2023 - Year In Review

[marcojim]

Happy New Year!

This year was my first year of flying more frequently. 51 flights in total with 17 return trips on MEL - CBR, making it my most common route.

New airports were GMP, PUS and ADL. New airlines included Korean Air and Hong Kong Airlines.

Thanks to the helpful tips and tricks shared by members of this group, I was able to reach Velocity Platinum this year — my first time having status with any airline. Really appreciate the generous advice everyone shares on AFF!

Finally, highlight of the year was flying the final Asiana 747 (HL7428) on the short hop from ICN to KIX.

 

[Bundy Bear]

Happy New Year

My 2023 stats,
31 flights, 99,823kms (62,207miles) and ticked over 1,001,754 overall flying miles.
two trips to New Zealand, one each to UK and US.
4 new airports, DXB/GLA/JFK/CLT
No new airlines 21 years between flights on Jetblue, Airlines VA/QF/EK/JQ/AS/B6/AA,
New aircraft A321Neo,
Longest flight QF10 LHR-PER 9025 Miles.
Best flight QF12 upgrade to business.
Worst flight QF10 in economy.

 

[Princess Fiona]

92 flights, so my busiest year in the sky.
New airport - OTP, PHL
New airline - LATAM
New cabin - QR F (short haul), LA J
Longest flight - SIN-JFK. They don't get any longer.
Shortest flight - LHR-MAN.
New experience - realising how useful Amex Plat can be for lounge access. (Looking at you LAS!)

I didn't keep HH Diamond this year so I will be using their one-off status extension next year.

View attachment 361071

Don’t you get Diamond from GGL ?

 

[Princess Fiona]

An ok year for me after a few quiet years with the Rona

 

[drron]

An average sort of year.
23 flights.
4Y, 17J, 2F.
Only 1 new airport - OPO.
Best flight. JL 31 on 31/12. Unexpected upgrade to F on their 777.

 

[Per_Travels]

Few less flights than in pre-covid years but a lot of long haul.

 

[JessicaTam]

Don’t you get Diamond from GGL ?

It no longer appears on the BA website so I need to investigate further. Thanks.

 

[defurax]

2023 was my biggest year of flying, 109 flights! 231,766 miles.
That allowed me to finally qualify for BA GGL.

New airports KIX, HND, TPE, PHX, RDU, BHD

It no longer appears on the BA website so I need to investigate further. Thanks.

It still shows on the GGL Benefits page:

Hilton Honors Diamond VIP Card*​

Exclusively for Gold Guest List Members, our partners at Hilton Worldwide have extended an invitation to join the most prestigious membership level in the Hilton Honors award-winning loyalty guest programme. Hilton Honors Diamond VIP membership benefits include:

• guaranteed reservations
• access to Executive Lounges
• complimentary room upgrades
• 50% bonus on Hilton Honors base points in addition to the Avios you can earn on every stay

To register for your Hilton Honors Diamond VIP membership please contact your local Gold Guest List Priority Assistance line.

 

[wanderingeyes]

Just tidying up my figures for the year

97 flights
186,000km travelled
New airport - ZQN, MLA, ATH, JMK, YVR, YYC, SEA, LAX, CHC, JFK, HBA
New airline - LH, LX, A3, AC, AS, AA
New cabin - AA Transcon J
Longest flight - AKL-JFK at a short 15hrs 5mins according to the captain
Shortest flight - JMK-ATH
QF SC: 6000 (highest to date)
First experience: the Greek islands which I'll be returning to

My furthest year in terms of km travelled but not number of flights. Majority of this is in J with some EK F in there (hopefully more in 2024) and of course some unavoidable Y. As you can see, plenty of time spent in 737s so those EK F trips are certainly hard earned.

View attachment 362149

I am new here and wondering how many of these flights were self financed. This would have costed close to a $1m if not more.

 

[RooFlyer]

I am new here and wondering how many of these flights were self financed. This would have costed close to a $1m if not more.

Welcome to AFF @wanderingeyes .

Never underestimate the extent people here travel on their points.

 

[Flyfrequently]

I am new here and wondering how many of these flights were self financed. This would have costed close to a $1m if not more.

Welcome aboard AFF @wanderingeyes
Lots of knowledgeable folk here.
Happy travels

 

[wannabeinvestmentbanker]

I am new here and wondering how many of these flights were self financed. This would have costed close to a $1m if not more.

About 80% for work, and then as others have alluded to, I try to travel exclusively on points for my leisure travel. I’m quite flexible as only looking for a single ticket and not really constrained in terms of times I can take leave.

 

[Flashback]

Although I know some may not like big brother watching, I quite like having the location history in place as you get some interesting little tidbits of information.

For example, Google has just sent out my 2023 summary:
Your places in 2023
25 Countries/Regions
164 Cities

I didn't realise I had to so many countries in the past 12 months, just in the course of my usual travels. I guess it all adds up over time!

 

[wanderingeyes]

Welcome aboard AFF @wanderingeyes
Lots of knowledgeable folk here.
Happy travels

I can see that. People here travel more in a year than I have done in my life. Excited to be part of this group and learn more about travel.

 

[wanderingeyes]

About 80% for work, and then as others have alluded to, I try to travel exclusively on points for my leisure travel. I’m quite flexible as only looking for a single ticket and not really constrained in terms of times I can take leave.

It's so cool that you are making a good use of the status and points accrued from your business travel. So far, I have mostly been spending my own money for the travel. Maybe need to find a job or run a business with more travel opportunities.

 

[kookaburra75]

It's so cool that you are making a good use of the status and points accrued from your business travel. So far, I have mostly been spending my own money for the travel. Maybe need to find a job or run a business with more travel opportunities.

My travel journey, has been very much in bits and pieces and has taken 30+ years to get where I am now - so don't get too worried.
I started off within Australia and some overseas for work as a surveyor, but that wasn't luxurious travel I can tell you. Lots of small aircraft into dodgy locations. As I moved on through my life and things like frequent flyer points and airport lounges started appearing in the late early 90s, things got better, but I still only averaging half a dozen flights per year within Australia and may be 2-3 overseas. In the past 15 years, working in consulting the number of flights increased and I finally cracked the legendary Life Time Silver (and Gold status) with Qantas - it only took 20 years.
I then set up the Australian arm for a UK company, which entailed a lot of travel and I got to Platinum Status for the first time. 3 to 4 trips to the UK per year for five years (in econ), plus a stupid amount of domestic travel. Thankfully, the excessive number of points I was collecting I could use (or rather my wife picked) holidays for us both, including our first international trips in bus class. And there's been no turning back for MrsK, where everything 'must' be in bus class for her now.
I finally ticked over the holy grail of Life Time Gold, rather fittingly status credits from Qantas Wines got me over the line during Covid. Any points we accrue through the different schemes go on travel now, so we can enjoy life. And then, retirement is only a couple of years away, so we can plan for the Grande Tour soon.
Keep at it, and you will get there. And with the support and information from this forum, you will get there a lot faster than me, and good luck to you.

 

[wanderingeyes]

My travel journey, has been very much in bits and pieces and has taken 30+ years to get where I am now - so don't get too worried.
I started off within Australia and some overseas for work as a surveyor, but that wasn't luxurious travel I can tell you. Lots of small aircraft into dodgy locations. As I moved on through my life and things like frequent flyer points and airport lounges started appearing in the late early 90s, things got better, but I still only averaging half a dozen flights per year within Australia and may be 2-3 overseas. In the past 15 years, working in consulting the number of flights increased and I finally cracked the legendary Life Time Silver (and Gold status) with Qantas - it only took 20 years.
I then set up the Australian arm for a UK company, which entailed a lot of travel and I got to Platinum Status for the first time. 3 to 4 trips to the UK per year for five years (in econ), plus a stupid amount of domestic travel. Thankfully, the excessive number of points I was collecting I could use (or rather my wife picked) holidays for us both, including our first international trips in bus class. And there's been no turning back for MrsK, where everything 'must' be in bus class for her now.
I finally ticked over the holy grail of Life Time Gold, rather fittingly status credits from Qantas Wines got me over the line during Covid. Any points we accrue through the different schemes go on travel now, so we can enjoy life. And then, retirement is only a couple of years away, so we can plan for the Grande Tour soon.
Keep at it, and you will get there. And with the support and information from this forum, you will get there a lot faster than me, and good luck to you.

Thank you so much for sharing your story. Intrigued with the idea of setting up local arm for an overseas business, need to bit of a thinking on this. It's amazing how easy is to get accustomed to business class. I have done a couple of business with lounge access and it's hard to do economy now, especially long hauls.
Wondering how do you earn status credits from Qantas Wines. I know that you can earn points.
Are you a Qantas Points Club (or Plus) member?
I have recently done a round trip to NZ with assistance from a travel agent to get to Gold and another trip planned next weekend to become Platinum, which should last for another 23 months. But lifetime status is a bit far away but I am not in rush.

 

[kookaburra75]

Thank you so much for sharing your story. Intrigued with the idea of setting up local arm for an overseas business, need to bit of a thinking on this. It's amazing how easy is to get accustomed to business class. I have done a couple of business with lounge access and it's hard to do economy now, especially long hauls.
Wondering how do you earn status credits from Qantas Wines. I know that you can earn points.
Are you a Qantas Points Club (or Plus) member?
I have recently done a round trip to NZ with assistance from a travel agent to get to Gold and another trip planned next weekend to become Platinum, which should last for another 23 months. But lifetime status is a bit far away but I am not in rush.

It's more MrsK has become accustomed to business class than me. When we first met, MrsK was a very nervous traveller (she only got her passport in 2005), and would overpack, want to get to the airport hours in advance, fret over every detail. After a decade plus of travel with me, it's now Hand Luggage Only, breeze through security, know where the lounges are - and insist on bus class for her at least (as is right).

With the UK company, their policy was econ, and prem econ if the flight was over five hours. In the UK that was a rarity, except for us colonials. I would put in for points upgrade to bus class, and about half the time it came through - so that was a blessing. The other flights - I can't sleep sitting up, so it was just 28 hours of not doing much. The econ mini-cabin up on top of the old A380s made it bearable though.

In 2020-21, Qantas were offering status credits on different bits and pieces - Qantas Hotel, Qantas Wine, and probably a few other things. 10-15 credits at a time. I was actually 21 credits short of LTG and wanted to do one return flight so I could get to 13,999 - just for bragging rights. But then I got 25 status credits through a Hotel stay and Wine, and the rest they say is history. I should have taken a screen shot and edited the image, just to have a bit of a good story, of "hardship" etc.

I'm currently Points Club plus, we get that easily through our credit card spend, and linking any schemes such as Woolies - but we don't go out of our way to chase the points with dollars we don't need to spend. The status credits you can get through Points Club, from taking reward flights is a nice bonus though, if you're still chasing them to get to LTG.

 

[Flyfrequently]

It's more MrsK has become accustomed to business class

MrsK has my vote !

 

[chooms]

My 2023 was down on 2022 but not by much.

75 flights, 114,796kms (71,331miles)
3 international trips (1xUS/Europe, 2xNZ) the rest mainly on the golden triangle.
Route most take: BNE-SYD
4 new airports (WLG, AKL, MUC, DFW)
4 new aircraft (AA B77W, AA B788, BA A320, NZ A320)
3 new classes (AA F, AA Y+, BA Euro Y)
Longest flight SYD-LAX/LAX-SYD 12,051km
Best flight: SYD-LAX in QF F
Worst flight: tie between LAS-LAX in AA F and a SYD-BNE Dec VA Y flight. Both due to incompetent people and hangovers....

Even with this much flying in domestic Australia (split between QF and VA), I won't requalify for VA WP at the end of Feb and would only just retain QF WP (I am P1 right now, so will fall back to WP). It means I'll start having to make a choice as to who I fly with domestically... and it will likely be VA to re-gain WP as I have QF LTG to fall back on. I am currently contemplating a reasonably expensive VA status run to keep WP... that fly ahead benefit is worth every cent I think.