dailynewsnblog
A 
United Airlines passenger ended up as the sole occupant on board a Boeing 737 after he was abandoned by 
British Airways at Cincinnati Northern Kentucky International Airport (CVG) on July 4. After his original flight with British Airways from 
London Heathrow Airport (LHR) to 
Chicago O’Hare International Airport (ORD) was diverted to Cincinnati due to thunderstorms, the British carrier apparently told him to arrange his own transportation to Chicago.
He managed to get a ticket on the heavily delayed UA1813 to ORD, which was supposed to depart at around 6:15 PM but didn’t end up leaving until nearly 1:30 AM the next morning. During the flight, the crew let the traveler sit anywhere he wanted, made their onboard announcements directly to their only customer, and invited him to meet the pilots and sit in the cockpit for a photo.
United Passenger Gets Whole Flight To Himself
The traveler posted his story to Reddit under the username Jaykwono, detailing the series of events that led to him having the run of an entire Boeing 737. He arrived in Cincinnati after his flight from London to Chicago was diverted due to thunderstorms around ORD — flight tracking data confirms this was flight BA299, which landed in Cincinnati at around 6:00 PM local time. He claims that British Airways then “refused to help me or get me home” despite making “10+ calls” to British Airways and American Airways representatives, and was told to organize his own onward travel.
The man was then able to book a ticket with United “thanks to an extremely patient and friendly baggage claim employee.” This flight — UA1813 from Cincinnati to Chicago O’Hare — was supposed to depart at 6:12 PM, but ended up significantly delayed due to the poor weather around Chicago. It eventually took off at 1:28 AM the next morning, and its sole passenger was invited to sit anywhere he wanted.
He was handed several free snacks by flight attendants, as well as one of United’s Boeing 777 trading cards, likely acquired directly from one of the pilots. He was also invited into the cockpit and took a picture with the flight crew. Simple Flying reached out to United for comment on this unusual flight, but a representative could not be reached before publication.
179 Seats For One Man
The aircraft operating UA1813 was one of United’s Boeing 737-900 jets, which can accommodate up to 179 passengers in two cabin classes. The jet is configured with 20 United First and 159 United Economy seats, of which 42 are United Economy Plus seats offering additional legroom and recline.
Judging from his photos, the passenger appears to have chosen seat 1B in United First, which is in the first of five rows in the airline’s domestic first class cabin. United First seats on the 737 offer a generous 37 inches of seat pitch, 20 inches of seat width, and more than double the recline of standard economy seats.
The flight from Cincinnati to Chicago lasted less than 50 minutes, landing in the Windy City at 1:15 AM local time. Severe storms impacted operations at O’Hare on Friday and Saturday, leading the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to issue a ground stop on July 4. According to data from FlightAware, Chicago O’Hare was the world’s worst-disrupted airport on July 4, with over 400 flight cancellations and more than 1,000 delays.
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A traveler boarded an Air Canada Jazz flight from Philadelphia to Montreal only to discover he was the sole passenger onboard!
Why Was The Flight So Empty?
It is highly unusual for a commercial flight to have just a single passenger on board, but it isn’t unprecedented. Usually, it happens when a flight is severely delayed, leading to passengers rebooking on other flights or deciding not to fly at all. In this recent case involving United, the flight’s scheduled departure of 6:18 PM was pushed back until 1:28 AM the next day.
In 2023, an American Airlines passenger went viral after getting an entire plane to himself following an 18-hour wait. Phil Stringer said there were about seven delays to his early morning flight, which ended up departing around 18 hours later with him as the only passenger. In another high-profile case from 2021, an Emirates Boeing 777 — which can seat up to 427 passengers — had just a single occupant due to COVID-related restrictions.
