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On my last flight, I noticed how sparse that the plane was and asked the stewardess if this was common.
She replied that flights were always empty on certain days. One flight had a single passenger.
This throws the idea of "miles per passenger" out the window.
To make matters worse, as mentioned above, a large amount of fuel is wasted going in circles while waiting to land.
To fly from Austin, Texas to Winnipeg, Canada , I was surprised to see that I had to fly a huge triangle versus a straight line - Austin to Houston to Chicago to Winnipeg.
As we would near our destinations , I could hear the pilot lower the gear despite being ten minutes away away from landing. I could literally feel the drag pulling the plane .
I'm sure there is a safety related reason for lowering the gear several miles away from the airport, but it still makes me cringe every time it happens.
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