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'World's luckiest passenger' gets solo flight

Blissful peace as woman gets 737 to herself

'World's luckiest passenger' gets solo flight
03 February 2016

Forget the actual travelling and the understandable sense of trepidation that comes from being in a tin can thousands of feet up in the air: the main problem with flying is other people.

Noisy people, crying babies, drunk idiots, children kicking the back of your seat, worrying about how to get past that huge guy who's fallen asleep next to you - it's a nightmare.

But one lucky woman in China managed to avoid all of this when it transpired she was the only passenger on her flight.

Blizzards in Guangzhou meant that many flights were delayed in the central Wuhan area, including Ms Zhang's 2 hour flight CZ2833 from Wuhan to Guangzhou. All of the other scheduled passengers on the plane had swapped to an earlier flight, but Ms Zhang decided to wait - with spectacular results. It was particularly surprising as it came during a busy time for travel in China, with many people going home to celebrate the New Year holiday.

She posted about her journey on China's Facebook equivalent Weibo and told the BBC "I felt so happy, it was a rare life experience for me and it was new. I felt like a rockstar." She added that she had received personalised service from the flight attendants and pilot.

News of the trip comes just days after another lucky fellow enjoyed a plane to themselves; Austrian blogger Alex Simon travelled from Manilla to Boracay with only flight attendants for company.

The events have sparked debate with some chiming in with envious comments - "What a great way to fly, you are indeed very lucky to experience such hospitality especially at such a chaotic travelling period" said one - but others suggested that it was wasteful that the airline went ahead with the flight.

However, airlines are often not allowed to cancel flights without exceptional circumstances, and usually the plane is needed elsewhere as a connection.

Best of all - Ms Zhang didn't even pay for the flight - her solo journey is believed to have cost her company around 1,200 yuan (£126).

[via BBC]

(Images: Weibo/Zhang)