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A woman became the only passenger of a plane because of an airline’s booking mishap.
Beth VerSteeg [vuhr-stehg] was supposed to be on a flight from Rochester, New York, to Washington, D.C. However, the airline called off the flight and informed the passengers that they would be booked for a later flight. After the announcement, Beth went home to pass the time.
After VerSteeg left, the airline rebooked the other passengers on a new flight, but failed to contact her about the change. When VerSteeg returned to the airport, the other passengers were already gone. According to the airline staff, VerSteeg was mistakenly booked on a flight meant for only the crew. Nonetheless, they let her board the plane along with two pilots and one flight attendant.
Once on board, the flight attendant gave VerSteeg a run-through of the standard safety guidelines. Then, VerSteeg took advantage of occupying the empty seats to stretch out and sleep. She did not order food or drinks because the flight was only an hour long.
To record her once-in-a-lifetime experience, she took a selfie in front of the rows of vacant seats. Since then, her selfie has gone viral on social media.
Like VerSteeg, there have been other lucky passengers who have had this kind of opportunity. In 2017, a woman from the United Kingdom had a solo flight from Scotland to Greece when the other two passengers did not show up. In 2016, a couple backpacking in Asia also had a similar experience on a flight from Thailand to Malaysia when the airline failed to book other passengers.