Your evolution as a Frequent Flyer.
Dec 6, 2011, 5:30 am
#16
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Mar 2010
Location: JER
Programs: BA Gold/OWE, several MUCCI, and assorted Pensions!
Posts: 32,145
I suppose you could call me a "very late starter". When we were both working it was hard enough for the OH and I to get leave at the same time, so booking holidays abroad was largely out of the question. We really only started having holidays once we had both retired [albeit early] in the mid-90s. Even then, it started off in Y on VS … and as we only really had time for one holiday [you get very busy doing voluntary work in retirement] the idea of achieving status never entered our heads, let alone paying an arm and a leg to sit in the posh seats!!
And then we discovered the sadly-departed MaxJet, and realised how nice it was flying in Business! So it was goodbye VS, and goodbye Economy/Economy Plus. But by then we had also moved to Jersey, and the demise of MaxJet left BA as the obvious choice to get us both to UK and then on to the USA. So we bumbled along as Blues for 4 years, quickly learned how to MFU to CW, and got our Amex cards to earn more Miles. Then we both became eligible for our State Pensions, and all of a sudden we had this extra "free money" that justified the cost of a second holiday each year. And so the Miles and TPs kept adding up, and I joined FT …. and this year we became "Shiny Silver". We now plan 3 holidays a year, all flying with BA and only ever travel in CW [almost invariably using MFU from WT+].
So I guess it's all still a bit of a novelty to us, but without doubt the CW experience [even on a bad day] is a fantastic start and end to a holiday. We WILL fly BA again
And then we discovered the sadly-departed MaxJet, and realised how nice it was flying in Business! So it was goodbye VS, and goodbye Economy/Economy Plus. But by then we had also moved to Jersey, and the demise of MaxJet left BA as the obvious choice to get us both to UK and then on to the USA. So we bumbled along as Blues for 4 years, quickly learned how to MFU to CW, and got our Amex cards to earn more Miles. Then we both became eligible for our State Pensions, and all of a sudden we had this extra "free money" that justified the cost of a second holiday each year. And so the Miles and TPs kept adding up, and I joined FT …. and this year we became "Shiny Silver". We now plan 3 holidays a year, all flying with BA and only ever travel in CW [almost invariably using MFU from WT+].
So I guess it's all still a bit of a novelty to us, but without doubt the CW experience [even on a bad day] is a fantastic start and end to a holiday. We WILL fly BA again
Dec 6, 2011, 5:42 am
#17
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: Manila, Philippines (MNL)
Programs: BAEC Gold [>20k Lifetime TPs] | Hilton Honors Lifetime Diamond [as is Mrs PtF] | Various Others
Posts: 6,156
First flight - at the age of 10 - on British Eagle Bristol Britannia G-AOVA in July 1966 LHR-RMI (Rimini, Italy - package holidays used LHR in those days).
In September 1969 I took my first 'British Airways' flight - on BOAC Super VC10 G-ASGN (the one that was blown up at Dawson's Field, Jordan almost one year to the day later) LHR-JFK-NAS: my father had just started a job in the Bahamas.
In July 1971 I had my first taste of F when, as a family of four, we flew MEX-NAS on a QF 707. I still recall my Mum having to be helped down the steps upon arrival at NAS, after consuming too much champagne!
From 1972-74 I flew three return trips/year between LHR and NAS (I was at UK boarding school for A levels). Although these flights were in Economy, all on 707s via BDA, I thought I was ultra-cool - a real jet-setter!
Apart from a Laker Airways Skytrain LGW-JFK-LGW DC10 trip over Christmas/New Year 77/78 (you had to queue at LGW at 0400hrs the day of the flight to buy tickets in person) and a BOAC LHR-BGI-LHR BOAC trip in August 1982 I had a relatively quiet flying decade until I started working overseas full-time in May 1984.
Since then, over more than a quarter of a century, I have flown literally millions of miles, firstly in Economy with the odd excursion into Business or First Class and now, for the past 8 years, almost exclusively in Business (80% of time), or First (10%) and Premium Economy (10%). As a family we completed our first Business RTW (EK/CO) itinerary in the summer of 2005.
I have experienced the highs of, amongst others, BA, SQ, UA, EK, EY, GF, MH, CO, QF and MS first-class, but have so far managed to avoid FR and U2.
To this day I enjoy flying with a passion.
In September 1969 I took my first 'British Airways' flight - on BOAC Super VC10 G-ASGN (the one that was blown up at Dawson's Field, Jordan almost one year to the day later) LHR-JFK-NAS: my father had just started a job in the Bahamas.
In July 1971 I had my first taste of F when, as a family of four, we flew MEX-NAS on a QF 707. I still recall my Mum having to be helped down the steps upon arrival at NAS, after consuming too much champagne!
From 1972-74 I flew three return trips/year between LHR and NAS (I was at UK boarding school for A levels). Although these flights were in Economy, all on 707s via BDA, I thought I was ultra-cool - a real jet-setter!
Apart from a Laker Airways Skytrain LGW-JFK-LGW DC10 trip over Christmas/New Year 77/78 (you had to queue at LGW at 0400hrs the day of the flight to buy tickets in person) and a BOAC LHR-BGI-LHR BOAC trip in August 1982 I had a relatively quiet flying decade until I started working overseas full-time in May 1984.
Since then, over more than a quarter of a century, I have flown literally millions of miles, firstly in Economy with the odd excursion into Business or First Class and now, for the past 8 years, almost exclusively in Business (80% of time), or First (10%) and Premium Economy (10%). As a family we completed our first Business RTW (EK/CO) itinerary in the summer of 2005.
I have experienced the highs of, amongst others, BA, SQ, UA, EK, EY, GF, MH, CO, QF and MS first-class, but have so far managed to avoid FR and U2.
To this day I enjoy flying with a passion.
Dec 6, 2011, 6:05 am
#18
Join Date: Feb 2011
Posts: 5,797
Flew quite a lot as a youngster. We did the usual family holiday once or twice a year in economy to various European destination. The majority of these were with Britannia Airways from memory and im not sure they had anything other than Y class?
It all came to an abrupt end when i was around 12 flying to Florida in a Virgin A340 with a mother who was already less than fond of being in the sky in a 'giant tin coffin'. We caught the tail end of a hurricane coming into Orlando, which meant we had to divert to another airfield. We circled Jacksonville in VERY bumpy weather whilst the pilot looked for, in his words, 'an airfield big enough to take the plane' before coming to rest at an air force base somewhere in Northern Florida. Cue sitting on the tarmac for a couple of hours whilst countless USAF personnel ambled over to poke around at what was at the time a brand new jet, some scrambling i assume from Virgin to get a military fuel truck to come over and refuel us, before we finally made our way to the very end of the runway, off the tarmac and onto the rough stuff, finally making full use of the runway to what seemed like barely clear the trees at the other end as we took off for a 40 minute flight to Orlando.
After that my mother would not fly again, and it was 10 years until i was old enough to fund my own travels. I had a couple of holidays in Y and an awful lot of short haul business trips, cumulating in a WT+ flight to Sydney in which i was upgraded to CW (a common occurrence it seems). I haven't looked back and now the rule is, if i'm likely to sleep on it, i'll fly business. My next flight is in Feb to HKG with my girlfriend in club, and i cant see myself going back to economy again any time soon.
It all came to an abrupt end when i was around 12 flying to Florida in a Virgin A340 with a mother who was already less than fond of being in the sky in a 'giant tin coffin'. We caught the tail end of a hurricane coming into Orlando, which meant we had to divert to another airfield. We circled Jacksonville in VERY bumpy weather whilst the pilot looked for, in his words, 'an airfield big enough to take the plane' before coming to rest at an air force base somewhere in Northern Florida. Cue sitting on the tarmac for a couple of hours whilst countless USAF personnel ambled over to poke around at what was at the time a brand new jet, some scrambling i assume from Virgin to get a military fuel truck to come over and refuel us, before we finally made our way to the very end of the runway, off the tarmac and onto the rough stuff, finally making full use of the runway to what seemed like barely clear the trees at the other end as we took off for a 40 minute flight to Orlando.
After that my mother would not fly again, and it was 10 years until i was old enough to fund my own travels. I had a couple of holidays in Y and an awful lot of short haul business trips, cumulating in a WT+ flight to Sydney in which i was upgraded to CW (a common occurrence it seems). I haven't looked back and now the rule is, if i'm likely to sleep on it, i'll fly business. My next flight is in Feb to HKG with my girlfriend in club, and i cant see myself going back to economy again any time soon.
Dec 6, 2011, 6:33 am
#19
Join Date: Sep 2010
Location: Las Vegas
Programs: BA Gold; Hilton Honors Diamond
Posts: 3,227
I was certainly a late starter. Never went abroad as a kid (my parents always took holidays in the UK and have never been abroad) and my first ever flight was Aer Lingus from Newcastle to Dublin in my early 20s which was courtesy of a good friend who'd won a competition sponsored by Guinness for an all-expenses paid weekend in Ireland.
First serious LH travel was to Chicago with VS back in 2000 (so I was 28 then), and then a real hiatus until 2005 when I started travelling a couple of times a year to the USA. Since moving to Brussels in 2007 it's been a real step up with a rapid progression to GCH and frequent trips to the USA and the Middle East.
My first J experience was an OpUp coming back from LAX on 19/2/2005 but Firm policy was that all travel was WT+ so that's where I have been (officially) ever since. Lots of OpUps (even occasionally when travelling on Miles) from WT+ to J but I've never travelled in F. Quite happy in J on the UD if I'm honest but I bet everyone says that until their first F
First serious LH travel was to Chicago with VS back in 2000 (so I was 28 then), and then a real hiatus until 2005 when I started travelling a couple of times a year to the USA. Since moving to Brussels in 2007 it's been a real step up with a rapid progression to GCH and frequent trips to the USA and the Middle East.
My first J experience was an OpUp coming back from LAX on 19/2/2005 but Firm policy was that all travel was WT+ so that's where I have been (officially) ever since. Lots of OpUps (even occasionally when travelling on Miles) from WT+ to J but I've never travelled in F. Quite happy in J on the UD if I'm honest but I bet everyone says that until their first F
Dec 6, 2011, 6:59 am
#20
Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: Delhi
Programs: Emirates gold *alliance silver jet airways platinum tridentprivilege gold.
Posts: 1,817
Until the end of my high school days I only flew domestic in India on the one airline --- Indian Airlines (IC) now merged with Air India -- with only one Class of travel. First row was preserved for VIPS and Politicos . Flying itself was a privilege then and we flew maybe once a year All other journeys were by train which i am still thankful for.
WHen i was fifteen family took one trip to Germany and England on Lufthansa I fell ill. Missed it Not sorry in retrospect
After high school my first flight abroad, on my way to University in England. British Airways L1011 Tristar DEL-LHR. Middle seat. Economy, of course. Old Brit man to my left Bhutanese student also en route UK on my right remember it like yesterday. Underage but asked for and was given one beer Aircraft stopped at Kuwait. We were let into the terminal to stretch our legs. Old Brit man had fought in WW2 and was from the Gurkhas. Had a lot to talk about as my maternal grandpa was also an officer in the British Indian Army
Next two flights were just India and back, once on Lufthansa once on KLM BA too expensive. Cheapest ticket the norm but I balked at Ariana Afghan. Just as well...
'Then to Singapore for my first job Y class. Singapore Airlines Megatop WOW! IFE ...WOW!
Mainly low end regional travel then, on SQ and TG . SQ FFP lowest status. Useless program. Still is
Back to the UK for my doctorate. Regular trips now to India, mainly on BA, twice a year. Once on Alitalia when i remember being served a three course meal in Y Amazed. BA food excellent booze drop dead drunk plentiful. Get BAEC Blue
Next job, London...Now a BAEC Silver ... remember flying on Canadian to toronto and getting points... Also Cairo. All Economy.
then life changes...My First J class flight on Thai Airwaysd LHR-PNH return... at the same time bag a 2 year job in Copenhagen where client pays business on SAS I get my first *A card ..>Eurobonus... move thorugh silver then Gold! oo lala !!! Also have a client with jobs in Ethiopia and South Africa pays business. All flights on *A except one one Virrgin premium Economy (yuk) Flights to Hong Kong also (TG) Grand Cayman (UA) One First Class flight with Air India en route to Bhutan... remember it like a dream!
Focus just on *A from this point on so lots of flights on TG UA SAS and Lufty... frequent upgrades, including for wife.
Next job based in India Leave London in Economy Class but with 100 kg SAS says no problem (they flew to india then ) and you are Gold so wifey and you both bumped up LHR-CPH and on CPH-DEL we have one seat in Business left would you or your wife like a free upgrade? Those were the days....
In India 2000 switch to LH as SAS stops flying the route. Frequent trips to London In Business . Experiment with Emirates, Air India.
C**P
Finally try BA CW. As luck would have it on one of the first flatbed Jumbos... converted...
2002. moving to New York. Lots of global travel now. Easily attain gold on BA and at the same time retain LH * Gold All trips in Business now. As alliances expand, even manage to get Gold on Skytrash... but always avoid them. Preferred airline BA Rewarded with reasonably frequent upgrades to F on TATL (and once god bless them on Nairobi-London with a very unpleasant colleague left behind in CW) (And they allowed upgradees to use the CCR back then Ive used both the London and JFK CCrs) Also a regular on JL CX. Enough miles to stop flying Y on personnal account. Bliss
2008... temporary transfer to India on special assignment... Almost NO flying (one trip to DC on QR and one personal trip to London on BA miles) Lose all status with everybody except LH who keep me on Silver in view of my long years with them (but much less than BA) earning my lifelong loyalty. BA just drops me cold. No soft landing to Silver either,( ive written about this elsewhere)... bit hurt.
October 2009 Back with organisation transferred to Brazil. Bad experiences with BA on 2 flights and this conforms to adverse publicity...drop them. Attain Gold easily on TAM (SA and NA flights) Local LH office makes a huge effort to get me back afte just one flight.. I status match and am LH Gold again. (They really seem to like me I no one else i know has had this sort of kindness from them) and on EK (Asia and Middle East flights)
2011 try BA gingerly, again Find BA back on form .. start flying them and AA again .. get back to BA Silver..... maybe Gold next year?
WHen i was fifteen family took one trip to Germany and England on Lufthansa I fell ill. Missed it Not sorry in retrospect
After high school my first flight abroad, on my way to University in England. British Airways L1011 Tristar DEL-LHR. Middle seat. Economy, of course. Old Brit man to my left Bhutanese student also en route UK on my right remember it like yesterday. Underage but asked for and was given one beer Aircraft stopped at Kuwait. We were let into the terminal to stretch our legs. Old Brit man had fought in WW2 and was from the Gurkhas. Had a lot to talk about as my maternal grandpa was also an officer in the British Indian Army
Next two flights were just India and back, once on Lufthansa once on KLM BA too expensive. Cheapest ticket the norm but I balked at Ariana Afghan. Just as well...
'Then to Singapore for my first job Y class. Singapore Airlines Megatop WOW! IFE ...WOW!
Mainly low end regional travel then, on SQ and TG . SQ FFP lowest status. Useless program. Still is
Back to the UK for my doctorate. Regular trips now to India, mainly on BA, twice a year. Once on Alitalia when i remember being served a three course meal in Y Amazed. BA food excellent booze drop dead drunk plentiful. Get BAEC Blue
Next job, London...Now a BAEC Silver ... remember flying on Canadian to toronto and getting points... Also Cairo. All Economy.
then life changes...My First J class flight on Thai Airwaysd LHR-PNH return... at the same time bag a 2 year job in Copenhagen where client pays business on SAS I get my first *A card ..>Eurobonus... move thorugh silver then Gold! oo lala !!! Also have a client with jobs in Ethiopia and South Africa pays business. All flights on *A except one one Virrgin premium Economy (yuk) Flights to Hong Kong also (TG) Grand Cayman (UA) One First Class flight with Air India en route to Bhutan... remember it like a dream!
Focus just on *A from this point on so lots of flights on TG UA SAS and Lufty... frequent upgrades, including for wife.
Next job based in India Leave London in Economy Class but with 100 kg SAS says no problem (they flew to india then ) and you are Gold so wifey and you both bumped up LHR-CPH and on CPH-DEL we have one seat in Business left would you or your wife like a free upgrade? Those were the days....
In India 2000 switch to LH as SAS stops flying the route. Frequent trips to London In Business . Experiment with Emirates, Air India.
C**P
Finally try BA CW. As luck would have it on one of the first flatbed Jumbos... converted...
2002. moving to New York. Lots of global travel now. Easily attain gold on BA and at the same time retain LH * Gold All trips in Business now. As alliances expand, even manage to get Gold on Skytrash... but always avoid them. Preferred airline BA Rewarded with reasonably frequent upgrades to F on TATL (and once god bless them on Nairobi-London with a very unpleasant colleague left behind in CW) (And they allowed upgradees to use the CCR back then Ive used both the London and JFK CCrs) Also a regular on JL CX. Enough miles to stop flying Y on personnal account. Bliss
2008... temporary transfer to India on special assignment... Almost NO flying (one trip to DC on QR and one personal trip to London on BA miles) Lose all status with everybody except LH who keep me on Silver in view of my long years with them (but much less than BA) earning my lifelong loyalty. BA just drops me cold. No soft landing to Silver either,( ive written about this elsewhere)... bit hurt.
October 2009 Back with organisation transferred to Brazil. Bad experiences with BA on 2 flights and this conforms to adverse publicity...drop them. Attain Gold easily on TAM (SA and NA flights) Local LH office makes a huge effort to get me back afte just one flight.. I status match and am LH Gold again. (They really seem to like me I no one else i know has had this sort of kindness from them) and on EK (Asia and Middle East flights)
2011 try BA gingerly, again Find BA back on form .. start flying them and AA again .. get back to BA Silver..... maybe Gold next year?
Last edited by rathin100; Dec 6, 2011 at 7:18 am
Dec 6, 2011, 8:01 am
#21
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Aug 2006
Location: Argentina
Posts: 40,209
*I am here under false pretences I am not a frequent flyer and never have been.*
Flew with the family regularly with BEA starting in the early sixties mostly to the Mediterranean (pre package holiday era) as well as on domestics.
Then for a period I found girls far more appealing than travelling. Got fed up wasting my money on them so started travelling.....not on a plane though but by bus,train and hitch-hiking. After another spell with the girls I started travelling and flying in earnest throughout Europe then long haul usually with Claud....my bike. Flew with any airline that offered the cheapest fares so didn't bother with miles.
Then I met Miss Argentina while on a trip to S America and then started the long trips to and from Buenos Aires.....they were fun at the start but after a while became monotonous especially the connections in Europe.
We did use BA the odd time but as they didn't give stingy people like me the chance to collect miles back then we started to fly and achieved status with Air France. BA also started to mess about with the EZE schedules only flying on certain days of the week and shifting them back and forth between LHR/LGW/LHR for a time and also added on the GRU stop which was a bit of a pain.
Air France offered a very good product at the time....decent IFE (BA had the cinema screen), good food and Champagne in Tempo class and they looked after you well when things went wrong. The new CDG terminals were pleasant places compared to LGW or T4. Also flew with IB who were okay especially as they offered a day flight over to here.....that meant night stopping in MAD which was fun and broke the journey up into more manageable parts. Also flown the Europe - S America routes with TAM AZ and Lufty.
Apart from the odd upgrade we didn't start flying up front till relatively recently...about six years ago.
I do like short haul flights of 3-4 hours duration but over the years I have grown to detest long overnight flights. Even ones in F/J don't get me very excited any more which is kind of worrying.
Flew with the family regularly with BEA starting in the early sixties mostly to the Mediterranean (pre package holiday era) as well as on domestics.
Then for a period I found girls far more appealing than travelling. Got fed up wasting my money on them so started travelling.....not on a plane though but by bus,train and hitch-hiking. After another spell with the girls I started travelling and flying in earnest throughout Europe then long haul usually with Claud....my bike. Flew with any airline that offered the cheapest fares so didn't bother with miles.
Then I met Miss Argentina while on a trip to S America and then started the long trips to and from Buenos Aires.....they were fun at the start but after a while became monotonous especially the connections in Europe.
We did use BA the odd time but as they didn't give stingy people like me the chance to collect miles back then we started to fly and achieved status with Air France. BA also started to mess about with the EZE schedules only flying on certain days of the week and shifting them back and forth between LHR/LGW/LHR for a time and also added on the GRU stop which was a bit of a pain.
Air France offered a very good product at the time....decent IFE (BA had the cinema screen), good food and Champagne in Tempo class and they looked after you well when things went wrong. The new CDG terminals were pleasant places compared to LGW or T4. Also flew with IB who were okay especially as they offered a day flight over to here.....that meant night stopping in MAD which was fun and broke the journey up into more manageable parts. Also flown the Europe - S America routes with TAM AZ and Lufty.
Apart from the odd upgrade we didn't start flying up front till relatively recently...about six years ago.
I do like short haul flights of 3-4 hours duration but over the years I have grown to detest long overnight flights. Even ones in F/J don't get me very excited any more which is kind of worrying.
Dec 6, 2011, 8:26 am
#22
Join Date: Jul 2011
Location: LHR- ish
Programs: MUCCI, BA Blue
Posts: 4,295
Not a frequent flyer and haven't yet made it forward of WT+
My dad was a railwayman so we always holidayed in the UK taking advantage of our free first class travel (once just about old enough my brother and I used to spend our school holidays riding around on trains, our crowning achievement being a day trip from Reading to Edinburgh). When the railways were privatised my Dad went to Eurostar and so we got to go on channel tunnel trial runs, both before it opened and post fire (which meant getting to walk in the service tunnel and then riding back sitting on the floor of a car wagon). At the time my Godfather worked for BA so his family were CWing it to America for their holidays.
I didn't actually get on a plane until I was 14 and that was BA from Heathrow to Munich. My best friend was a plane geek so he spent the whole flight telling me how the flaps etc worked whilst our scared to death of flying teacher, who was sat in the row behind us, turned steadily greener...
The friend and I (and his aunt) then went to Dublin for the day flying BMI. Next flight was a family trip to Jersey, followed by another school trip to Munich (this one memorable for pupils being op-upped and staff left in ET)- all on BA. Three years had passed but the main meals in ET were unchanged. Then came a one day school trip to Geneva on Easyjet, followed by Easy again to Nice.
I've only been long haul twice, both on BA and both to the USA. On the first occasion we got Op-upped to WT+ on our outbound flight
My dad was a railwayman so we always holidayed in the UK taking advantage of our free first class travel (once just about old enough my brother and I used to spend our school holidays riding around on trains, our crowning achievement being a day trip from Reading to Edinburgh). When the railways were privatised my Dad went to Eurostar and so we got to go on channel tunnel trial runs, both before it opened and post fire (which meant getting to walk in the service tunnel and then riding back sitting on the floor of a car wagon). At the time my Godfather worked for BA so his family were CWing it to America for their holidays.
I didn't actually get on a plane until I was 14 and that was BA from Heathrow to Munich. My best friend was a plane geek so he spent the whole flight telling me how the flaps etc worked whilst our scared to death of flying teacher, who was sat in the row behind us, turned steadily greener...
The friend and I (and his aunt) then went to Dublin for the day flying BMI. Next flight was a family trip to Jersey, followed by another school trip to Munich (this one memorable for pupils being op-upped and staff left in ET)- all on BA. Three years had passed but the main meals in ET were unchanged. Then came a one day school trip to Geneva on Easyjet, followed by Easy again to Nice.
I've only been long haul twice, both on BA and both to the USA. On the first occasion we got Op-upped to WT+ on our outbound flight
Dec 6, 2011, 9:33 am
#23
Join Date: Jul 2005
Location: Scotland
Programs: BA Gold, Marriott Lifetime Titanium
Posts: 2,447
Another late starter who's flying has grown significantly with age. My flying history falls into several distinct phases:-
Birth - 25 - Flying was an absolute novelty. Only flight taken before I was 20 was a school ski trip MAN - CFE, followed by a few infrequent business flights, all of which were novelties.
25 - 35 Slightly more frequent business travel, but again mainly a novelty and most flights were domestic.
35 - 40 Distinct upward trend, good few TATLs but all Y, and never thought about FF cards. Did have a brief spell as BA Sliver, but that was as far as it went.
40 - 45 Naive FF - had the cards and flew a fair bit, but never maximised the return. At one stage I had 3 different Star alliance FF cards and thought redeeming miles in Y on CO was smart.
45+ A huge uptake in flying, driven by a change of jobs and discovery of FT. Went from zero to BA Gold and bmi Gold in 9 months and have stayed there ever since. Once I'd tried my first long haul in business, vowed never to go to the back of the bus and have managed to achieve that. Now sitting on some chunky mileage balances with a plan to build a retirement nest egg of 1.5 Mi BA miles.
Plan for post-retirement A few years of splurging my remaining miles on holidays, with a deal of paid vacation travel in J and possibly F, with the aim of keeping at least BA Sliver.
Birth - 25 - Flying was an absolute novelty. Only flight taken before I was 20 was a school ski trip MAN - CFE, followed by a few infrequent business flights, all of which were novelties.
25 - 35 Slightly more frequent business travel, but again mainly a novelty and most flights were domestic.
35 - 40 Distinct upward trend, good few TATLs but all Y, and never thought about FF cards. Did have a brief spell as BA Sliver, but that was as far as it went.
40 - 45 Naive FF - had the cards and flew a fair bit, but never maximised the return. At one stage I had 3 different Star alliance FF cards and thought redeeming miles in Y on CO was smart.
45+ A huge uptake in flying, driven by a change of jobs and discovery of FT. Went from zero to BA Gold and bmi Gold in 9 months and have stayed there ever since. Once I'd tried my first long haul in business, vowed never to go to the back of the bus and have managed to achieve that. Now sitting on some chunky mileage balances with a plan to build a retirement nest egg of 1.5 Mi BA miles.
Plan for post-retirement A few years of splurging my remaining miles on holidays, with a deal of paid vacation travel in J and possibly F, with the aim of keeping at least BA Sliver.
Dec 6, 2011, 9:49 am
#24
Join Date: Jun 2010
Location: Jersey
Programs: BAEC Gold, HH Silver
Posts: 178
My air travel as a boy was limited to a once a year holiday to the Channel Islands until we moved further afield to the med etc. By the year 2000 i have flown 24 times in total.
I then moved to Jersey and started working for BA. The world of ID90 travel opened up the world for me and i amassed and awful lot of travel but prior to 2005 i'd never been anything other than Y.
In 05 i became an account manager for BA, which meant lots of duty travel mostly in J and thus the bug bit.
I am now crewing manager for a seismic company and travel frequently for work. Travel policy is basically the most cost effective means of gettting where you need to be when you need, so now i see about 50/50 split between J and Y for business travel.
Leisure wise again its about 50/50 normally depending if we have our son with us as this pushes the cost of J beyond our means normally, however we went to SSH, JFK and BOS this year in J (MFU) and our honeymoon next year will be Kota Kinabalu with MH in J.
I then moved to Jersey and started working for BA. The world of ID90 travel opened up the world for me and i amassed and awful lot of travel but prior to 2005 i'd never been anything other than Y.
In 05 i became an account manager for BA, which meant lots of duty travel mostly in J and thus the bug bit.
I am now crewing manager for a seismic company and travel frequently for work. Travel policy is basically the most cost effective means of gettting where you need to be when you need, so now i see about 50/50 split between J and Y for business travel.
Leisure wise again its about 50/50 normally depending if we have our son with us as this pushes the cost of J beyond our means normally, however we went to SSH, JFK and BOS this year in J (MFU) and our honeymoon next year will be Kota Kinabalu with MH in J.
Dec 6, 2011, 9:57 am
#25
Join Date: Feb 2003
Programs: Sir CT-UK - Streaker pour les autres.
Posts: 5,900
0-12 years of age: Frequent flights from the ME to the UK and beyond in F and J due to the generous travel policy my dad had and going to school in the UK.
12-18 I can’t remember flying at all during that period, all family holidays were in the UK or by ferry to France and beyond.
18-30 Far too many visits to the US and Asia the first year was mainly Y then J, the good years in F then back to J.
30-now(38) Cutting down from around 10 TATL trips in F,J to around 3-4 + lots of Euro hops on LCC’s etc.
12-18 I can’t remember flying at all during that period, all family holidays were in the UK or by ferry to France and beyond.
18-30 Far too many visits to the US and Asia the first year was mainly Y then J, the good years in F then back to J.
30-now(38) Cutting down from around 10 TATL trips in F,J to around 3-4 + lots of Euro hops on LCC’s etc.
Dec 6, 2011, 10:02 am
#26
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Dec 2001
Location: A metal nomad
Programs: Mucci des Delices Exotiques,Order of the Platinum Hairbrush,Her Royal Diamond
Posts: 23,727
Can't remember when I haven't flown. Probably it all started when I was in the womb. because of my father's work, we just travelled. Pan Am, TWA, Swiss Air, Braniff, etc. (have I dated myself). When I was at JFK just recently and saw the old TWA terminal, it gave me the shivers.
I remember when Business class started, I was in the US and a friend's mother was in Business, a novelty.
Flew Lakers when I was in college and some friends wanted to spend the summer in Europe, one of the funest flights, 4 young ladies having a ball and we brought our own food along.
Collecting miles, this was just recent, and am a scrooge, can't make myself spend them.
I remember when Business class started, I was in the US and a friend's mother was in Business, a novelty.
Flew Lakers when I was in college and some friends wanted to spend the summer in Europe, one of the funest flights, 4 young ladies having a ball and we brought our own food along.
Collecting miles, this was just recent, and am a scrooge, can't make myself spend them.
Dec 6, 2011, 10:20 am
#27
Join Date: Dec 2006
Posts: 1,475
I didn't take my first flight until I became an adult as my parents only took us on UK holidays as a child. It then became a mission of mine to take a flight, something to tick off on the to do list.
It was a domestic flight and I remember thinking I can 'only' travel BA on this special first flight of mine. This was back in 2003 when you could get a domestic return for £59 and the ba.com booking engine colour coded depending on price, yellow for cheapest up to purple for most expensive. I still miss that about ba.com
After I'd had a taste I wanted more, so ended up booking a Club Europe ticket to CDG for £149 and stated to follow FT (since 2004) and saw everyone travelling in CW and F and thought that could never be me. I managed to save up enough miles and a 2-4-1 to travel to NYC in F and back in CW in the mid 00s then joined BA as an employee.
In a way, it was FT that started my passion for BA which led to me working at the company.
These days I take 4 holidays a year in J or F using a combination of miles and staff travel and travel occasionally with work also.
It was a domestic flight and I remember thinking I can 'only' travel BA on this special first flight of mine. This was back in 2003 when you could get a domestic return for £59 and the ba.com booking engine colour coded depending on price, yellow for cheapest up to purple for most expensive. I still miss that about ba.com
After I'd had a taste I wanted more, so ended up booking a Club Europe ticket to CDG for £149 and stated to follow FT (since 2004) and saw everyone travelling in CW and F and thought that could never be me. I managed to save up enough miles and a 2-4-1 to travel to NYC in F and back in CW in the mid 00s then joined BA as an employee.
In a way, it was FT that started my passion for BA which led to me working at the company.
These days I take 4 holidays a year in J or F using a combination of miles and staff travel and travel occasionally with work also.
Dec 6, 2011, 10:23 am
#28
Join Date: Feb 2009
Location: London
Programs: BA Gold, HH Silver, FB pleb, BMI pleb,
Posts: 191
flying pre uni was a grand total of 2 package holidays to spain from bristol and I had always been fascinated by planes, so much so that I made dad take me to the viewing galleries at Bristol and at Heathrow several times!
going to uni coincided with the birth of the low cost airlines so many dirt cheap flights around Europe were made, along with hours spent travelling to middle of nowhere airports and sleeping in the terminal at Stanstead in order to catch a 6am flight.
Postgrad days saw me start to fly long haul with my fieldwork based in Utah, many imaginative routings to get the cheapest Y flights to SLC followed, often KLM. I managed to get to silver on flying dutchman, days after they stopped letting silvers into the lounge. I was gutted. At this point I was fed up of spending hours in schipol and random US airports and started flying BA direct to Denver (and getting the train over the mountains, i am a big fan of trains too!). I got an op-up to WT+ a couple of times and that plus wonderful service on the domestic shuttles from Aberdeen to Bristol (remember those?) made me a bit of a fan of BA.
Starting work was the thing that changed it all. 2 months into the job and they sent me to the Houston office for a week, BA in J. wow. A couple of years later I got an overseas posting and was l flying more often, found FT and sorted myself out to get Silver and a stash of miles. Now as a Gold i'm flying all over the place for work in J, have had a couple of F op-ups and have booked Mr Womble and I several J reward flights. When he had to stay on site overseas over xmas last year I paid for a J flight to go and spend the holidays with him, I couldnt face 5 hours in Y.... I guess I am addicted to the good life now, for long haul at least.
going to uni coincided with the birth of the low cost airlines so many dirt cheap flights around Europe were made, along with hours spent travelling to middle of nowhere airports and sleeping in the terminal at Stanstead in order to catch a 6am flight.
Postgrad days saw me start to fly long haul with my fieldwork based in Utah, many imaginative routings to get the cheapest Y flights to SLC followed, often KLM. I managed to get to silver on flying dutchman, days after they stopped letting silvers into the lounge. I was gutted. At this point I was fed up of spending hours in schipol and random US airports and started flying BA direct to Denver (and getting the train over the mountains, i am a big fan of trains too!). I got an op-up to WT+ a couple of times and that plus wonderful service on the domestic shuttles from Aberdeen to Bristol (remember those?) made me a bit of a fan of BA.
Starting work was the thing that changed it all. 2 months into the job and they sent me to the Houston office for a week, BA in J. wow. A couple of years later I got an overseas posting and was l flying more often, found FT and sorted myself out to get Silver and a stash of miles. Now as a Gold i'm flying all over the place for work in J, have had a couple of F op-ups and have booked Mr Womble and I several J reward flights. When he had to stay on site overseas over xmas last year I paid for a J flight to go and spend the holidays with him, I couldnt face 5 hours in Y.... I guess I am addicted to the good life now, for long haul at least.
