hnechets

I've heard it said that your typical frequent flyer takes more flights in a year that the average person does in his/her entire life.

Well, it got me to thinking. Do we really do that? I've been searching for several hours with no good results for statistics to back this up, but based on my own experience I think it may be true. Maybe some of you out there are better researchers than I and can give some input to that, negative or positive.

Assuming one flight per week with 2 weeks off at home, my "model" FF'er would take 50 round trips per year. Assuming John Q. Average takes one round trip per year, from ages 20 to 70, that, too, equals 50 round trips per life.

I didn't even TRY to figure this using mileage...you'd have figure in international vs. domestic travel, etc. But it would, I think, also be a valid criterion.

What do you think? Feel free to challenge my baseline assumptions.

gt_croz

It depends entirely on how you define "average". Are we talking the average american traveler, the average world traveler?

Also, what level of FF are we talking about? I would say that as a general rule, many from the FT community fly more in one or two years than the majority of the population in this country do in their entire lives.

hnechets

Good questions. I guess that's why it's so tough to validate the assumption.

I would say, though, that we should probably consider the entire world and not just more developed/richer countries in the equation(s).

Really, as you brought up, there are so many factors in this, I just don;t know if it's even doable. Which is why I think other input such as yours would be very informative.

Thanks!

B747-437B

Speaking strictly for India, I flew more last week than the average Indian citizen will in their lifetime.

Kiwi Flyer

Comparing with fellow kiwis then no, unless your talking about my parents generation then probably yes.

Whole population of the world - yes sure. Vast numbers of people do no flying at all.

magexpect

I don' know what is average. I meet all kinds of FT's with different schedules. Mine for last month:

ZRH-CDG-ATL 4x
ATL-NYC 2x
ATL-LHR-HKG-SYD-LAX-LHR-ZRH

ZRH-NYC-ATL-ZRH

It's almost the same mileage every month, but different destinations except for ATL-ZRH.

N674UW

For my age category, I definitely feel I fly more than most 18 year olds, although due to college Ive slowed down a bit...during my later high school years I was averaging about 40 segments a year and around 45,000 miles flown or so...this year Ill probably only end up with around 25-30 segments

My high school years...

2003: 43 segments
2002: 46 segments
2001: 37 segments
2000: 25 segments

Prior to 2000 I did not fly all that much as the circumstances that enabled many of these flights to happen/have a reason (my dad taking a new job 1000 miles from where we live and thus requiring extensive commuting) did not exist before 1999, and so typically I only flew 3 or 4 times a year before that for family vacations...

N674UW

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Although Im still N674UW by posting name, think of me from now on as "N923FR"...

[This message has been edited by N674UW (edited Feb 28, 2004).]

MattFS218

It's a common statistic when talking to fellow travelers abroad (usually about political/intl issues), that less than 1 in 5 Americans even have a passport and only like 30% (not sure the exact number, but under 50%) of our governmental representatives (ie Congress/Houses of Reps) have traveled abroad. Of course these people always claim that American's aren't aware (or rather oblivious) of intl issues/or issues outside of America.

So my answer to the question is yes, especially when you factor in all lower income tax brackets in the equation. My mom for example has flown on an airplane twice.

matt