An American Airlines passenger’s patience was rewarded after he endured an 18-hour delay in order to board his flight. He had the entire plane to himself.
According to a viral video posted to TikTok today by user Phil Stringer (@phil.stringer), a full crew was assigned to his flight despite him being the only passenger boarding at Will Rogers World Airport in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
@phil.stringer 18-hour delay turned this flight into a private party! ✈️🥳 Watch how the amazing crew and I made the most of it! #americanairlines #flightattendant #airplanetiktok #privateparty #FlightFun #delayedflight #fyp #viral ♬ Makeba – Jain
The flight was delayed seven times from its original departure time while the plane underwent maintenance in Nashville, Tennessee, Stringer told the Daily Dot in an Instagram direct message.
“I figured they would just cancel the flight after it kept getting delayed over and over, but they didn’t cancel it,” Stringer said. “I asked if there were other options, but the only options would have me leaving the airport the next morning and I had to get home.”
He sat at the airport Starbucks and worked the entire day, returning to his gate 18 hours later to discover that he was the only passenger waiting to board.
“When you buy every single ticket on the plane so you don’t have to deal with people,” Stringer jokingly wrote in his video’s text overlay, showing rows of empty seats inside the plane. Only one bag was loaded onto the plane, according to a baggage handler shown in the video.
Stringer’s clip has already garnered 2 million views since it was first posted early Monday morning.
“They pulled them from the hotel to come do this flight for one person,” Stringer says of the aircraft crew, who appeared to be in good spirits as they welcomed him aboard and ran through pre-flight instructions and safety demonstrations.
“You’re doing great, sweetie,” a male flight attendant told Stringer from his seat near the back of the plane.
Stringer said he felt bad for the crew and apologized to them for having to leave their hotel and run the flight. “They had such great attitudes. We laughed a lot and talked about all sorts of things during the flight. I even asked if they had any games on board,” he told the Daily Dot.
The crew also took a selfie with Stringer, which he posted at the end of the video to viewers’ delight.
“This was probably the highlight of their week. Getting paid to just take care of one person? Sign me up lol,” one commenter wrote.
Some users recounted similar experiences traveling on near-empty flights. “I was on an overnight 7 hour flight with 8 people once. Unfortunately there was no first class on the plane but we each got a section,” one revealed.
“This is much more fun than the time I was basically by myself on a cross-country Delta flight after 9/11,” another shared.
