By Jack Peat

Significant delays had seen other passengers take alternative routes

A man was rewarded for sticking it out on a heavily-delayed flight after he was the only one to board the plane – 18 hours after it was due to take off! Phil Stringer decided to persevere with a flight from Oklahoma City to Charlotte, North Carolina, after it was pushed back to midnight from its original 06.20am departure time. But it turned out to be well worth his while after he was the only person to board – with the American Airlines staff even throwing a party for him while he flew! Stringer captured footage of the party and shared it to TikTok, captioning it: “When you buy every single ticket on the plane so you don’t have to deal with people (Just kidding, it was delayed 18 hours and everyone else gave up).”

@phil.stringer 18-hour delay turned this flight into a private party! ✈️? Watch how the amazing crew and I made the most of it! #americanairlines #flightattendant #airplanetiktok #privateparty #FlightFun #delayedflight #fyp #viral ♬ Makeba - Jain

In the clip, which has gained more than 20 million views, the flight attendants can be seen cracking up and cheering for each other as they run through safety announcements. Thanks to the extreme delay, Stringer had his pick of first-class seats and the best food and drink service. He says that the flight was spent laughing and joking around with the cabin crew, which resulted in a group selfie and Stringer exchanging contact details with his new friends. Some flight attendants admitted that a one-passenger flight would be their dream day at work. One anonymous attendant wrote: “I was a flight attendant for 10 years and this happened to me one time. “Our passenger’s name was Ben and I will never forget it!! Such a blast!” Question is, would you wait around for the best part of the day for the experience?