I’ve only been on commercial flights twice, and both planes were completely full.
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.
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
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.
This was in 1990. I have flown into Santa Barbara well over 100 times since then and I have never experienced that again.
It was popular with old people - very quiet, for serious drinking.
Joe
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.
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
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!
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.
Those bitches!
I’d type more, but my eyes just rolled out of my head.
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.
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.
For Darryl Lict:
Quasi
I sat in the cockpit of an SR-71. No one else was aboard.
I didn’t go anywhere, but in my heart I was flying beyond my wildest dreams.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.