2018 Travel - the year in review thread

[docjames]

Barring last minute changes (disasters), I'm done for 2018.

77k miles
33 Sectors/19 airports

After MEL (home airport), most visited was LHR.

3 New carriers (AY, IB, VS)
3 New airports (LCY, MAD, HEL)

J for 63% by distance, 45% by sector

No F (except US domestic)

 

[blackcat20]

One more trip to go for me, but it's been a relatively quiet year.

32 segments, 32197 km (approx 20k miles).

New airlines: MH and Air Asia
New airports: KUL, LGK
Longest SYD↔HNL, 8169 km, 09:45
Shortest LST↔MEL, 475 km, 01:05

92% economy, 8% business.

Next year will hopefully be better.

 

[Denali]

We're self funded holiday travelers so about 10 sectors.

New airline, Etihad
New airport, Edinburgh & Abu Dhabi (F lounge was really nice/wish we had more time there)
Longest, Syd-Abu Dhabi
Shortest, Syd-Melbourne
100% Business (Domestic & International, thank you AFF)

 

[LadyC]

Not complete for me yet, 5 more sectors to go.

16 segments with 38,806 km
No new airlines
New Airports: LPQ, KUL
Longest: MEL-SIN
Shortest: MEL-SYD
5 economy and 11 business flights

 

[maccaisking]

29 segments with 94,620 km - 4 segments left and will end around 105,000km
New airlines: Cathay Pacific, Cathay Dragon, China Eastern
New Airports: SIN, CAN, HKG, PVG, JFK,
Longest: HKG - LAX
Shortest: HKG - CAN
16 economy, 3 premium economy and 10 business flights

Business flights were all paid by (my wife’s) work or on points, economy flights self funded. Most painful flight memory is the one that got away. I overslept and missed an EK F flight . It will hurt until I manage to catch one.

I had never considered there was a tool to do this with (hanging my head in shame ). I used flightradar to enter my flights into which seemed quite good, is this the most common website used or is there another one people recommend?

 

[OATEK]

Mine not over until 30/12, but including the final 3 fights for this year it will be:

14 segments, 32,302 miles.

New airline: SAS (SK)
New airports: ARN, WAW
Longest flight: HKG-HEL 4852 miles
Shortest flight: MEL-LST 295 miles

15% economy (2 flights), 85% business (12 flights), but 98% business by distance, a combination of paid (10) + points upgrades (2).

Note to #maccaisking: I just exported my data from the AFF Flight Tracker

 

[Cossie]

So, this year has been good, all flights self funded, mixture of Y and J classes.

57 segments if my arithmetic is correct!

New airline is Lao Skyway, although my flight from Berlin Tegel to Alghero, was on a Titan Airways plane instead of an Easyjet plane, crew wore Titan uniforms.

New airports are Kota Kinabalu, Sandakan, Vientiene, Phonsavan (Xieng Khouang), Asturias in northern Spain, Palma de Mallorca, the rest were revisits.

Longest flight was Colombo to London about 8,700kms.

One airline I said I would never fly again, but did is Vueling!

Airlines flown, Qantas, Air Asia, Lao Skyway, Lao Airlines, Vueling, Easyjet, Sri Lankan, BA, AliItalia, Iberia, Malaysian.

Best flight was Lao Skyway from Phonsavan to Luang Prabang in a Cesna Caravan.

Longest wait at any immigration/customs/security was 15 minutes, London City is a great airport to fly into and out off!



Best place visited, Laos wins hands down.......

 

[Mattg]

Lots of interesting travel for me this year. Bring on another great year of travel in 2019!

I still have 8 flights to go this year, but this is how my stats will end up for 2018;

Segments: 60
Distance flown: 129,034km
New airports: RAR, HIJ, YYZ, YEG, YZF, YYC, IAH, CVG, IND, PHL, NUE, WAW, CIT, FRU
New airlines: NH, UA, WS, SK, LO, DV
Best flight: VA91 (AKL-RAR)
Worst flight: UA70 (EWR-AMS) - although, I have a redeye coming up on a LOT Airlines B737 which may take its place

 

[Wanderlust_tim]

I still have 2 flights to go this year for Christmas, but this is how my stats will end up for 2018;

Segments: 57
Distance flown: 63,001km
New airports: PEN, LGK & KNO
New airlines: None (i think i will be stuck on 68 airlines for a while)
Best flight: MH714 (DPS-KUL) - My first experience in a lie flat business class seat. Sadly no satays.
Worst flight: D7214 (KUL-MEL) - I was in the middle of a MH status run when i got a message that my girlfriend was being hospitalised. The D7 flight was the fastest way to get me home. Narrow seats, a red eye which i find impossible to sleep on and general worry made this an unpleasant way to spend 8 hours (Thankfully Miss Wanderlust_tim is now a-ok and ok with me working out how to finish up the status run before my anniversary date).

 

[Fergo747]

At this stage done for the calendar year unless a trip to the subcontinent comes up for next week (<10% chance).

All up 29 segments, 99,038 miles (159,386 km).

• New airports: MLE, DFW, CLT, KUL, MAN
• Airlines used (segments / % Distance): QF (15 / 60%), EK (6 / 26%), CX (4 / 9%), AA (2%), MH (2 / <1%), JQ (2 / 3%)
• New airline: MH
• Airport / Lounge spent most time in: HKG / The Pier
• Longest Flight: SYD-DFW (8,578 miles)
• Shortest Flight: SIN-KUL (184 miles)
• Travel Class ( segments / % Distance): F (2 / 13%), J (23 / 83%), Y (4 / 4%) Flights
• Best Flight: First to DFW (points upgrade)
• Worst Flight: A cancelled QF128 meaning I had to 'kill' another few hours in the Pier until the 118 could take me home

 

[amaroo]

Still have BNE-SYD-SIN-LHR-MAD-LIS to come.... for a total around 57,000 miles or 92,000 km.

The pleasing thing - the family has/will have flown around 95% of the miles with me

 

[JohnK]

I thought I had cut down my travel for 2018 but not by much.

I still have another 8 flights making a total of 112 flights for the year with 100,750 miles travelled.

Of the 112 flights 1 was in First, 8 in business (including 2 op-ups) and 103 economy all self-funded.

Airlines travelled were QF 59, VA 24, JQ 7, TG 5, 3K 4, EK 3, PG 3, MH 2, SQ 2, FD 2, AK 1.

A breakdown of the routes BNE-SYD 26, SYD-BNE 24, SYD-OOL 16, OOL-SYD 14, BNE-SIN 3, SIN-BNE 2, SYD-MEL 2, MEL-SYD 2, SYD-SIN 2, SIN-BKK 2, BKK-SIN 2, CNX-BKK 2, BNE-HKG 1, SYD-BKK 1, BKK-SYD 1, BKK-BNE 1, BKK-CNX 1, BKK-KUL 1, SIN-SYD 1, SIN-CNX 1, SIN-KUL 1, SIN-HKT 1, CNX-DMK 1, HKG-SYD 1, KUL-CNX 1, KUL-SIN 1, HKT-BKK 1.

And lots of delays.

 

[RooFlyer]

A modest year at 44 segments and 112, 685 km, but with a bunch of new airports: TLV, IKT, CAG, PTY, BOM, IXU, CMB and HND (yes, HND ) and countries: Israel, Panama, Sri Lanka.

New airlines S7 Siberian, Alitalia

Longest flight DFW-DOH 12,743 km,
Shortest BOM-IXU 278 km.

Best flight experience: LHR-HND in J on JAL
Worst flight experience: none stand out, fortunately

Best airport experience: BOM
Worst airport experience: MIA, IKT

 

[Silvia]

Not fully done, but given that I'm only taking MEL-SYD as the last couple of legs, as opposed to the usual Xmas trip to North/South America, it feels like I'm pretty done.

Segments: 30 (9 in economy, 2 economy plus, 2 premium economy, 16 in business, 1 in first - also first time in first!) - 2 more to come in economy so final tally will be 32.
Distance flown: 70,571 km

Airlines flown: QF, VA, EK, AM, HA, NZ
New airports: HNL
New airlines: HA

Best flight: EK F class
Worst flight: AM Y+ horrible product on a 737, probably one of the oldest and hardest seats I've ever had. Although my downgrade on QF from a J redemption (x2) on a 787 MEL-LAX for our wedding to QF Y was pretty close. The bottle of champagne by the crew prevented it to be the worst flight.

 

[nickfromeastryde]

A good year for a leisure traveller like me, all self funded / points funded

13 segments, 58,719 Kilometres.

New airline: JAL, IB
New airports: CHC, NRT, HND, CUN, LGA, MAD
Longest flight: DOH - SYD 12,371 Kilometres
Shortest flight: CUN - MIA 853 Kilometres

30% economy (4 flights), 55% business (7 flights), 15% first (2 Flights)

Hopefully bigger and better next year

 

[Deleted member 29185]

I'm lower this year at 81 sectors.
Airports - BNE, CNS, HGU, RGE, POM, TIZ, PNP, plus New airports - KVG and RAB
Airlines - QF, VA, PX, CG, IU
Most commercial flights in J, all charter flights in whY

 

[Stevo.1702]

2018 has seen me on 106 segments for a total distance of 96,723 miles.

New airports:

• Wellington NZ
• Vancouver
• Anchorage
• Gladstone
• Wagga Wagga

New Experiences:

• Cathay Pacific Business Class - excellent redemption JFK to YVR
• Qantas First Class. MEL to SIN
• Qantas 787 Premium Economy. Had low expectations but found very enjoyable/comfortable (near empty cabin)
• VA 737 J - BNE to PER
• First flight on REX (BYO earplugs)

Also worth mentioning - an enjoyable first AFF gathering in Canberra. Thank you @get me outta here for your organisation.

 

[trippin_the_rift]

53 sectors
65,000 miles
8 airlines
Retained: QF LTG, SQ Gold, MH Gold

2018 taught me lessons of service to others. Fortunately, my job has allowed me to meet passengers on a daily basis, really understand what they want and to make marked improvements to genuinely add value to their experience (aka: make the journey less coughty). We all travel for a reason (business, see friends, holidays, weddings etc) and knowing why each passenger is flying has been tremendously powerful in creating a 'small moment experience' to brighten their day. Thank you 2018 for allowing me to bring joy and warm a few hearts.

Great Circle Mapper

 

[GoldCanyon340]

Just finished my travel year with what is becoming a traditional visit to Melbourne or NZ using the Amex travel credit; this year was Melbourne. Slightly fewer flights but more distance and the longest time ever spent in one lounge (7.5 hours in the BA LHR CCR). I'm done for 2018 and it's time to put my feet up.

 

[Lynda2475]

I have 1 more flight to go but will finish the calendar year having completed 35 flights in 5 countries, between 11 airports (SYD, MEL, SIN, LHR, MAD, SCQ, BCN, SPU, DBV, LGW, PER) on 3 airlines (QF, BA, VY) all in Y, for a total of 38,373 miles (61,821 kms).

26 of these were work trips between SYD and MEL (or vice versa) and 4 rewards flights (non points earning), so only retaining QF Silver atm moment. Hoping to reach QFF Gold by the end of this Frequent Flyer Year so that at least some of my 2019 summary is in J.