I have the feeling I may have told these stories here before, but if so, it's been years, so here goes.

I've been the only person on a commercial flight twice. One of them was a puddle jumper, but the other one was a pretty large plane. A 707, maybe?

The small plane was going from Dallas to Brownwood, Texas, a town smack in the middle of Texas that was so small that single-rider planes probably weren't unheard-of. There were five people on the flight back. I was going there to do an environmental assessment of a pretty sizable manufacturing plant, so I suppose business traffic to that plant made maintaining service somewhat viable. The copilot came back and sat beside me to deliver the safety lecture directly in my face, making it impossible to ignore her.

The second time, I was traveling from Tupelo, Mississippi to Atlanta. The flight in had been full, and the passengers disembarking all appeared to be associated with some sportsball team. When I realized there was nobody waiting with me to board that plane on its return flight, I wondered if it would be canceled, but no. I figure they had to get the equipment back to Atlanta, so they might as well let me ride.

It never occurred to me to party with the crew, though. The Brownwood pilot and copilot ignored me and flew the plane. The Tupelo plane did have flight attendants, who sat me in first class and let me eat all the snacks I wanted. Otherwise, I just sat there and read my book in peace.

Delayed for 18 hours? It sounds like a circle of hell.

I was on one such flight maybe 20 years ago. If I recall properly, it was from New Orleans to maybe Richmond. There had been a ton of cancellations that afternoon. Lots of bad weather everywhere, I think. People were harassing the airline staff mercilessly. I walked up and smiled, made some disarming quip about the problems of the day and asked how they might get me somewhere close to where I needed to go. They pulled me aside and said they had an unscheduled plane that needed to get to Richmond to meet other needs, and that they could stash me on it. Yes, it was very surreal to be the only "passenger" on a full-sized jet. No partying, however.

quote:

Originally posted by Mary Anna:
I have the feeling I may have told these stories here before, but if so, it's been years, so here goes.



It never occurred to me to party … The Tupelo plane did have flight attendants, who sat me in first class and let me eat all the snacks I wanted. Otherwise, I just sat there and read my book in peace.

how is this not the definition of “partying”?

quote:

Originally posted by Doug:

quote:

Originally posted by Mary Anna:
I have the feeling I may have told these stories here before, but if so, it's been years, so here goes.

It never occurred to me to party … The Tupelo plane did have flight attendants, who sat me in first class and let me eat all the snacks I wanted. Otherwise, I just sat there and read my book in peace.

how is this not the definition of “partying”?

Well, it's my kind of partying.