An American Airlines Passenger Lived The Dream Of Having An Entire Plane To Himself After Waiting Through A Nightmare 18 Hour Delay
WSOCTV- What would you do if you were the only passenger on a commercial airplane? That was the case for Phil Stringer, a realtor from the Greensboro area who flew into Charlotte early Monday morning.
He had a flight booked from Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, to Charlotte on Sunday. Because of storms and other issues across the country, the flight ended up being delayed by a whopping 17 hours and 52 minutes. By that point, every other passenger had either booked another flight or given up on flying out that day -- but not Stringer.
Channel 9′s Evan Donovan spoke with Stringer on Monday, and he said he ended up getting his own personal crew. “They had to get called; they were at their hotel, like they were going to go to bed,” Stringer said. “I felt so badly because I was like, oh my gosh, they literally had to come here for me.”
That my friends is what you call having chicken salad served to you after being forced to eat a bunch of chicken shit. We all know how hopeless it feels to have a flight delayed, even if that delay wasn't EIGHTEEN hours, which honestly feels like an overdue cancellation. However, the inverse of that is having an empty seat or dare I say an empty row next to you on a flight, especially if you are a big fella like the oversized oaf writing this here blog. I wouldn't say it feels like you hit the lottery but at the very least you hit triple digits on a scratch off.
But getting an entire commercial plane with a bump up to first class as every airline employee treats you like a conquering hero is definitely more than that. No worrying about babies crying, drunk assholes fighting, or everyone rushing to stand up as soon as the seatbelt light is turned off. Just plenty space along with all the peace and quiet you can handle for your flight home.
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Then again, when you have this type of outlook, maybe good stuff will happen to you.
Stringer said he was just “turning a bad situation into a good one.” “I had just posted on my social media that day that your attitude determines your direction,” Stringer said.
Wait a minute, something doesn't smell right. Let me take a look at Phil's social media account that just so happened to have this video go super viral.
Hmmmmm. An international speaker? A link to book him for an event? A bunch of self-help and shareholder videos? This feels like an elaborate internet duping if I've ever seen one. I don't know how you get an entire airplane with a crew ready to participate in a charade considering the amount of shit you gotta go through just to get past TSA, but it feels like someone with the title of A.I. efficiency coach can figure that out. Plus you figure at least one other person would stick around for that flat out absurd 18 hour delay other than the self-help guru with a TikTok.
Either way, making your entire flight disappear Kevin McCallister style and having an entire commercial plane to yourself is the dream, or at least the dream if you don't have the ability to dream about flying private (which is something I plan to do if when Ziti wins a Dozen championship).
P.S. This was a toughhhhhh look for the airline industry and yet another reason why Big Cat has made a cottage industry out of fucking skulls.
As if the 18-hour delay wasn’t enough, he had another gut punch when he landed in Charlotte.
“My bag actually did get misplaced for about 45 minutes in Charlotte,” Stringer said. “I was like, ‘Are you kidding me?’ We lost the one bag that we had on the plane.”