A bloke turned up at the airport gate only to discover he was the only passenger boarding and had the entire flight to himself, with the cabin crew referring to him as a ‘king’ for the duration. Isn’t it hard seeing other people live the life you deserve?
Paul Wilkinson, from St Annes in Lancashire, was flying to Belfast from Faro, Portugal, on 30 March and said he initially panicked after arriving at his gate and seeing no other people. You can see how quiet things were here:
After questioning if the flight had been cancelled or delayed, Paul was informed that he was actually the only passenger on the flight.
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Paul, 65, said: "It was like being on my own private jet. Someone told me a private jet is in the region of £28,000 and it'll probably never happen again.
"There was no one at the gate which I thought was strange. I spoke to the stewards waiting to take the passports and they said 'oh Mr Paul, you're VIP today. You're flying on your own'.
"I thought they were having a laugh. I thought I was early or late. I kept thinking they were going to say my flight had been cancelled.
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"All of a sudden, they said my bus would be along in five minutes. I thought it was surreal.
"I expected a massive amount of people to come running but they didn't. The bus turned up and I got on a double shuttle on my own, just the driver and me.
"It just didn't seem right. I thought any minute they were going to say it was cancelled and there'd been a massive mix up.
"The cabin crew were smiling, they kept calling me King Paul. I asked if they were joking but they said I had the plane all to myself, I could do what I want, ask for what I want.
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"The service was second to none. They did a one-on-one safety demonstration, we took photographs and the captain came out and had a chat with me.
"I jokingly asked for a refund on my seat, which I paid for. It was just surreal. I went for a walk around the plane, I had a pick of the toilets."
Alright for some, eh?
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And after his three-hour flight, Paul was able to sail through passport control and baggage reclaim.
Paul said: "I think it was a total one off. They'd taken holidaymakers to Portugal and there was no one to come back and it was pure luck that I needed to go to Belfast.
"At passport control they couldn't believe I was the only one coming off the plane, three of them did my passport, one checked and one stamped, it was all in good spirit."
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A Jet2 spokesperson said: "We are delighted that Mr Wilkinson was able to experience our award-winning customer service in true VIP style.
"Our outbound flight to Faro from Belfast International was particularly busy with lots of happy holidaymakers heading off to the Portuguese sunshine."
Topics: Travel
Claire Reid