A North Carolina man found out what it’s like to fly private with his own flight crew — all aboard an American Airlines plane.
Phil Stringer, who documented the rare solo passenger flight on his TikTok channel, was the only passenger left on his Oklahoma City-to-Charlotte flight that was delayed for 18 hours on Sunday due to a maintenance issue.
“I’m the only person on this flight, and they have an entire flight crew,” he said. “They do not want to do this flight.”
His video had racked up more than 6 million likes on the video-sharing platform by Tuesday.
American Airlines Flight 1952 was supposed to take off from Will Rogers World Airport in Oklahoma City at 6:20 a.m. Sunday. The flight didn’t actually depart until after midnight. By then, all the other passengers had found flights to their destinations or given up.
Stringer, a real estate broker in North Carolina, was rewarded with a first-class upgrade and personal service from four flight attendants on the Airbus A321 jet that can normally accommodate as many as 181 passengers.
Finding any empty seats on a commercial jet has been a challenge in recent months. Load factors at airlines hit all-time highs last summer with high travel demand, and it’s expected to remain so this year. American Airlines flights were about 87% full in the second quarter, even though the months of April and May are usually slow.
Flight attendants gave Stringer the entire safety demonstration, although in a somewhat sassy manner, as he recorded the experience.
“We know it can be frustrating when travel plans get delayed and are thankful for our crew members who went above and beyond to care for Mr. Stringer during his flight,” a spokesperson for Fort Worth-based American Airlines said in a statement.
Stringer’s video shows the gate agent calling his name personally to board and he even interviews the baggage handler, who admits to loading just one bag on the flight.
“I believe that your attitude determines your destination,” Stringer told Insider. “Yeah, it was a sucky day. No one wants to stay in the airport for 18 hours, but if you have a positive view, you can turn something into a lot of fun.”
