Business Class All To Themselves: They Met And Decided To Have Dinner. It Began With Champagne…

Two passengers found themselves with the entire Philippine Airlines business class cabin to themselves. The young man and young woman decided to have dinner together on the plane. He moved over to her side of the aircraft. They began with champagne…

I’ve flown alone in first class many times, such as Singapore Airlines from Singapore to Paris, Thai Airways from Bangkok to Tokyo, Korean Air from Seoul to Singapore and ANA from Chicago to Tokyo. But I’ve never had an entire aircraft to myself.

In the late 80s I flew New York to Cincinnati on Delta with just two or three other passengers after a series of delays. And then my January 1, 2000 (“Y2K”) flight on United from Los Angeles to Washington Dulles flight was on board a a near-empty Boeing 777. Everyone else was afraid to fly that day.

But it doesn’t surprise me at all to wind up alone in Philippine Airlines business class. They’ve long had tremendous award availability.


Business class, credit: Philippine Airlines

American Airlines codeshares with Philippine Airlines but you only earn miles on codeshares and there are no redemption options. ANA suspended redemptions on Philippine Airlines between the U.S. and Manila, and Etihad no longer partners with them at all. So there’s no great ways to access this space.

About Gary Leff

Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel - a topic he has covered since 2002. Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »

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Comments

  1. This is how I wish I could meet my future wife. Just the two of us in a Sapphire Lounge, or in Suites class, or at a Hilton club, clinking champagne glasses and regaling each other with our pedigrees and work experiences (I am an elite professional and expect my wife to be as well).

    Alas I settle for Hinge and meeting fat and ugly chicks.

  2. @Mike

    Wake up to reality. You don’t want an elite professional as a wife. She’ll boss you around, divorce you, and take half your money.

    Marry someone who will be there for you when you finish work. Spend some time together. Have a coupla kids who she’ll care for. That’s a life worth living!

  3. Mike, perhaps you are attracting these types of women, you mention?
    You need to develop a good heart and that in turn, like will attract like.

  4. I met my fiancee during my travels abroad. When she told me she only owned 6 pairs of shoes (including sandals), I knew she was The One.

  5. Umm, I think we’re missing the more important story here, not about these passengers, but about the airline. If Philippine Airlines if flying empty planes, I am glad to not be a shareholder. Unless, the adage that ‘any PR is good PR’ still holds true. In that case… aww.

  6. During the pandemic I had a run of long-haul flights where I was the only business class passenger on the plane. Also had a couple of such wide-body flights where the revenue passenger plane load was in the 2-10 range.

  7. In the developed world, there is an increasingly strong correlation between obesity and socio-economic background. So if Mike wants to encounter fewer obese people, factor that in and spend more time at places where obesity levels tend to be far lower than the previously frequented stomping grounds.

  8. Awwww….looks like the opening of a Hallmark movie. Plot twist: she owns a bakery and he’s tasked with shutting it down and converting the space into a Midas Muffler.

  9. A mostly empty airplane:

    – May still be making money from the cargo.

    – May need to be at its destination because the return or onward flight is full.

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