All passengers know the feeling of relief that comes with hearing ‘boarding complete’ and seeing that the seat next to you is empty. Some will even have been lucky enough to have a whole row to themselves on particularly empty flights. However, what are much rarer are cases of a single passenger having an entire aircraft to themselves. However, this is exactly what happened to a lucky United flyer.

Indeed, as shared on the United Airlines Reddit page, user Sufficient_Fudge_280 was recently the only passenger on a United Express flight from Huntsville (HSV) to Houston (IAH). In order to comply with weight and balance requirements, sandbags had to be loaded as ballast. While the economics of operating such empty flights may seem questionable, there are often bigger logistical factors at play.

An Unlikely Private Jet

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Kay, a Reddit user who goes by the name Sufficient_Fudge_280, had the unlikely privilege of being the only passenger on board a United Express flight operated by a CommuteAir Embraer ERJ145 from Huntsville to Houston earlier this month. In the Reddit thread seen below, she said that the situation arose “when all those bad storms came through last week, and every flight was grounded for hours.”

Having arrived at an “essentially empty” Huntsville International Airport, Kay went on to say that only “me, the gate agent, and the cleaning crew” were waiting at the gate when it was time to get on the plane. Despite the strange situation, she was soon welcomed aboard, with the service’s sole flight attendant “cracking up the whole time she was doing the safety [demo]” on account of the absurdity. Kay said:

“Shout out to Captain Scott! He let me sit in the cockpit after we landed, and I even got my own personalized pre-flight announcements!”

The Flight Would Have Operated Even Without Any Passengers

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Given the tight margins that airlines operate at, you might wonder why the flight wasn’t simply canceled outright. After all, the cost of a single ticket would be very unlikely to cover all of the finances that are required to operate a flight. However, had it been canceled, this could actually have had greater financial implications, and not just because the passenger would have needed rebooking on a new flight.

Indeed, George Bush Intercontinental Airport is a major hub for United Airlines, with Kay explaining that the plane “had to be in Houston the next morning, so it was going anyway.” As such, had she not been present, it still would have operated, but rather as a repositioning flight as opposed to a conventional passenger service. With IAH being a big United base, the crew also likely needed to get back there.

A quirk that did arise from Kay being the only guest was the fact that “they had to add sandbags to the cabin” on account of the weight and balance issues that would arise from the jet being so empty. As View From The Wing notes, adding ballast to near-empty planes ensures that such jets remain within the necessary parameters for weight and balance, with the cargo hold often being the location of choice.

Such Flights Are Rare But Not Unheard Of

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Given that there are sometimes instances where an aircraft has to make a journey regardless of the number of passengers that are on board, you do occasionally hear other stories from passengers who have been the only paying customer on a flight. John Rodriguez is one such example, and, in a recent interview with Simple Flying, he detailed his experience as the sole passenger on an Air Canada flight.

The flight from Philadelphia International Airport (PHL) to Montréal Trudeau International Airport (YUL) on January 21, 2017, was another example of a regional service, as it was operated by Jazz Aviation under the Air Canada Express banner. Uncertainty, protests, road closures, and shifting travel plans related to Donald Trump’s first presidential inauguration were behind the empty flight in this instance.