Man in New Orleans finds himself alone on a plane: 'I was so nervous'

More passengers were scheduled to be on the flight. Photo / iStock

"I was so nervous," Steven Schneider said. "I couldn't believe it. I felt like I missed my flight!"

The Lawrencville man told WSB-TV Atlanta he was the only passenger on his flight home to Atlanta from New Orleans on Tuesday (local time).

Schneider was invited to the check in desk to discuss whether or not he would prefer to fly the next day due to him being the only passenger on the flight.

The plane, an MD-90, seats approximately 160 passengers.

More passengers had been expected on the flight, but due to delays had decided to take earlier flights or postpone their trips.

"At first I felt really bad, because I didn't want the plane to only make the trip because of me," Schneider said. "But after talking to a flight attendant at the gate, she said the plane needed to go back to Atlanta anyway. She called this an empty leg flight."

"It was so cool," Schneider said. "One of the flight attendants told me she hadn't seen something like this in the 17 years she was here. Everyone was just so nice."

Channel 2 Action News reached out to Delta for comment and they released the following statement:

"We're glad this customer enjoyed a somewhat rare solo experience. Other customers were accommodated on an earlier departure. The reason we operated the flight was so this customer could have that airplane positioned back in Atlanta so it could be in place for a departure the next day."