Who wouldn't want to travel solo on a flight, right? It's after all an experience not many get to enjoy in their life. You need to be rich, or extremely lucky, to have the whole aircraft to yourself.?
For an Indian man, it was the latter as he boarded an Emirates flight from Mumbai to Dubai on May 19. Bhavesh Javeri, 40, enjoyed an exclusive flight on a 360-seater Boeing 777 aircraft. What is hard to believe is the fact that he paid only Rs 18,000 for the ticket.?
"I stepped into the aircraft and the airhostesses all clapped to welcome me aboard," Bhavesh Javeri told?The Times Of India?from his Dubai office.?
Javeri might have boarded over 240 flights between Mumbai and Dubai so far in his life, but this was a rare, special occasion for obvious reasons. ¡°I have flown so much, but this is the best flight ever.¡±
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This was an experience of a lifetime, and Javeri had a fantastic time?conversing with the crew as well as the commander, who also offered to give him a tour of the entire plane. To add gloss to his great adventure, Javeri, whose lucky number is 18, was given the seat that he had asked for, much to his delight.
¡°The novelty kept on coming through the flight in the form of the familiar inflight public address, delivered with a personal touch. ¡®Mr Javeri, please fasten your seat belt. Mr Javeri, we are preparing to land.¡¯ After we landed, I walked out leisurely and picked up my bag, the only one lying next to a conveyor belt," Bhavesh Javeri, who has been a resident of Dubai since the past 20 years, told TOI.
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Under the current travel restrictions imposed by the?United Arab Emirates in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, only UAE nationals, holders of UAE Golden visa and members of diplomatic mission can fly from India to UAE.
Bhavesh Javeri has a Golden visa and had purchased the Rs 18,000 economy class ticket after making a call to the airline one week prior to the scheduled date of his departure. "I normally book a business class ticket, but I thought, why not book an economy seat, the flight would have only a few passengers.¡±
After he reached the airport, Bhavesh Javeri was denied entry into the terminal building by the CISF personnel as his ticket didn¡¯t have a date. Immediately, Bhavesh dialed Emirates and was told that the staff was waiting for him as he was the only passenger on board flight EK501.
"I was elated. I had flown a charter flight from Dubai to Mumbai last June with nine passengers on a 14-seater aircraft. But it was nowhere close to this money-can't-buy experience," he said.
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