Originally Posted by
helvetic
So far this year (in 5 months): 115k flown miles, 52 segments. Pretty much all personal travel. All paid business class or redeemed first class, with the occasional economy short-hauls (3h max). Will likely clear 200k butt-in-seat miles this year.
That type of travel volume has to require a lot of money and time off, no matter how adept you are with the miles game, no? I don't mean to get into personal business and ask about your finances, but I just wonder how people pull it off. I know there've been other threads discussing this.
Last year I believe I did 30 segments, all economy except 4 were PE, over 9 trips (5 US-domestic, 4 international). ~80% personal travel.
I'm tired of flying economy, but I have no choice. I currently spend ~25% of my take-home on travel/vacation, far more than ideal (and saving far less than I should). And this is despite ~1/3 of those segments being either award or company-paid. I'm certainly doing okay salary-wise. Granted, majority of my trips are with wife and kids and I'm accounting for their costs. But since J costs 3-4x economy, my situation is akin to traveling solo and doing the above trip in J all the time but really pushing the financial limits in doing so.
I am flying business (award) next month for the first time in a long time. Award business is a good deal, but still not an easy thing to pull the trigger on, considering you could be flying double the number of family members if economy.