--- title: This Guy Flew Delta to New York With Only One Other Passenger description: Enough refreshments for seconds? canonical: https://time.com/3665232/delta-flight-one-passenger-empty/ author: TIME Staff article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-01-13T13:11:36.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T04:48:10.517Z og:title: This Guy Flew Delta to New York With Only One Other Passenger og:description: Enough refreshments for seconds? og:url: https://time.com/3665232/delta-flight-one-passenger-empty/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte8d3fc3c0b6b12bc/6987624d428a9e9d80cc4b1a/best-day-book-thanksgiving-holiday-flights-travel.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 4506 og:image:height: 2535 og:image:alt: Travelers Embark On Holiday Travel Day Before Thanksgiving og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: This Guy Flew Delta to New York With Only One Other Passenger twitter:description: Enough refreshments for seconds? twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte8d3fc3c0b6b12bc/6987624d428a9e9d80cc4b1a/best-day-book-thanksgiving-holiday-flights-travel.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # This Guy Flew Delta to New York With Only One Other Passenger > Sponsored content. 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It curates the day's top headlines with TIME's reporting and analysis across politics, world affairs, business, health and culture. It is free to join at time.com/newsletters. #### How do I sign up for The Brief? The Brief is available free at time.com/newsletters, where readers can select it along with any of TIME's other six newsletters. There is no subscription required to receive it. #### Is The Brief free? Yes. The Brief is a free daily email newsletter from TIME. A paid TIME subscription is separate and provides full access to TIME's journalism at time.com/subscribe-agent. #### Who writes The Brief? The Brief is led by editor Richard Hall and draws on reporting from TIME's newsroom. Every edition is assembled by TIME editors rather than generated automatically. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-brief-2026q3/newsletters?i=07ca6bf3-0f7f-4233-bbbc-426ba8f50d2d&cr=time-nl-brief-2026q3-v1) by [TIME Staff](https://time.com/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Jan 13, 2015 1:11 PM UTC  Delta planes at the Salt Lake City international Airport on November 27, 2013 in Salt Lake City, Utah. Delta planes at the Salt Lake City international Airport on November 27, 2013 in Salt Lake City, Utah. George Frey—Getty Images by [TIME Staff](https://time.com/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Jan 13, 2015 1:11 PM UTC An [empty commercial airplane](http://abcnews.go.com/US/delta-flight-delays-plane-off-passengers/story?id=28178103)—is that kind of like a private jet? Chris O’Leary, media strategist and editor of a New York-based beer blog, would be the person to ask. O’Leary had booked a New York-bound Delta flight from Cleveland that was delayed for several hours on Monday. When the beer enthusiast stepped on the plane, he found out he was the only passenger. > [](https://twitter.com/ohhleary/status/554700216700776449) “It was definitely the most memorable flight I’ve been on in recent memory if only for the sheer lack of passengers to become bothersome,” O’Leary told ABC News. “There were no screaming babies, no one listening to loud lyrics or reclining their seats or taking their shoes.” > [](https://twitter.com/ohhleary/status/554702447063879681) O’Leary got a private safety briefing and one-on-one briefing from the captain about the flight. Shortly before takeoff, the plane returned to the gate and picked up one more passenger, for a grand total of two fliers on the 76-seat plane. \[[_ABC News_](http://abcnews.go.com/US/delta-flight-delays-plane-off-passengers/story?id=28178103)\] ### PHOTOS: Beautiful Long Exposures of Airplanes at Night  College Point Blvd., College Point, Queens, N.Y., June 2014. Kevin Kunstadt  36th Ave., Flushing, Queens, N.Y., June 2014. Kevin Kunstadt  Hermon MacNeil Park, College Point, Queens, N.Y., June 2014. Kevin Kunstadt  Greenpoint, Brooklyn, N.Y., June 2014. Kevin Kunstadt  East Williamsburg, Brooklyn, N.Y., June 2014. Kevin Kunstadt for TIME  Greenpoint, Brooklyn, N.Y., June 2014. Kevin Kunstadt for TIME  Greenpoint, Brooklyn, N.Y., June 2014. Kevin Kunstadt for TIME  Queens Botanical Garden, Flushing, Queens, N.Y., June 2014. Kevin Kunstadt  Flushing, N.Y., July 2014. Kevin Kunstadt  Ocean Blvd., Atlantic Beach, N.Y., July 2014. Kevin Kunstadt for TIME  Spray View Ave., Far Rockaway, N.Y., July 2014. Kevin Kunstadt for TIME _Read next:_ [_Donald Trump Says Air Traffic Controllers Deliberately Flying Planes Over His House_](http://time.com/3665221/donald-trump-lawsuit-florida-air-traffic/?xid=time%5Freadnext) [_Listen to the most important stories of the day._](http://time.com/newsletter/the-brief/?sl%5Fautoplay=true&xid=spl-fullbrief-article) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3665232/delta-flight-one-passenger-empty/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3665232/delta-flight-one-passenger-empty/"},"headline":"This Guy Flew Delta to New York With Only One Other Passenger","datePublished":"2015-01-13T13:11:36.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T04:48:10.517Z","description":"Enough refreshments for seconds?","url":"https://time.com/3665232/delta-flight-one-passenger-empty/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Transportation","Air travel"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte8d3fc3c0b6b12bc/6987624d428a9e9d80cc4b1a/best-day-book-thanksgiving-holiday-flights-travel.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Staff","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/time-staff/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte8d3fc3c0b6b12bc/6987624d428a9e9d80cc4b1a/best-day-book-thanksgiving-holiday-flights-travel.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Travelers Embark On Holiday Travel Day Before Thanksgiving","caption":"Travelers Embark On Holiday Travel Day Before Thanksgiving","creditText":"George Frey—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3665232/delta-flight-one-passenger-empty/","name":"This Guy Flew Delta to New York With Only One Other Passenger"}}]}] ```