4 ms·

A few hundred flights in several years? I'm jealous! What is your line of work if I may ask?

isostatic 8y ago
Not OP, but my busiest year was 2014 was 119 flights. 6 were in business, all of those were upgrades (once on miles, the others were upgraded at the gate due to overselling down the back) Fortunately most of the long haul flights were in premium economy, about 26,000 miles were in economy. 2013 was only 112 flights, but longer than 2014, 163k miles. I was luckier that year with upgrades for work, and did a few leisure trips which were in business/first. By 2015 I was getting tired of hotels and jet planes. Still knocked up 57 flights and 121k miles. 80% of those miles were in business or first though, which made it more bearable. There's a certain type of person who sustains hundreds of flights a year, year after year (which IME means half the time you're staying in a hotel somewhere), most of those that I know are either under 30, or they're divorced.
bjelkeman-again 8y ago
Jealous? I unfortunately have about 50-60 flights in a couple of years. And that is too much. The airport and air travel experience is really not very good. Add to it the emissions. I personally would prefer less flights and more effective work. Where are the great AR conference facilities?
madaxe_again 8y ago
High level business/tech consultancy these days - although 90% of the travel is me picking cheap and weird flights in order to get to cheap and weird corners of the world while I figure out where to start the next business, and because I have a hunch that it may not be so easy to travel in the not-too-distant future. For instance, I just did a nine day trip for the sake of it, flew from UK to Amsterdam, a night there, flew to Porto Alegre (Brazil), spent two nights there, flew to Montevideo, spent three nights there, flew to BA, spent a night there, flew to Lisbon, two nights there, then home. £450 airfare, total - for two of us, as we booked it as a series of long-layover low-demand flights. Now I’m in Poland. Latvia this morning, Istanbul last week, Istanbul again in a few weeks after a bit of Belarus (London to Riga via Istanbul isn’t very direct, but it was dirt cheap) - and then I’ll hibernate for a month as as fun as seeing new places is, air travel is pretty miserable in and of itself. It’s cheaper than staying at home - Airbnb the apartment out while I’m not there, and it usually covers the travel costs.
- phyller 8y ago
  What do you use to book those long layover flights?
  - madaxe_again 8y ago
    Skyscanner, google flights - I’ll usually have an ultimate destination in mind (e.g. Montevideo), and will then either find an acceptably cheap series of flights by turning off most of the filters, or setting up price alerts. Sometimes I’ll book months in advance, sometimes it’ll be “pack your bags, we’re going to Vladivostok... today!” Also, my wife scours sites like https://www.holidaypirates.com/ https://www.holidaypirates.com/ which occasionally have some steals of deals. Frankly the hardest bit has been organising catsitting.
- groby_b 8y ago
  I have a hunch that it may not be so easy to travel in the not-too-distant future That's an interesting hunch. Can I get you to elaborate?

Not OP, but my busiest year was 2014 was 119 flights. 6 were in business, all of those were upgrades (once on miles, the others were upgraded at the gate due to overselling down the back) Fortunately most of the long haul flights were in premium economy, about 26,000 miles were in economy. 2013 was only 112 flights, but longer than 2014, 163k miles. I was luckier that year with upgrades for work, and did a few leisure trips which were in business/first. By 2015 I was getting tired of hotels and jet planes. Still knocked up 57 flights and 121k miles. 80% of those miles were in business or first though, which made it more bearable. There's a certain type of person who sustains hundreds of flights a year, year after year (which IME means half the time you're staying in a hotel somewhere), most of those that I know are either under 30, or they're divorced.

bjelkeman-again 8y ago

Jealous? I unfortunately have about 50-60 flights in a couple of years. And that is too much. The airport and air travel experience is really not very good. Add to it the emissions. I personally would prefer less flights and more effective work. Where are the great AR conference facilities?

madaxe_again 8y ago

High level business/tech consultancy these days - although 90% of the travel is me picking cheap and weird flights in order to get to cheap and weird corners of the world while I figure out where to start the next business, and because I have a hunch that it may not be so easy to travel in the not-too-distant future. For instance, I just did a nine day trip for the sake of it, flew from UK to Amsterdam, a night there, flew to Porto Alegre (Brazil), spent two nights there, flew to Montevideo, spent three nights there, flew to BA, spent a night there, flew to Lisbon, two nights there, then home. £450 airfare, total - for two of us, as we booked it as a series of long-layover low-demand flights. Now I’m in Poland. Latvia this morning, Istanbul last week, Istanbul again in a few weeks after a bit of Belarus (London to Riga via Istanbul isn’t very direct, but it was dirt cheap) - and then I’ll hibernate for a month as as fun as seeing new places is, air travel is pretty miserable in and of itself. It’s cheaper than staying at home - Airbnb the apartment out while I’m not there, and it usually covers the travel costs.

phyller 8y ago
What do you use to book those long layover flights?
- madaxe_again 8y ago
  Skyscanner, google flights - I’ll usually have an ultimate destination in mind (e.g. Montevideo), and will then either find an acceptably cheap series of flights by turning off most of the filters, or setting up price alerts. Sometimes I’ll book months in advance, sometimes it’ll be “pack your bags, we’re going to Vladivostok... today!” Also, my wife scours sites like https://www.holidaypirates.com/ https://www.holidaypirates.com/ which occasionally have some steals of deals. Frankly the hardest bit has been organising catsitting.
groby_b 8y ago
I have a hunch that it may not be so easy to travel in the not-too-distant future That's an interesting hunch. Can I get you to elaborate?