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How many flights do you actually do?

How many flights do you actually do?

Old Jun 8, 2019, 9:55 am
  #31  
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100% leisure travel. Have flown 50 legs so far in 2019, will finish the year somewhere in the 90s...those are the commercial flights. I am a private pilot and go up several times/week in a 172 when I am home and not on commercial flights. SLIGHT obsession.
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Old Jun 8, 2019, 10:23 am
  #32  
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Originally Posted by rankourabu
....and still in my 30s, so hopefully quite a bit of travel left in me.
So, from my POV, you have another 40 years of bum-on-seat to endure. But if it’s all vacation, what’s not to like?
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Old Jun 8, 2019, 11:58 am
  #33  
 
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58 segments this year, 40/60% work/leisure, 80% Europe, all full fare and mainly Y.
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Old Jun 8, 2019, 1:18 pm
  #34  
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When I was working, it was typically 80-120 segments per year, depending on whether my clients' locations were available non-stop.

Since I retired, that has decreased quite a bit....
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Old Jun 8, 2019, 2:12 pm
  #35  
 
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For a couple years did a lot of miles / segment ~ 100 segments and ~ 310K miles / year. This year different gig with likely similar number of segments but far fewer miles about 60K miles, what a relief, LOL
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Old Jun 8, 2019, 5:26 pm
  #36  
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The annual threads:-
2018 Your Travel Year In Review
2017: Your travel year in review
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Old Jun 8, 2019, 10:33 pm
  #37  
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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.
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Old Jun 9, 2019, 1:13 am
  #38  
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Originally Posted by Mwenenzi
interesting ... I obviously don’t get around the rest of FT as I never knew about these compilations

my log reflects the following:
2000 - 55
2001 - 54 (2 military, Space-Available)
2002 - 39
2003 - 48 (2 military, duty travel)
2004 - 44
2005 - 60
2006 - 89 (1 general aviation, EAA Ford TriMotor)
2007 - 131 (1 sightseeing helicopter)
2008 - 99
2009 - 89
2010 - 88
2011 - 52
2012 - 34 (between jobs Dec 11 - Mar 12; business travel resumed Jul 12)
2013 - 42
2014 - 53 (1 general aviation)
2015 - 90
2016 - 87
2017 - 92
2018 - 88 (1 general aviation, Collings Foundation B-17)
2019 to date - 41

Last edited by jrl767; Jun 9, 2019 at 1:26 am
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Old Jun 9, 2019, 1:45 am
  #39  
 
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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.
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Old Jun 9, 2019, 5:26 am
  #40  
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Originally Posted by evergrn
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.
It requires money, but not FU money. I average $130/night or so on hotels, and probably $25k or so a year on flights (not chump change, but not something most upper-middle-class adults can't afford). I fly a lot of mistake fares and cheap business fares. Mostly it does require a lot of flexibility. I am very good at the travel-hacking game at this point.

I spend more money on travel than on anything else (eating/drinking out is probably a not-too-distant second). I love travel and the experiences it gives me, so I'm totally willing and happy to do so. I have few other major expenses — I hate shopping, I live out of a tiny suitcase, and I have no dependents. My rent is crazy overpriced ($42k/yr for a 1br in SF) but I'm getting rid of it which should pretty much cover the cost of hotels full-time.


At the end of the day, this is all about what you decide you value most and where you choose to spend your time, energy, and money.
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Old Jun 9, 2019, 9:17 am
  #41  
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Originally Posted by helvetic
At the end of the day, this is all about what you decide you value most and where you choose to spend your time, energy, and money.
Absolutely. We have no kids, minimal bills, no mortgage/rent, and decent jobs with lots of time off. Even (random number) $30k for travel annualy still allows for substantial savings. And for $30k - you can do a lot of travel! Like you say we prioritize travel over other things.

Would I pay retail for business class, of course not, I dont think I ever have (in almost a million miles up front), but if a good deal comes up, why not, and then there is the points game (which is infinitely better in the USA - but even with that disadvantage, I manage to utlize the benefits)

Could I work somewhere else for more money but also more hours or less time off? Sure. But why?
I leave work at 2:30 everyday, and dont think about it until next morning....
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Old Jun 9, 2019, 1:00 pm
  #42  
 
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Originally Posted by helvetic
It requires money, but not FU money. I average $130/night or so on hotels, and probably $25k or so a year on flights (not chump change, but not something most upper-middle-class adults can't afford). I fly a lot of mistake fares and cheap business fares. Mostly it does require a lot of flexibility. I am very good at the travel-hacking game at this point.
How often do you find mistake fares? You also must have a lot of flexibility not only in terms of time but also destination (go wherever there's special or mistake fare going on).

I could totally see how it's possible to fly 180~200k miles a year, all in premium class, on $25k out of pocket. But I just have a hard time understanding how a typical upper middle-class adult can afford to spend $25k/year on flights... unless you're in a unique position of having no mortgage/rent or are close to retirement and are not making retirement contributions.

Let's say one makes $150k per year pre-tax (that's a reasonable upper-middle class pay in a major metro or even for an FTer, no?). After tax, insurance and maxing out on 401k, you're probably left with ~$85k. If your rent/mortgage is $2500/mo, then we're looking at $55k take-home annually after rent. Assuming $25k for flights and $6500 for hotels (50 paid nights a year at avg $130/night; this doesn't include F&B associated with points stays), we're looking at only $24k remaining for spending for the year after travel expenses. $2000/month is just not sustainable for spending money.
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Old Jun 9, 2019, 8:43 pm
  #43  
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Originally Posted by evergrn
How often do you find mistake fares? You also must have a lot of flexibility not only in terms of time but also destination (go wherever there's special or mistake fare going on).

I could totally see how it's possible to fly 180~200k miles a year, all in premium class, on $25k out of pocket. But I just have a hard time understanding how a typical upper middle-class adult can afford to spend $25k/year on flights... unless you're in a unique position of having no mortgage/rent or are close to retirement and are not making retirement contributions.

Let's say one makes $150k per year pre-tax (that's a reasonable upper-middle class pay in a major metro or even for an FTer, no?). After tax, insurance and maxing out on 401k, you're probably left with ~$85k. If your rent/mortgage is $2500/mo, then we're looking at $55k take-home annually after rent. Assuming $25k for flights and $6500 for hotels (50 paid nights a year at avg $130/night; this doesn't include F&B associated with points stays), we're looking at only $24k remaining for spending for the year after travel expenses. $2000/month is just not sustainable for spending money.
If your hypothetical upper-middle-class guy had a kid, it'd easily cost $30k-40k/yr. I don't think you'd be saying that he can't afford the kid. People make do. And at the end of the day it's about how much you choose to spend on what.

Also, if you're only gone 50 days a year you wouldn't be flying 200k miles or spending $25k, it'd probably be closer to $10k or so for 5 big trips, which is a lot more easily affordable.
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Old Jun 9, 2019, 11:30 pm
  #44  
 
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Fly To/From Work

I fly to and from the Middle East it least 3 times a year, most often return tickets for getting home to Scotland.

I normally treat myself to business class, fly KLM via Schiphol. So a single trip home normally involves 2 seperate flights home, and 2 flights back for work. I normally claim back from my work X amount for my travel. So I only really pay the difference from X amount I get from my work to book business, the difference normally works out only a few 100's more than if I were to book a economy return ticket.

In addition I normally do business for the comfort as I'm tall, and after a 7 hour flight it's nice to freshing up in Schiphol in the Crown Lounge.

I've accumulated a fair amount of miles and Flying Blue XP to be Silver Status.

If it's short haul leisure travel it would suffice for me to travel economy.

In the last year I've flown:

Emirates - Economy
Sinapore Airlines - Business
Malaysian Airlines - Business
KLM Airfrance - Economy / Premium Economy & Business

I plan on treating the wife and I to a European weekend away in business class at some point once my miles is sufficient.

I'm not a snob, but I've flown enough economy in the past few years on enough airlines to appreciate business class.

Last edited by Giantlonglegs; Jun 9, 2019 at 11:30 pm Reason: Typo
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Old Jun 10, 2019, 7:45 am
  #45  
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I generally do about 120-130k miles a year but probably only 35-50 segments. A good proportion of that is in Business but mostly through upgrades.
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