Longest time without stepping on a plane?
Apr 20, 2021 | 10:26 pm
#61
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Mar 2013
Programs: DL PM, MR Titanium/LTP, Hilton Diamond
Posts: 10,315
Last flew in mid-February. Next scheduled flight is our rescheduled trip to Japan in March 2021 and don't anticipate much in-between unless there is an emergency. Possibly a December trip somewhere but this new spike has given us pause on doing anything with air travel even looking out to December. Don't expect business travel to return until 2021 at the earliest.
This is by far my longest drought since I graduated college. The last time I came close to this kind of drought was when I went back to get my MBA in the mid 2010s. Though even during that stretch I traveled extensively but due to class schedules typically had 8-10 weeks between travel (e.g., Labor Day through Thanksgiving) and then did most of my travels during various school breaks.
This is by far my longest drought since I graduated college. The last time I came close to this kind of drought was when I went back to get my MBA in the mid 2010s. Though even during that stretch I traveled extensively but due to class schedules typically had 8-10 weeks between travel (e.g., Labor Day through Thanksgiving) and then did most of my travels during various school breaks.
Apr 21, 2021 | 12:37 am
#62
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Nov 2009
Location: SEA the REAL Washington; occasionally in the other Washington (DCA area)
Programs: AS MVPG 100K (Atmos Titanium) / 0.5MM; DL fallen PM (1.58MM = Complimentary Annual GM); AA Gold
Posts: 24,464
forgot to come back to this thread after Mar trip — update from last Aug
4 months (14 Apr 96 - 11 Aug 96; 19 Apr 98 - 16 Aug 98; 17 Aug 01 - 19 Dec 01)4.5 months (27 Oct 94 - 13 Mar 95; 30 Oct 98 - 17 Mar 99)5 months (30 Jun 73 - 28 Nov 73; 24 Nov 90 - 24 Apr 91)5.25 months (27 Feb 20 - 6 Aug 20)5.5 months (29 Dec 11 - 15 Jun 12)- 7.25 months (7 Aug 20 - 14 Mar 21) (219 days)
- 21 months (10 Aug 69 - 11 May 71)
Last edited by jrl767; Apr 23, 2021 at 12:25 pm
Apr 21, 2021 | 9:39 am
#63
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jun 2015
Location: Back in Reds Country (DAY/CVG). Previously: SEA & SAT.
Posts: 11,986
As a child, it was 4 years between flying and year-long stretches without flying were not uncommon.
As an adult, and if we're going by the the definition of "plane" as "something with fixed wings", for me it was 6 months while in Afghanistan in 2014. I flew on a C-17 into Afghanistan. About two weeks after arriving in country, I took a C-17 down to Kandahar and then flew on a contractor-operated Dash 8 back to Bagram. Then didn't get on a fixed-wing plane again until October when I left. But I still flew plenty during my time there as I crisscrossed between Bagram and various FOBs (Forward Operating Bases) as a pax in Blackhawks and Chinooks and contractor-operated helos so I was still getting to fly during that time, just in rotary wing aircraft, and I wasn't accumulating any FF miles for it.
Both pre-COVID and in the COVID world, the longest stretch for me was 5 months. Pre-COVID I went from January 2012 till June 2012 without flying. Then last year, I flew in March 2020 (flew the week things really kicked off with COVID and where everything began shutting down) and then didn't fly again until August 2020.
As an adult, and if we're going by the the definition of "plane" as "something with fixed wings", for me it was 6 months while in Afghanistan in 2014. I flew on a C-17 into Afghanistan. About two weeks after arriving in country, I took a C-17 down to Kandahar and then flew on a contractor-operated Dash 8 back to Bagram. Then didn't get on a fixed-wing plane again until October when I left. But I still flew plenty during my time there as I crisscrossed between Bagram and various FOBs (Forward Operating Bases) as a pax in Blackhawks and Chinooks and contractor-operated helos so I was still getting to fly during that time, just in rotary wing aircraft, and I wasn't accumulating any FF miles for it.
Both pre-COVID and in the COVID world, the longest stretch for me was 5 months. Pre-COVID I went from January 2012 till June 2012 without flying. Then last year, I flew in March 2020 (flew the week things really kicked off with COVID and where everything began shutting down) and then didn't fly again until August 2020.
Last edited by ATOBTTR; Apr 21, 2021 at 9:46 am
Apr 21, 2021 | 6:37 pm
#64
Join Date: Sep 2010
Location: KSUX
Posts: 919
My streak hit two years on 9 April after both tentative trips I had last fall and last spring were canceled. That will change next month thankfully because it'll take an act of God to keep me from taking that trip especially since the friends that I am visiting and myself are fully vaccinated. Of course we will be taking proper actions if we go out into public but other than going for my GE interview while there I wouldn't be upset if we didn't leave their house much.
Apr 21, 2021 | 6:45 pm
#65
Join Date: Sep 2004
Location: YUL
Posts: 1,034
23 feb 2020 was my last flight, I have had many cancelled in 2020 and 2021. At this point I am thinking my first will be to the UK before xmas to see the parents, assuming quarantines are lifted in Quebec and the UK. 13 months with no flights is a record for me.
Travel in Canada has really not been encouraged at all.
Travel in Canada has really not been encouraged at all.
Apr 24, 2021 | 1:48 pm
#68
Join Date: Feb 2016
Location: YVR/TPE/PVG
Posts: 1,093
This is the longest period I have not stepped on a plane in my life, period.
I was born to parents jetting around me in Asia because they came from different backgrounds and wanted to move every 4 months between their home countries.
My first flight was a lap infant 4 weeks old on CX, my mom still has a photo of that because she was upgraded into J because I was so young. (Now I help get her upgraded too, albeit in different ways other than vomiting on her lap :P )
So by Feb, it was more than a year of no flying while previously my record was 11 months when I was going through a rebel phase in middle school.
I was born to parents jetting around me in Asia because they came from different backgrounds and wanted to move every 4 months between their home countries.
My first flight was a lap infant 4 weeks old on CX, my mom still has a photo of that because she was upgraded into J because I was so young. (Now I help get her upgraded too, albeit in different ways other than vomiting on her lap :P )
So by Feb, it was more than a year of no flying while previously my record was 11 months when I was going through a rebel phase in middle school.
Jul 4, 2021 | 1:35 pm
#70
Join Date: Dec 2008
Location: Mostly living in the basement
Programs: Free Agent Level 2; MR LT(!)TE, HH SE, ALL SE, BAC Silver, DL MM, UA PS, 2V Fanboi, CBP GE
Posts: 5,358
Anyway, back OT my last flight was exactly two months ago, a short domestic hop DTW-JFK. (Upgrade cleared at the gate!). I have a gap of about that length every year or two, in 2019 I had a gap of about 10 weeks in spring and about 9 weeks in fall of 2017.
At this point, the earliest I expect to get on a plane is August (and that's 50/50), which at about 22 weeks would be the longest gap since I started detailed record keeping.
At this point, the earliest I expect to get on a plane is August (and that's 50/50), which at about 22 weeks would be the longest gap since I started detailed record keeping.