What makes a frequent flyer

[HEC]

Hi, first time post. I am interested in knowing opinions on what makes someone a frequent flyer? I fly a lot but just wanted to gauge what exactly is a lot and what other people out there are doing.

 

[albatross710]

How v Why

While a Flyer will initiate business travel from Sydney - Hong Kong return leave Monday, return Friday....a frequent flyer will

discover a lower cost flight
route via Singapore and pickup some Changi dollars
have time to go into SIN for Chilli crab
arrive in HKG and know the best line for fast immigration processing
later use a hotel award voucher for a free night overlooking the harbour
during the week fill in any spare nights with drinks night with a fellow ff
on the way home, experience the best airport lounge in HK
be on the return flight with the best chance of an upgrade
get a call and upgrade comes through early in the day
sleep well and arrive home refreshed

later that day, check their ff account and see that they optimised SC and miles accrual with a smile knowing they are well on their way to enough miles for that Christmas family trip trekking through Cambodia.



Alby

 

[Steady]

Welcome aboard HEC, I think it is dependent on perspective- how long is a piece of string

 

[RooFlyer]

Welcome to AFF, HEC.

I think 'alby' gave a great reply but for me an 'Australian Frequent Flyer' is more than occasional flyer (or if a rare flyer then they wished they flew more) and one who is aware of the many lurks and perks available to make the journey more pleasant (and hopefully very pleasant). An AFFer is one who gets to fly Business or First Class, regularly or even just once, when they never imagined they would be able to, and gets to use airline lounges even if they are not 'frequent flyers'.

And they are able to say 'DYKWIA' without blushing.

 

[JohnK]

Welcome to AFF HEC!

A frequent flyer is someone that travels at least monthly.

 

[dfcatch]

What is a frequent flyer in who's opinion?

The flyer? The airline?

Are we talking about a frequent flyer (frequency); or are we talking about a Frequent Flyer (loyalty)??

Too many variables.

 

[boomy]

Read the thread "You know you are a frequent flyer when..." Plenty of opinions there, some are quite funny.

 

[BettyB]

Welcome

Frequent flyer means more than once a year.

 

[TomVexille]

Welcome aboard!

Welcome aboard HEC, I think it is dependent on perspective- how long is a piece of string

+1 to this. Based on the answers so far I'm both a frequent flyer and yet I'm not...

 

[snabbu]

Welcome aboard HEC. When you say you fly a lot, do you mean once a year/month/week/day?

 

[Dr Ralph]

Welcome to AFF.

 

[prozac]

How v Why

While a Flyer will initiate business travel from Sydney - Hong Kong return leave Monday, return Friday....a frequent flyer will

discover a lower cost flight
route via Singapore and pickup some Changi dollars
have time to go into SIN for Chilli crab
arrive in HKG and know the best line for fast immigration processing
later use a hotel award voucher for a free night overlooking the harbour
during the week fill in any spare nights with drinks night with a fellow ff
on the way home, experience the best airport lounge in HK
be on the return flight with the best chance of an upgrade
get a call and upgrade comes through early in the day
sleep well and arrive home refreshed

later that day, check their ff account and see that they optimised SC and miles accrual with a smile knowing they are well on their way to enough miles for that Christmas family trip trekking through Cambodia.



Alby

Wow Alby, I wish I knew half of that stuff.

Welcome aboard HEC. When you know how to do all that stuff will you tell me how?

 

[AnnaB]

Welcome to AFF HEC!

A frequent flyer is someone that travels at least monthly.

I guess I am not a frequent flyer then

Welcome

Frequent flyer means more than once a year.

Or maybe I am

Welcome aboard HEC, I think it is dependent on perspective- how long is a piece of string

This is probably the best answer
I think it is more the way you utilize what you got rather than how often you fly. How to make the most of what you have, what you can get and make the system work for you.
Welcome to AFF.

 

[YSSY]

To be a frequent flyer, by definition you must fly regularly. Status isn't a great indicator of a frequent flyer, because if you work for a company with a 'cheapest' ticket policy, you will be on fares that earn very little and always changing airline and alliance each time you travel; and on the flip side you may have someone that does a few long hauls a year in J or F and gains status, but travels seldom otherwise.
Being a point collector that travels one or twice a year, for me thats not a frequent flyer, but they are a kindred spirit. Wheres the person who does Canberra Melbourne twice a week, well maybe they aren't a kindred spirit.

When I think of fellow frequent flyers, I think of people who I can talk freely about that little cafe in New York, Madrid, Hong Kong or Buenos Aires without their eyes glazing over. I think of someone who knows the lounges, knows which seat to choose on the plane and the little tips and tricks that make travelling all that bit easier. I think for the infrequent traveller, travel has a little bit of stress. But for the frequent traveller, you know exactly what needs to packed for a trip, it doesn't take any thinking, nor does arriving in a new airport bother you because you just instinctively know you'll be okay and will figure it out.

For me, I travel at least monthly, having travelled extensively worldwide and consider myself a Frequent Flyer Lite when compared to some of the serious heavyweights here.

 

[ozmille]

I have wondered about this as well a bit. When I moved to SYD 9 years ago I started recording my flights and whilst I feel by no means that I am a frequent traveller I do travel a lot more than a lot of people I know (especially my family from a provincial town back in Belgium who think I must live at an airport).

as a reference point last year I flew 63 segments totaling 128000km

 

[harvyk]

I no longer truly consider myself a frequent flyer. A few years ago I used to average a CBR-MEL / SYD every 3 weeks or so with a few AKL's thrown in for good measure. These days I only do a couple of trips per year, however they are typically big international trips.

That said, given the choice between a 1 hour hop every few weeks or a couple of international trips per year, I know exactly what I’d choose.

Of course it’s all perspective. When you compare me to others on this forum, I’m so infrequent that it’s surprising I know from what side you typically board a plane on. When you compare me to most of my non-flyer friends, it’d be nice if just once my feet where on the ground.

Frequent Flyer status levels are not a good measure to see if someone is a frequent flyer. Even though I was flying every couple of weeks for a whole year, I was lucky to hit silver. The best I ever did in one year was earn just over 500 SC’s. Frequent short trips CBR-MEL all in red-e-deals makes someone a frequent flyer by definition of the word, but 1 SYD-DXB-LHR return in F per year will net someone gold. Do it as 2 flight numbers (eg QF1 SYD-DXB and QF9 DXB-LHR) will even net the four ~, yet would you call a person whom has done 1 trip once a frequent flyer?

The other argument is around the “Frequent Flyers Game”, which is where AFF and other travel sites come into play. Frequent flyer programs are hardly simple beasts. Take for instance my coffee loyalty card, it’s simple, I buy 8 coffees and the 9[SUP]th[/SUP] is free. Not exactly rocket science, short of them changing the number of cups I have to buy it will always be cup 9 which is free. Take for instance my FF program membership. Where I sit on that depends on when and where I fly, how many stop overs I do, what fare bucket my fare was purchased from, and that can be influenced by what connections I am making. I can spend $20,000 and be firmly at the back of the bus for my entire years flying, I can spend a couple of thousand and be sitting right behind the pilot. I think the “game” is a different beast again, and shouldn’t really be confused with the question of “is this person a frequent flyer”.

Just my 2c

 

[RobJamesau]

A frequent flyer seems to be a person familiar with all acronyms, but probably wouldn't need to bother dropping into Singapore on their way from Sydney to HK, and when getting into HK would have a frequent business traveller card or an APEC card thus avoiding the normal immigration queue. In my view, if you think you are a frequent flyer then you are one, and if you don't think you are one but your family do, then you will be one!

 

[harvyk]

A frequent flyer seems to be a person familiar with all acronyms, but probably wouldn't need to bother dropping into Singapore on their way from Sydney to HK, and when getting into HK would have a frequent business traveller card or an APEC card thus avoiding the normal immigration queue. In my view, if you think you are a frequent flyer then you are one, and if you don't think you are one but your family do, then you will be one!

What do you mean not bother dropping into SIN between HKG and SYD?

Routes taken do not make a frequent flyer, IMHO the frequency of their travels by plane per year is the only real technical measure. Although I tend to agree about the comment about if your family consider you a frequent flyer then you are probably one.

 

[RobJamesau]

Just an observation on an earlier post. I think if you spend a lot of time in planes (which is a relative concept) then detouring en route just adds time and another leg. I suppose from a quantitative basis measuring by miles traveled or flights taken is the easiest comparison in which case I guess flight crew are the real flyers!

 

[harvyk]

Just an observation on an earlier post. I think if you spend a lot of time in planes (which is a relative concept) then detouring en route just adds time and another leg. I suppose from a quantitative basis measuring by miles traveled or flights taken is the easiest comparison in which case I guess flight crew are the real flyers!

As a group yes we spend more time in aircraft than society, but sometimes that is by choice.
In my own example I took a HKG-SIN-(BNE)-SYD flight rather than a direct HKG-SYD flight because I both love flying, and it gave me a chance to go past SIN and have lunch there.

For me, travel is as much a hobby as it is sometimes a necessity, and therefore I think nothing of taking the long way home if that means I'll get to see something interesting, or even to fly in something I would otherwise not get to fly in (eg a 747 from BNE to SYD). This was as much true when I was doing very frequent trips as it is now that I am doing less frequent (but much better) trips.