2018 Travel - the year in review thread

[wandering_fred]

62114 miles 27 flights
One long haul exEU AA flight canceled (thank you AA for the prompt response)
new air terminals (though not the destination) FCO MCT SCL totally new CLT COR AEP
one points upgrade to W on CX two bid upgrades to J on UL
15 purchased segments in J (thank you exCAI DONEx) remainder Y

highlight was on the ground (or rather on the wheeled transportation) over the Andes SCL-Mendoza-SanLuis-COR

Happy wandering
Fred

 

[HockeyMonkey]

I'm about to board my final flight for the year and taking the time in the lounge to reflect on my 2018 flying year.

At the start of the year I had 3 overseas vacations booked and was targeting SG for the first time. Little did I know that my business flying would spike considerably this year.

Wrapping up there were 11 international trips across business and pleasure, one every month except November, reaching WP for the first time. To put it into perspective. I'm in my mid 40's and this year comprised over 1/3 of my lifetime air travel.

Segments: 61 (20 in premium cabins)
Miles: 188,681
New countries: Thailand, Maldives, Switzerland, Monaco (Transit in Finland, Japan, Sri Lanka)
New airlines: Air France, Alaska, Bangkok, Finnair, Japan, Sri Lankan, Swiss
New airports: ADL, AMS, AUS, CHC, CMB, DFW, GVA, HAM, HEL, MLE, NRT, SEA, USM, ZRH, ZQN
Shortest flight: ZRH-STG (91 miles)
Longest flight: SYD-DFW (8589 miles)

Flew EK F for the first time SIN-MEL and with my new found status was quite successful getting QF W and J upgrades to the US on multiple occasions. Prior to this year, I'd only been in premium cabins 5 times in my life, thanks AFF.

Really enjoyed AY J, particularly coupled with a QF DSC locking in WP until Sep 2020. Hard product (A350) and soft product (food, wine list, service) was excellent. They even rerouted me around Typhoon Mongkut and got me in a day earlier than booked.

How did your year pan out?

 

[JessicaTam]

132677 miles - half way to the moon.

76 segments, 27 airports, 17 countries.

New airports: TOS, LGK, TPE, VIE. MCY, BGO, ARN, NOU
New countries: Norway, Taiwan, Sweden, Finland, New Caledonia.

Shortest flight - SIN-KUL 184mi
Longest - LHR-PER 9015mi

Northern most point - TOS

I did my first transit of an AU airport on an international flight - QF2 PER (Not counting JQ runs to SYD).

Edit: reached QF LTG. Now working on LTG with BA.

 

[amaroo]

See here 2018 Travel - the year in review thread

 

[HockeyMonkey]

At the start of the year I had 3 overseas vacations booked and was targeting SG for the first time. Little did I know that my business flying would spike considerably this year.

Wrapping up, there were 11 international trips across business and pleasure, one every month except November, reaching WP for the first time. To put it into perspective. I'm in my mid 40's and this year comprised over 1/3 of my lifetime air travel.

Segments: 61 (20 in premium cabins)
Miles: 188,681 (303,653 km)
New countries: Thailand, Maldives, Switzerland, Monaco (Transit in Finland, Japan, Sri Lanka)
New airlines: AF, AS, PG, AY, JL, UL, LX
New airports: ADL, AMS, AUS, CHC, CMB, DFW, GVA, HAM, HEL, MLE, NRT, SEA, USM, ZRH, ZQN
Shortest flight: ZRH-STG (91 miles)
Longest flight: SYD-DFW (8589 miles)

Flew EK F for the first time SIN-MEL and with my new found status was quite successful getting QF W and J upgrades to the US on multiple occasions. Prior to this year, I'd only been in premium cabins 5 times in my life, thanks AFF.

Really enjoyed AY J, particularly coupled with a QF DSC locking in WP until Sep 2020. Hard product (A350) and soft product (food, wine list, service) was excellent. They even rerouted me around Typhoon Mongkut and got me in a day earlier than booked.

 

[HockeyMonkey]

See here 2018 Travel - the year in review thread

Thanks for the pointer. Not sure why my search didn't pick this up.

I've moved my post there, mods please delete this thread.

 

[JohnM]

31 sectors, 76093 miles. All SF leisure.

Best flights: EK A380 F DXB-PER; QR QSuites B777 LAX-DOH (longest flight) & A350 DOH-LHR.

First A350 flight. Beats the (noisy) B787 IMO.

New countries: Bolivia, Costa Rica, Sudan.

First time LHR-PER direct.

Almost all in J except for some short flights mostly within S America and one F redemption on EK (first shower in the air).

 

[Blinky]

That’s me for the year. Over 50 segments mostly in Australia with Virgin (but can’t be bothered adding them all up). Five or six in J, the rest in Economy X. Holiday in Bali with my wife in J with Virgin, and a bucket list one to Nepal via Singapore in J with SQ for three weeks trekking in the Himalayas. This trip included an interesting internal flight from Pokhara to Kathmandu in a 20 seater.

Pending the result of a tender in early 2019, I expect to do as much if not more business travel. Have a holiday booked with my wife to Japan and Singapore again with SQ in J.

A good year for me.

 

[Boca68]

Well, one more trip to go (hopefully). Need to get home for Christmas. Waiting doctors orders on Monday, all going well, fly home Friday LIM-SCL-SYD-MEL.

-Currently sitting at 134,356 kms , 34 sectors (22 J, 2 Y+, 10 Y)
-Only 1 new Airport - PVR and one new Airline , Y4 , Volaris
-No new Countries this year
-Longest flight SYD-SCL 11,300km
-Shortest flight MEL-SYD 705km

Best flight QF27 SYD-SCL when QF is great
Worst flight QF28 SCL-SYD when QF is dreadful.

I did QF28 5 times so far this year, It's nothing without drama. On arrival in SYD had 3 medicals, 1 massive thunderstorm , all of which meant up to an hours wait at the gate and the other time my bag was still in SCL . Number 6 this week (fingers crossed) better be alright

 

[wannabeinvestmentbanker]

About 90% work travel for me

Sectors: 55
Distance: 62,103 miles/100,000km
Mix: 60/40 international to domestic
New airports: FRA, SZG, GVA, LIS

Airlines have pretty much been 100% Oneworld between QF, BA and CX

2019 outlook: a lot more sectors domestically and first international work trip just scheduled in to HKG in Jan...hopefully time to burn some points for some leisure trips

 

[Sandn24]

Recently retired and now able to travel for extended periods of time, we had the opportunity to fly for the first time in business class with Qatar to Doha & Dublin. After travelling through UK & Europe 10 weeks later we returned to Sydney from Rome via Doha. Certainly gave me the travel bug to look for business class deals in the future.

 

[Blinky]

Recently retired and now able to travel for extended periods of time, we had the opportunity to fly for the first time in business class with Qatar to Doha & Dublin. After travelling through UK & Europe 10 weeks later we returned to Sydney from Rome via Doha. Certainly gave me the travel bug to look for business class deals in the future.

Ah, love Dublin. Have been there three times as we have friends in Drumconda. fa_an’s pub is wonderful. Flew there on Etihad first class, upgraded from business at check in for very little.

 

[Ric]

Self funded too. 19 sectors that I can remember.
Trying to put it all in the GCM, so taking out the land sectors of LHR-LGW-LHR and HND-NRT, just under 57,000 miles. All J except Air Asia MNL-BKI-MNL sectors and 1 QF MNL-SYD-MNL sector.
Airlines:
New: VS and AY
Re-acquainted: JL
Routes:
Best short haul: HEL-LHR on AY
Best long haul: LHR-HND on JL

Great Circle Mapper

EDIT: Plus 1 Baltic cruise

EDIT +: GCM fixed courtesy of JohnM

 

[bluebean]

More sectors but less distance in 2018 than the past few years.

Sectors: 59
Distance: 53413 miles/85,960 km
Mainly MEL - SYD, MEL - HBA/LST for work
New airports: HKG, BSL

Airlines 90% Qantas also JQ, BA and VA
90% Work, 6 International J otherwise Y

 

[JohnM]

Self funded too. 19 sectors that I can remember.
Trying to put it all in the GCM, so taking out the land sectors of LHR-LGW-LHR and HND-NRT, just under 57,000 miles. All J except Air Asia MNL-BKI-MNL sectors and 1 QF MNL-SYD-MNL sector.
Airlines:
New: VS and AY
Re-acquainted: JL
Routes:
Best short haul: HEL-LHR on AY
Best long haul: LHR-HND on JL

Great Circle Mapper

EDIT: Plus 1 Baltic cruise

To take out surface sectors in GCM, insert a comma instead of a dash at that point in your destination string.

 

[Ric]

To take out surface sectors in GCM, insert a comma instead of a dash at that point in your destination string.

Thank you JohnM.
Learning everyday .... that's what is so great about AFF!!

 

[Matt_01]

2018 is almost over with only three flights to go however this is how 2018 will round out:

• 129 Segments
• 187989 Miles (302539 KM)
• Time in the air 18 days 1:16
• Longest: MEL-LAX
• Shortest: KUL-SIN
• Northernmost: YVR
• Southernmost: MEL
• Westernmost: YVR
• Easternmost: BNE

Carriers QF, VA, SQ, EK, CX, TG, MI

 

[ChrisGibbs]

Number of Sectors: 141 segments
Total KM's Flown: 402294 km
Time in the Air: 23 days 17:10

Top 10 Routes

MEL↔SYD 48
BNE↔SYD 13
SIN↔SYD 9
BNE↔MEL 7
WLG↔SYD 5
HND↔SYD 4
HKG↔SYD 4
AKL↔SYD 3
SYD↔DFW 3
SYD↔SFO 3

Top 10 Airports

Sydney Intl (SYD) 101
Melbourne Intl (MEL) 58
Brisbane Intl (BNE) 20
Changi Intl (SIN) 18
Hong Kong Intl (HKG) 10
Dallas Fort Worth In (DFW) 8
Wellington Intl (WLG) 6
Los Angeles Intl (LAX) 6
Canberra (CBR) 6
Tokyo Intl (HND) 5

Top 10 Airlines
Qantas 113
American Airlines 11
Cathay Pacific 5
LOT Polish Airlines 2
Emirates Airline 2
Japan Airlines 2
Air Pacific 2
Jetstar Asia Airways 2
Turkish Airlines 1
Dragonair 1

Unique
Airports 29
Carriers 10
Countries 14
Vehicles 0

Distance
Total flown 402294 km
Around the world 10.04x
To the Moon 1.047x
To Mars 0.0072x

Journey records
Longest SYD↔DFW, 13800 km, 17:39
Shortest CBR↔SYD, 235 km, 00:47
Average 2853 km, 04:02

Airport records
Northernmost SVO (55.97°N 37.41°E)
Southernmost WLG (41.33°S 174.81°E)
Westernmost SFO (37.62°N 122.37°W)
Easternmost NAN (17.76°S 177.44°E)

 

[NZflygirl]

Sectors: ~ 95.
Distance: >246,582km - I don't tend to send simple domestic hops to kayak/tripit so I'm not sure total distance.

New airports: Vancouver, Glasgow, Gatwick, Launceston, Hobart, Newcastle, Maroochydoore
New airlines: Cathay, Delta, China Airlines
New countries: Tasmania (just kidding!)
Qatar - got outside the airport this time and although brief, loved it.

Shortest flight: Adelaide to Kangaroo Island
Longest flight: Auckland to Doha - 17hr 26min, 16hr flat on return

Favourite flight: Qatar Auckland to Doha in economy!
Worst flight: Delta New York to LA, one of those window seats that's actually a wall on a 21yo narrow body aircraft, prepaid wifi that didn't work, support animal that needed a bath, and complaining passengers. Preceding long trip to airport, airport queues etc put me in a bad mood before stepping on the flight. Delta lounge surpassed expectations though and I found it quite nice. Outweighed by cons.

Best airport experience: YVR/HIA/SIN - it's a tie!
Worst airport experience: JFK

Cabin classes: Majority economy, one first, mixture of J and PE.

New experiences:
- Super excited to finally redeem points in other programmes this year. Bit disappointed I only used them on one trip. But it's a start!
- Redeemed for SQ 777 J & MI J. Found I didn't really appreciate J during the day and PE would have been adequate.
- Also redeemed purchased AA points for Qantas First class. First real Qantas international flight (ditch flying doesn't count!). I see what the
fuss is over the SIN lounge. Didn't enjoy the food but LOVED the PJs and eye mask!! Seat dated but comfy, loads of space.
- Qantas 787 business and PE domestic hops. Also first time on the little Dash-8? and flying backwards on Qantas.
- Cathay 777 PE. It's good but it's my least favourite PE product to date.
- Really loving China Airlines A350. Gorgeous aircraft and seating is pretty darn good in all cabins.
- Now I've flown the worlds longest flight in economy (SQ EWR only has PE and J), I'm finding it difficult to justify complaining about other long haul economy flights. It really emphasised how important airline, aircraft, seating and timing of the flight were. Pleased to say Qatar are just as good down the back as they are up the front.
- Air NZ skycouch to myself.

- Really missing EK on the Tasman
- Bit conflicted over the QF FFP as I swore off the 737 unless cheaper than VA and have done a large domestic swing to VA for economy X. Now questioning my use/value of QF.

 

[Bundy Bear]

Flying for the year finished after my recent Melbourne trip.


Total miles: 53,319
Total sectors: 37
Qantas 24
Virgin 8
Alaska 2
Delta 2
Fly Corporate 1
Emirates 1 ( original flight cancelled flew next day. )
Jetstar 1 (worst, seat pitch is awful and a month wait for points I think I use points and pay to sit in 1A )
Most popular 25 737-800 but also first time on a Alaska 737-900er and a Delta MD90
2 overseas trips
NZ in March and my first cancelled flight after the Emirates flight was boarded then cancelled.
US in June where I visited both Washingtons.
Visited all states in Australia first time achieved in 1 year.
Most popular seat 1A (7 times )
59% in economy, 3 flights in US domestic first.