Ben Mutzabaugh

USA TODAY

Sitting next to an empty seat has become a rare luxury for air travelers these days. But one lucky Delta passenger got more than an empty adjacent seat on his Tuesday flight from New Orleans to Atlanta. He got the entire plane.

Steven Schneider was flying home to Atlanta on Tuesday evening when he arrived to an empty gate area for his flight at the New Orleans airport.

“I was so nervous,” Schneider told WSB TV of Atlanta. “I couldn’t believe it. I felt like I missed my flight!”

The flight was still there, but Schneider was the only passenger. Apparently all of the flight's other passengers had been rebooked onto different flights because of a delay. Delta attempted to contact Schneider to see if he also wanted a different option home, but the airline couldn’t get through because it did not have the correct phone number for Schneider.

So, when he arrived to the gate, Schneider was given the option of taking another flight or sticking to his original booking. He opted for the latter and ended up being the only passenger on the 160-seat MD-90.

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“At first I felt really bad, because I didn’t want the plane to only make the trip because of me,” Schneider told WSB. “But after talking to a flight attendant at the gate, she said the plane needed to go back to Atlanta anyway.”

Delta acknowledged Schneider's situation to WSB.

"We're glad this customer enjoyed a somewhat rare solo experience,” the airline said in a statement. “Other customers were accommodated on an earlier departure. The reason we operated the flight was … so it could be in place for a departure the next day."

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