Pre-trip
:-::-:Includes photo-guide how to get to the Air France lounge in Dusseldorf:-::-:
This is a looot of flying. No elite upgrades for me and hardly any time to sleep. But at least, a lot of segments!
Since moving to the same country as my girlfriend (wife since September
) I do a lot less flying. However, I still like it (yes, even in economy class) and can't get enough of airports and airlines. So so far I've maintained my gold status with Czech Airlines/SkyTeam. This requires either 50000 miles or 30 segments per year, of which I prefer the latter. Which often also is a lot cheaper.
Back in the spring I managed to find a good deal with Delta. A friend of mine wanted to join (strangely not a Flyertalker) and I was more than happy to have the company. The fare was DUS-MIA and was expanded with a few segments, unfortunately the booking site needed to book it did not allow more than 12 segments, not the usual 16 I try to get on my tickets. A month later the trip was completed with a domestic trip to LAS and back with 8 segments and also connecting flights HEL-DUS. Thus I had 23 segments in total over 6 days.
For our honeymoon my wife and I flew Czech Airlines and got 4 segments. Still, I'd need another 6 to make sure I could retain gold. Not knowing if there would be any irr ops making me miss any flights I though it'd be best to book a bit more than needed to be on the safe side. Thus I booked another trip HEL-DEN and back over the weekend. In total 15 flights (of which 10 were on Skyteam) in 3 days.
Trivia
In total 6 airlines (Delta, Air France, Air Baltic, Air Berlin, SN Brussels Airlines, American Airlines)
36760 BIS-miles
38 segments spread out over 11 days of flying (with a 8 day break in between :-) ).
Days off work needed: 5
To answer a common question straight away: No, I did not have any checked in luggage :-).
At most I had 6 segments (BUF-MIA 31OCT) in one day though I did 9 segments DEN-HEL without stopping on 19-20OCT
Back to back Miami-Las Vegas-Buffalo in one day with less than 2h in Las Vegas
Itineraries (each colour representing a separate ticket)
Trip 1
BT 330 17OCT 5 HELRIX 1635 1745 -AT42
BT 139 17OCT 5 RIXCPH 1825 1855 -B735
SN2268 18OCT 6 CPHBRU 0640 0820 -B737
DL 125 18OCT 6 BRUATL 1000 1340 -B763
DL 131 18OCT 6 ATLSLC 1640 1850 -B764
DL1272 18OCT 6 SLCDEN 1955 2117 -MD90
DL3901 19OCT 7 DENSLC 0615 0745 -CRJ9
DL1173 19OCT 7 SLCLAX 0825 0925 -MD90
DL7570 19OCT 7 LAXSBA 1130 1219 -S340 (operated by AA)
DL3886 19OCT 7 SBASLC 1255 1554 -CRJ
DL4134 19OCT 7 SLCIAH 1645 2045 -CRJ9
DL8313 19OCT 7 IAHCDG 2155 1425+1 -A330 (operated by AF)
DL8428 20OCT 1 CDGCPH 1525 1720 -A320 (operated by AF)
BT 140 20OCT 1 CPHRIX 2035 2255 -B733
BT 327 20OCT 1 RIXHEL 2320 0030+1 -F50
Trip 2
AB8921 29OCT 3 HELDUS 2115 2245 -A320
DL8433 30OCT 4 DUSCDG 1050 1205 -A320 (operated by AF)
DL8504 30OCT 4 CDGATL 1335 1830 -A340 (operated by AF)
DL5956 30OCT 4 ATLIND 2030 2205 -E170
DL6668 31OCT 5 INDCVG 0700 0749 -CRJ7
DL5485 31OCT 5 CVGLEX 0855 0939 -CRJ2
DL5447 31OCT 5 LEXCVG 1140 1224 -CRJ2
DL6244 31OCT 5 CVGTYS 1310 1415 -ERJ
DL5262 31OCT 5 TYSATL 1610 1708 -CRJ7
DL1001 31OCT 5 ATLMIA 1922 2112 -B757
DL 982 01NOV 6 MIAATL 0600 0754 -B757
DL 104 01NOV 6 ATLLAS 0830 0956 -B767
DL 622 01NOV 6 LASJFK 1144 2000 -B757
DL6815 01NOV 6 JFKBUF 2100 2248 -CRJ
DL6827 02NOV 7 BUFJFK 0600 0740 -CRJ
DL6533 02NOV 7 JFKBWI 0905 1030 -CRJ7
DL 733 02NOV 7 BWIATL 1125 1321 -B757
DL 995 02NOV 7 ATLMIA 1439 1633 -B757
DL 988 03NOV 1 MIAATL 1111 1305 -B757
DL 028 03NOV 1 ATLCDG 1540 0615+1 -B763
DL8432 04NOV 2 CDGDUS 0715 0830 -A320 (operated by AF)
AB6442 04NOV 2 DUSTXL 1200 1310 -A320
AB8308 04NOV 2 TXLHEL 1425 1720 -B737
Both trip in laymen terms
Helsinki-Riga-Copenhagen
Copenhagen-Brussels-Atlanta-Salt Lake City-Denver
Denver-Salt Lake City-Los Angeles-Santa Barbara-Salt Lake City-Houston-Paris
Paris-Copenhagen-Riga-Helsinki
Helsinki-Dusseldorf-Paris-Atlanta-Indianapolis
Indinapolis-Cincinatti-Lexington-Cincinatti-Knoxville-Atlanta-Miami
Miami-Atlanta-Las Vegas-New York-Buffalo
Buffalo-New York-Baltimore-Atlanta-Miami
Miami-Atlanta-Paris
Paris-Dusseldorf-Berlin-Helsinki
The tickets didn't look like this in the beginning. On average I'd say I had one or two schedule changes per week starting about 5 months prior to travel... For example initially I was flying HEL-PRG-ATL-IND instead of via CDG, but suddenly that connection became too short. Enough about that, lets get to the actual flying! Read on