A woman who boarded her Southwest Airlines flight from Denver, Colorado to Indianapolis, Indiana, was shocked before the flight took off and couldn't believe how many people were actually on the plane.
Amelia Boberg is from Denver and took the flight last December, sharing on TikTok her surprise as she discovered that the plane was near-empty.
"I knew that this flight was going to be lucky because it was flight #222 and 222 is my angel numbers (have it tattooed on me) but I didn't expect to be lucky enough to have this experience," she told Newsweek. "When I arrived to the gate it was much more empty than usual especially for Christmastime."
Amelia Boberg got on a flight and was surprised by how few other passengers there were. She revealed that there were only 15 people on the plane. Amelia Boberg got on a flight and was surprised by how few other passengers there were. She revealed that there were only 15 people on the plane. @slaymelia/TikTokBoberg shared a video of her flight, showing how empty it was with just 15 people on board. The video, which has over 3 million views, was shared with the text overlay: "There's literally 15 of us on this flight."
She also wrote: "Throwback to a year ago when I got on a flight that held 170 people and there was only 15 of us. They said the chances of this happening again are slim so sit wherever and spread out."
A spokesperson for Southwest Airlines told Newsweek: "Through September 30, the close of our previous financial reporting period, we had a systemwide load factor of 80.8 percent for 2024. Our load factor for full year 2023 was 80 percent.
"While it may happen occasionally on a certain route on a certain day of the week at a certain time of year, it's quite rare."
Meanwhile, Boberg told Newsweek: "I was one of the first people to board so I sat in one of the first rows and watched everyone else board. I initially had a very eerie feeling when I realized the flight had a total of 15 people on board when it should've had 175.
"So many thoughts came racing through my mind. Is this even safe? I started questioning if I should get off or not. but I thought what the hell this will make a good story one day and when will this ever happen again? So I lifted all the arm rests up in my row and laid across 3 seats and took the best 3-hour nap of my life."
While Boberg's flight was near-empty, domestic air travel is popular in the U.S. Last year, more than 819 million passengers traveled on flights within the country.
People shared their reactions to Boberg's experience in the comments section of her video.
Toni Becker commented: "I'd be going right for first class if they told me to sit wherever."
"This happened to me once! Best day ever," said Kaley.
"One time I was the ONLY person on a flight from Seattle to Pasco and it was pretty cool," said AzerothIsFlat.
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