I've never been on / up in a plane.

[sitifan]

“I've never been on a plane,” I said. Zachary turned and looked at me in astonishment. “What!” “Look at the road, not at me. I want to get to that concert, please. I said I've never been up in a plane.”
https://books.google.com.tw/books?i...a plane" "I've never been on a plane"&f=false

What's the difference in meaning between the blue sentence and the red sentence?

 

[PeterCW]

“I've never been on a plane,” I said. Zachary turned and looked at me in astonishment. “What!” “Look at the road, not at me. I want to get to that concert, please. I said I've never been up in a plane.”
https://books.google.com.tw/books?i...a plane" "I've never been on a plane"&f=false

What's the difference in meaning between the blue sentence and the red sentence?

The author has used two different colloquial expressions that are identical in meaning in order to avoid repetition.

In its literal meaning "on a plane" doesn't mean that you have actually travelled in it while "up" does mean that you have been in the air.

In colloquial British English I would typically use "up" to refer to flying in a small private aircraft and "on" or "in" to refer to a commercial flight but that isn't a hard and fast rule.

 

[emsr2d2]

In colloquial British English I would typically use "up" to refer to flying in a small private aircraft and "on" or "in" to refer to a commercial flight but that isn't a hard and fast rule.

I would use them exactly the same way.

If you go on holiday on a commercial flight, you go on a plane. I was once lucky enough to have a flying lesson in a light aircraft from a local airport - for me, during that lesson, I was in a light aircraft, not on a plane.

 

[sitifan]

'On' for commercial airliners.

'In' for private planes/light aircraft.

https://www.englishclub.com/esl-forums/viewtopic.php?t=41210&highlight=

 

[GoesStation]

'On' for commercial airliners.

'In' for private planes/light aircraft.

https://www.englishclub.com/esl-forums/viewtopic.php?t=41210&highlight=

That's not correct. I wouldn't use "on" for a light plane, but "in" works for both cases.