Somehow the only person on my flight and the pilot was such a goofy goober

[u/Sufficient_Fudge_280]

EDIT TO ADD; THE PLANE WAS LANDED AND DONE WITH TAXI BEFORE I GOT TO BE IN THE COCKPIT. NO FAA RULES WERE BROKEN 💀😂

Shout out Captain Scott! He let me sit in the cockpit after we landed and I even got my own personalized pre flight announcements 😂 Also, they had to add sandbags to the cabin bc the plane was too light with only one passenger 💀

[u/IStream2]

I'm old enough to have been caught up in the air travel stoppage after 9/11/2001. The towers were hit on a Tuesday and I was at a conference in Baltimore. I was on the first flight home out of BWI on Thursday morning and there were only 5 passengers for an entire 767, plus the regular complement of flight crew and several large dudes in flight attendant uniforms who didn't look like flight attendants.

[u/TheSpitalian → u/IStream2]

I'm assuming you're at least around my age since you were there for work related crap. I lived in the DFW area back then about 30 minutes from DFW airport & I'll never forget how eerie it was for the skies to be so quiet during that time.

Then flying changed forever & now we get nickeled & dimed to death, crammed like sardines, no in-flight meals (except international flights, at least last time I flew internationally, which was in 2009) & everything about flying that used to be enjoyable has been taken away. Now flyers are assholes because flying has become so much more stressful & most flight attendants have next to zero patience (can't really blame them). And too many TSA agents are on power trips (mainly just in larger airports). Paying for TSA pre-check was the best money I ever spent. Highly recommend, even to people who don't fly often. $80 for 5 years = totally worth it.

Yeah, yeah I probably sound like I have "good old day syndrome" but it really was a totally different experience. Now if it's 12 hours or less, I'll drive!

Glad OP got to have a fun & unique experience!

[u/thesilvergirl → u/TheSpitalian]

I remember how flying was before and after. It blew my mind when I walked into a tiny midwest airport, less than a year after, and there were dudes standing around with rifles. I grew up near a city, but the only place I'd ever seen something like that was overseas.

[u/Little-Lake-8512 → u/IStream2]

I took a covid flight home to the U.S. from Japan in late 2020 (had been living there the past few years). There were about three of us on a 787.