Kiwi traveller recalls experience as only passenger on Fiji ghost flight

This article was one of Herald Travel’s best-read stories of 2023

The moment Robbie Allen turned up for his flight he knew something wasn’t right.

Last year he was travelling to Nadi for his birthday with Virgin Australia and it would be no ordinary flight. When the Sydney-based Kiwi turned up for his flight to Fiji, things were eerily quiet. From check-in to the boarding gate the solo traveller was sure something was missing.

It quickly dawned on him what it was: other passengers.

“When I got on, they said ‘You’re the only person. You’re the only person on the plane.’”

The captain came and sat next to him and had a chat. The flight attendant, having no other passengers to serve, gave Allen undivided attention for the four hour trip. Providing a basket of snacks and topping up his champagne, it was a surreal experience.

He joked that the airline must have known it was his birthday and put on the “private jet experience.”

“Originally I was going with a few friends but they had to cancel for various reasons,” so Allen ended flying solo. However, he hadn’t expected to be entirely alone.

The term ‘Ghost Flight’ is used by airlines with less than 10 per cent passenger capacity. They can sometimes happen due to plane scheduling leading to services flying light on one leg of a route. Different to a ‘Ferry Flight’ which is performed to move empty aircraft to where they are needed, ’Ghost Flights’ must provide safety briefings catering and all the normal functions of a regular commercial flight. Even if there’s only one passenger onboard.

Allen says the Ghost Flight was certainly spooky.

First of all he wasn’t sure he was on the right plane. Comparing it to something out of the Twilight Zone, he began messaging his mates who had bailed on the trip.

“I was messaging them saying ‘I’m scared, lucky y’all didn’t come’,” he told the Herald. “It was was creepy as.”

It turned out they missed out on a once-in-a-lifetime travel experience. Despite flying regularly, Allen says nothing like it has happened since.

The video has racked up over 1 million views and plenty of interest.

“I’ve had a lot of comments of people saying ‘this happened to me too!’ Which caught me by surprise, to be honest.”

He thought maybe it was something to do with the Covid disruption that Virgin was flying the ferry flight with only one passenger aboard.

Perhaps the weirdest experience was being the only passenger turning up at Nadi airport.

Arriving in the luggage hall, finding his case was not a problem.

As the only piece of luggage in the whole of arrivals, it was left in the middle of the hall. As if the experience wasn’t creepy enough.

This article was originally published on January 21, 2023