The Delta flyer with a viral story about getting a plane all to himself on a short flight from Aspen (ASE) to Salt Lake City (SLC) left out a critical detail – he never actually took that flight.
Some sleuthing by The Points Guy revealed that Vincent Peone's supposedly solo flight last week was disrupted by a mechanical issue. Peone admitted on Twitter later Thursday that the incredible flight never actually took off.
“My video is 100% true … and then I stopped filming,” the New York filmmaker and production company owner wrote. “After the private jet broke down again with mechanical problems, I took a normal one the following morning.”
Peone's video about his solo flight went viral, racking up more than 3 million views almost overnight and picking up tons of press – including here. And the video is true – to a point. Decide for yourself:
Last week @Delta gave me my own private jet…kind of. pic.twitter.com/p14OGLw1jv
— vincent peone (@vincentpeone) August 12, 2019
Peone boarded the plane alone, was encouraged to sit wherever he'd like and given a drink immediately. The flight was apparently close to takeoff. If not for a mechanical problem with the plane, he would have made the roughly one-hour flight as the only passenger on board. And that alone is a great story.
But Peone never disclosed to Thrifty Traveler or any other outlet that the flight never actually occurred. And toward the end of his video, he films himself shaking hands with the pilots in the cockpit, saying: “Thanks for flying me today.”
In an email to Thrifty Traveler, he defended the video.
“I wanted to keep the experience positive. There’s so much negative content about flying and that’s not really my style,” he said.
Or, as he put it in his tweet: “Consider it the director's cut.”
Bottom Line
This story could have been incredible. If not for some bad luck, it would have been 100% true. It's just unfortunate Peone decide not to tell the world that how it was depicted in his video isn't exactly how it shook out.
I actually was the only passenger on a Delta flight from NY La Guardia to Chicago O’Hare last year (a much more heavily trafficked route), and I have evidence including a video which I took. I just didn’t try to sensationalize it like this guy did. It’s interesting what the news will pick up on.