This flight was a complete contrast compared to the one I took just a week back. It was then highly packed, enthusiastic and if it weren't for the masks and the reminders I would have not guessed we were flying during a pandemic.
The flight was carrying tourists going to the UAE, locals who had completed touring Ukraine and others of all sorts. In short, a packed flight.
Fast forward a week later, the flight is a ghost town. Anyone else getting CS1.6 and COD MW vibes or just me?
The odd feeling started in the waiting lobby. I checked in early. I always do. I'm always the first one in the boarding lobbies. The gate my flight was boarding would be boarding another flight of passengers just a few hours after my plane departs. Just then, it hit me!
A few people flying to Ukraine arrived and sat down. By a few I mean just a handful. After that passengers for the flight after mine started flooding the room.
We were to head downstairs so that the on ramp shuttle bus could take us to our plane. When I reached there, it was just a handful of us. I have never seen a gate this empty. It felt emptier than a dubstep club at a Wednesday morning.
The funny thing was most of the passengers were tourists going FROM the UAE. Apparently none of the Ukrainians want to come back to Ukraine. It was literally a flight of foreigners going to Ukraine.
I think there were 5 or 7 Ukrainians in the plane at best. The reason I say it is funny is because I know how many Ukrainians come to the UAE in every flight. While most of them are coming here, we are going to their country.
One man's trash, another man's treasure - I guess!
I was first to leave the bus and climb the stairs to the plane. It felt wrong. Very wrong. There were just handful of us and more foreigners than locals. It is a complete contrast to all the flights I have taken to Ukraine in the last 7-8 years.
When I reached the door of the plane the cabin crew wasn't even there to welcome me. If that doesn't speak for how odd and empty this flight was.
3 minutes remain to the indicated time of departure. A final shuttle bus arrives. Chaos ensues. Not sure why there was chaos. There were hardly 10 people who came from the bus.
The plane has a capacity of 160+. There had to be fewer than 80 on the flight since we all took an entire row for ourselves.
If anything this was the most comfortable flight I've flewn in. Just as it was empty.