It was a poor man’s private jet.
Business travel doesn’t at all times need to mean being crammed right into a packed aircraft like sardines. A lucky UK couple became the envy of flyers all over the place after having a complete flight to themselves — essentially allowing them to benefit from the “private jet” experience for an economy price.
While their incredible solo flight occurred in 2021, the story is just now taking off online.
“It was such an incredible experience, and I don’t think it might occur again. It’s like winning the lottery,” Samantha McCuillon, 50, told the Manchester Evening News of the once-in-a-lifetime experience.
Sam, who works as a nurse, and her husband Kevin, 52, had reportedly flown on a RyanAir flight from Manchester to Corfu for a week-long vacation.
Nonetheless, the couple was having such a very good time that they decided to increase their vacation by several days and ended up booking a later flight home through low-cost airline Jet2.
Nonetheless, the pair realized something was off once they arrived on the terminal Saturday and saw that nobody was there.
“We thought it was a bit odd that no person was around,” recalled Sam, who said she “began to get a bit panicky.”
When the healthcare employee broached the difficulty with the staff, they assured her that “every part was OK,” but that did little to calm her as, she said, “it was getting later and later past the departure time.”
Things grew much more eerie when the pair were the one ones aboard the shuttle bus to the plane, leading them to consider they were late for the flight.
That’s when the travelers stepped aboard and realized they were the solo passengers.
“Then we got to the plane and went up the steps, the captain was there with two flight attendants, they usually told us we were the one ones happening the plane,” described Sam. “The captain said he would tell us all the data, where we flying over and things like that, on the front of the plane as an alternative of constructing an announcement.”
She added, “He then said once we’d taken off, we are able to do whatever we like and treat the plane as our own private jet — he said we could run up and down the aisle and do what we wanted.”
Because it turned out, the flight was nearly unsold; nonetheless, they decided to make the trip anyway because the plane needed to return to Manchester.
Pointless to say, the couple took to it very similar to Kevin McCallister with the Plaza Hotel in “Home Alone 2.”
“It was amazing, the staff were lovely, they gave us Champagne to drink, sweets to eat. We didn’t need to pay for anything,” gushed Sam to the Manchester newspaper. “We didn’t actually run up and down but we laughed and joked with the attendants. We kept saying that we would have liked more leg room.
“It was actually quite bizarre,” she continued. “At one point, I dozed off and once I woke up, I wondered where everyone was.”
Accompanying photos show the couple having a ball on the nearly abandoned 200-seater aircraft, which evoked the desolate Overlook Hotel from “The Shining” but at 30,000 feet.
It was perhaps especially refreshing given the rampant incidents of manspreading, inflight “footsie,” and other space violations that appear to have develop into endemic to airplane travel of late.
The one caveat was that they had to wear masks much of the time, because it was the peak of the COVID pandemic.
Better of all, the inadvertent VIP experience only cost them around $130 — the equivalent of an economy-class ticket.
They even received a special shoutout from Jet2.
“We’re delighted that Kevin and Samantha got to experience our VIP customer support in true style,” said an airline spokesperson, who attributed the “ghost ship” phenomenon to COVID-era airline restrictions.
“On account of the traffic light system in place for international travel on the time, customers had only just been capable of start traveling to Corfu again, meaning flights departing from Manchester were very busy but flights back were much quieter,” the corporate explained.
It was a poor man’s private jet.
Business travel doesn’t at all times need to mean being crammed right into a packed aircraft like sardines. A lucky UK couple became the envy of flyers all over the place after having a complete flight to themselves — essentially allowing them to benefit from the “private jet” experience for an economy price.
While their incredible solo flight occurred in 2021, the story is just now taking off online.
“It was such an incredible experience, and I don’t think it might occur again. It’s like winning the lottery,” Samantha McCuillon, 50, told the Manchester Evening News of the once-in-a-lifetime experience.
Sam, who works as a nurse, and her husband Kevin, 52, had reportedly flown on a RyanAir flight from Manchester to Corfu for a week-long vacation.
Nonetheless, the couple was having such a very good time that they decided to increase their vacation by several days and ended up booking a later flight home through low-cost airline Jet2.
Nonetheless, the pair realized something was off once they arrived on the terminal Saturday and saw that nobody was there.
“We thought it was a bit odd that no person was around,” recalled Sam, who said she “began to get a bit panicky.”
When the healthcare employee broached the difficulty with the staff, they assured her that “every part was OK,” but that did little to calm her as, she said, “it was getting later and later past the departure time.”
Things grew much more eerie when the pair were the one ones aboard the shuttle bus to the plane, leading them to consider they were late for the flight.
That’s when the travelers stepped aboard and realized they were the solo passengers.
“Then we got to the plane and went up the steps, the captain was there with two flight attendants, they usually told us we were the one ones happening the plane,” described Sam. “The captain said he would tell us all the data, where we flying over and things like that, on the front of the plane as an alternative of constructing an announcement.”
She added, “He then said once we’d taken off, we are able to do whatever we like and treat the plane as our own private jet — he said we could run up and down the aisle and do what we wanted.”
Because it turned out, the flight was nearly unsold; nonetheless, they decided to make the trip anyway because the plane needed to return to Manchester.
Pointless to say, the couple took to it very similar to Kevin McCallister with the Plaza Hotel in “Home Alone 2.”
“It was amazing, the staff were lovely, they gave us Champagne to drink, sweets to eat. We didn’t need to pay for anything,” gushed Sam to the Manchester newspaper. “We didn’t actually run up and down but we laughed and joked with the attendants. We kept saying that we would have liked more leg room.
“It was actually quite bizarre,” she continued. “At one point, I dozed off and once I woke up, I wondered where everyone was.”
Accompanying photos show the couple having a ball on the nearly abandoned 200-seater aircraft, which evoked the desolate Overlook Hotel from “The Shining” but at 30,000 feet.
It was perhaps especially refreshing given the rampant incidents of manspreading, inflight “footsie,” and other space violations that appear to have develop into endemic to airplane travel of late.
The one caveat was that they had to wear masks much of the time, because it was the peak of the COVID pandemic.
Better of all, the inadvertent VIP experience only cost them around $130 — the equivalent of an economy-class ticket.
They even received a special shoutout from Jet2.
“We’re delighted that Kevin and Samantha got to experience our VIP customer support in true style,” said an airline spokesperson, who attributed the “ghost ship” phenomenon to COVID-era airline restrictions.
“On account of the traffic light system in place for international travel on the time, customers had only just been capable of start traveling to Corfu again, meaning flights departing from Manchester were very busy but flights back were much quieter,” the corporate explained.
