threw a switch.) The flight got scratched eventually. Which was too bad because Trenton had free parking. > [@Voyager](#): > > That’s the one. I lived in Pennington, and wished I could always fly out of there, since it sure beat driving 50 miles to either Newark or Philadelphia. > > I always wondered how that bar stayed in business. It wasn’t ever one of my top dining choices. It was popular with old people - very quiet, for serious drinking. Joe ---
**Author:** ![Kozmik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/8dc957/32.png) [@Kozmik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kozmik)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2011, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-least-occupied-plane-flight-youve-been-on/569875/47 "2011-02-03T02:16:46Z")
Flying early morning the day after a convention. Aircraft: 757. Airline: AA. The only thing to do was sleep which I did as about nine other passengers did. I don’t remember if it was a connecting flight… it might have been. Again, I was sleeping during most of the flight so other than vaugely remembering the captain announcing arrival, I don’t remember much else from the flight. ---
**Author:** ![Quasimodem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e274bd/32.png) [@Quasimodem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quasimodem)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2011, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-least-occupied-plane-flight-youve-been-on/569875/48 "2011-02-03T02:27:03Z")
I wanted to add that on a holiday (such as Thanksgiving) one can meet the most interesting people in an airport bar. At other times the place is so crowded one really can’t make any one on one conversation. I now have a very good friend in Australia because I chatted her up about 8 years ago. Q ---
**Author:** ![Darryl\_Lict](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7cd45c/32.png) [@Darryl\_Lict](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darryl_Lict)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2011, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-least-occupied-plane-flight-youve-been-on/569875/49 "2011-02-03T02:29:04Z")
> [@BobArrgh](#): > > The flight had originated in Los Angeles around midnight and stopped in Phoenix for about 4 hours. Have you ever wandered around the Phoenix airport at 3 AM? I do not recommend it. At 11PM LAX was starting to shut down. I was unable to get anything to eat or a beer to drink. Yet they still made that damn “Do not leave your baggage unattended” announcement every 10 minutes at 110dB. Christ, even at 4 in the morning! ---
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2011, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-least-occupied-plane-flight-youve-been-on/569875/50 "2011-02-03T03:31:53Z")
Several years back I flew from Geneva to Frankfurt on Christmas day. We were on an Airbus 319 (I think) which seats about 125 people, depending on the configuration. There were three passengers and three flight attendants. I was the only one in business class (which is kind of different in Europe) and the other two were in coach. We each had our own flight attendant. It’s only about an hour flight, iirc. The weirdest thing about the flight, though, was that the flight attendant kept speaking to me in English and I only spoke German to her. I’m not sure she realized she was doing it - although I was intentionally only speaking German to her. It was a bit surreal. ---
**Author:** ![drastic\_quench](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e36b37/32.png) [@drastic\_quench](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drastic_quench)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2011, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-least-occupied-plane-flight-youve-been-on/569875/51 "2011-02-03T03:38:24Z")
> [@ftg](#): > > I don’t recall the details, but it was a 737-class type plane with at least 15 empty seats to each used one. I don’t think anything abnormal had happened (bad weather delaying connecting flights or anything.) It was just one of those things. > > The flight attendants somehow decided that they needed to give away the wine and stuff. So they had a contest. The people with the oldest pennies got a free bottle of wine. Me, like a bunch of others, didn’t care to participate. So they still had excess wine bottles and one tried and tried to get me to take one, perhaps to give to someone. No, I don’t drink. I don’t encourage others to drink. I’m not taking the bottle so go away. Those bitches! I’d type more, but my eyes just rolled out of my head. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2011, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-least-occupied-plane-flight-youve-been-on/569875/52 "2011-02-03T03:49:17Z")
> [@Skip](#): > > I flew from Cape Town to London on a 747 with 57 people on board. This happened on Christmas Day. > > There was one guy in First Class who must have felt like a right idiot when he saw that every passenger in economy had 3 or 4 seats on which to stretch out on and sleep. I dunno–with those first class seats they have these days, I think I’d still take the first class. The emptiest I’ve ever been was a KLM flight either from Amsterdam to Chicago or vice versa, and it was maybe 30% full on a 747 (or similarly sized aircraft.) I had the entire middle row of four seats to myself. However, every other time I’ve ever flown, it’s been at least 2/3 full. Even the Christmas flight we took this year from Chicago to Paris and then onward was almost full. We were hoping for a mostly empty flight. ---
**Author:** ![Taomist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/53a042/32.png) [@Taomist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Taomist)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2011, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-least-occupied-plane-flight-youve-been-on/569875/53 "2011-02-03T03:52:49Z")
I’ve been one of two passengers in a fusellage, where the ‘seats’ were our duffle bags. I love Alaskan flying. 😛 On a ‘regular’ plane, with seats and stuff, hrm…Never been on one less than half full, and during the last ten years, never been on one that wasn’t crowded as all get out. ---
**Author:** ![Quasimodem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e274bd/32.png) [@Quasimodem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quasimodem)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2011, 5:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-least-occupied-plane-flight-youve-been-on/569875/54 "2011-02-03T05:39:26Z")
> [@Darryl\_Lict](#): > > At 11PM LAX was starting to shut down. I was unable to get anything to eat or a beer to drink. Yet they still made that damn “Do not leave your baggage unattended” announcement every 10 minutes at 110dB. Christ, even at 4 in the morning! For **Darryl Lict** : > **[Movieclips](https://www.youtube.com/c/MOVIECLIPS)** > > Now with TV clips! Rotten Tomatoes MOVIECLIPS is the largest collection of movie clips on the web. We’ve curated the best moments, scenes, and lines from all your favorite films to share, discuss, and relive. We celebrate all movies from all eras and... 😃 Quasi ---
**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2011, 5:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-least-occupied-plane-flight-youve-been-on/569875/55 "2011-02-03T05:53:58Z")
I sat in the [cockpit of an SR-71](http://www.museumofflight.org/cockpits). No one else was aboard. I didn’t go anywhere, but in my heart I was flying beyond my wildest dreams. ---
**Author:** ![pullin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c57346/32.png) [@pullin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pullin)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2011, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-least-occupied-plane-flight-youve-been-on/569875/56 "2011-02-03T15:45:35Z")
One of my relatives is an airline pilot. He had to reposition an empty 747 from the DFW area to Los Angeles (this was in the early 70’s). He took his two kids (ages 7 and 10, I think) and let them play in the empty passenger cabin along the way. He said it took 20 minutes or so to find them after they landed (the kids were hiding). A whole 747 with only 2 kids as passengers is pretty empty, I guess. ---
**Author:** ![Drain\_Bead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e47774/32.png) [@Drain\_Bead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drain_Bead)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2011, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-least-occupied-plane-flight-youve-been-on/569875/57 "2011-02-03T21:06:49Z")
Almost every plane I’ve ever been on has been at capacity. The only plane I’ve ever been on with noticeable empty seats was a flight from Miami to the Dominican Republic. My husband and I were going with two other couples, each of whom was leaving from a different city. We all ended up on that Miami flight, and even though our seats were not together, we were able to move together during the flight. ---
**Author:** ![racer72](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/racer72/32/3075_2.png) [@racer72](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/racer72)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2011, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-least-occupied-plane-flight-youve-been-on/569875/58 "2011-02-04T00:36:57Z")
Back in 1975 I flew from San Diego to Chicago on a 727 with only 8 passengers. We were all moved to first class and given the same service as first class passengers. I was only 19 at the time and I had to wait till we were over Iowa airspace before I could be served alcohol, the drinking age there was 18 at the time. All the other states we flew over before then the drinking age was 21. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2011, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-least-occupied-plane-flight-youve-been-on/569875/59 "2011-02-04T00:52:59Z")
Well, I’ve soloed - that ties the record. 😉 On the airlines: A TWA 747, JFK to Boston, one Christmas night in the 80’s. My wife and I were among the 20 or so passengers, all of whom got moved up to first just to make life easier for the FA’s. The plane was headed on to Paris, and we regretted not just staying on board. ---
**Author:** ![Asimovian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asimovian/32/172_2.png) [@Asimovian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asimovian)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2011, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-least-occupied-plane-flight-youve-been-on/569875/60 "2011-02-04T01:23:19Z")
My mom and I flew a couple of times from San Jose to Lake Tahoe on what was a fairly large plane (I don’t remember what airline, but it was the only major airline that flew into Tahoe at the time). There were never more than 14 people on the plane. This was back around 1990. Last I knew, major airlines no longer fly into Tahoe. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-least-occupied-plane-flight-youve-been-on/569875.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-least-occupied-plane-flight-youve-been-on/569875.md?page=4)