A Scottish holiday-maker says she “felt like a VIP all day” when she got a private jet for a four-hour flight last weekend after all the other passengers failed to turn up.
Karon Grieve from Dunlop in Ayrshire arrived at Glasgow airport for her trip to Heraklion, Crete, on Saturday afternoon, when she discovered that there were only two other bookings on her Jet2 plane.
A plane which normally carries 189 people.
Karon exclusively told HuffPost UK: “It was something I will never forget...and for the first time in my life have impressed [my] teenage daughter.”
The mother-of-one told the Daily Record that she had anticipated it being quieter than usual, as it is the end of the holiday season, and as a frequent flyer she knows how popular the routes are.
But when she spoke to check-in staff they informed her she was one of only three on the £46 route.
Then when she got to the gate, she was told the other two passengers hadn’t arrived, so she would actually be flying solo.
Karon told BBC’s Good Morning Scotland programme: “We were all on best friend terms before we’d even got on the plane.
“The captain was fantastic. She came and sat beside me while the first officer did all the flight checks and we were chatting away about the flight.”
The author and food blogger, who is planning to stay for a month on the Greek island to write a crime novel, was then addressed by first name over the tannoy, and was even given special announcements when they were flying over certain landmarks.
She explained that the captain, Laura, said: “‘Hi Karon and the girls, quickly run to the other side of the plane and look at this, it’s amazing’.”
A spokesperson for Jet2 said: “We’re delighted that Karon got to experience our VIP customer service in style onboard our award-winning airline.
“It is not unusual for the final outbound flight of the season to have fewer bookings than normal. We hope Karon has a fantastic time in Crete and that we got her trip off to a great start.”
Karon last visited in September, on her fifteenth flight of the year, when she tweeted: “Wish you got air miles on budget airlines.”
Hopefully her recent experience has made up for the air miles.