[DavidGordon10]

I have started a thread like this for the last couple of years, mainly for me to compare what I am doing, year on year.

This year, 94 sectors, 33 airports (12 of them new to me) and 19 airlines, 5 new. How are other member’s figures? – as I have written before, not a competition, just for fun.

Best new experience? – business class on Brussels long-haul. Most pleasing new experience? – business on Kenyan Airways.

Worst new experience? – airports that look good but that are inefficient (LCA). Economy on PIA was a bit of a squeeze, but all right if sat next to a friend.

Best airport? – I said Zurich or Copenhagen last year, Hong Kong is now on the list; IST for any long transfer.

Worst airport? – I started another thread a couple of months ago on the bad features of Brussels. LHR is of course the worst of the giant airports: watching thick snow being cleared at ZRH and GVA is a lesson that the administration at LHR should observe.

Finally, for those who like to test their knowledge of airport three-letter codes, the new airports for 2017 were (in order of use)

ISB, KHI, BGI, LCA, BDA, NBO, JRO, SEN, BEY, NSI, DLA, HKG

[MartynSinclair]

My stats for the year.. commercial flights…

* 71 sectors
* 5 airlines, with BA my predominant carrier
* only one new airport, Charlotte NC
* 3 shorthaul upgrades and 1 longhaul upgrade (BA)
* 32 avios redemption tickets (all shorthaul)
* favourite airport – HKG
* rudest airport personnel by a long way, London Heathrow security checkers

Nicest and most relaxing travel experience of 2017 – Another back to back transatlantic crossing on the QM2
Worst travel experience of 2017 – dealing with flight connection staff in T5 on Christmas eve,,,

Happy and safe travelling everyone….

[LuganoPirate]

Bit of a lightweight last year as I travelled less than I usually do, but:

50 sectors flown
10 airlines
2 new carriers: Aegean and Royal Jordanian (very comfortable business class compared to Lufthansa)
1 carrier re-visited after a long period of time: EK
3 new airports – ATH. Heraklion and Amman
Favourite Airport; Zurich
Favourite Lounge: FRA 1st Class Lounge
Worst Airport: JNB
Unfriendliest Security: LHR
Friendliest and fastest Security: Amman (believe it or not)
1 Flight cancellation dealt with perfectly by Swiss who rebooked me with BA on a direct MXP-LHR Flight so I actually arrived earlier than scheduled

1 major delay with LH ex MXP causing (reason- a flat tyre!) me to miss my connection to AMM from FRA, dealt with terribly by LH ground staff but handled wonderfully by the staff in the Senator lounge at FRA.

[LuganoPirate]

[quote quote=844264]
Finally, for those who like to test their knowledge of airport three-letter codes, the new airports for 2017 were (in order of use)
ISB, KHI, BGI, LCA, BDA, NBO, JRO, SEN, BEY, NSI, DLA, HKG
[/quote]

David, I recognise: Karachi, Larnaca, Nairobi, Southend, Beirut, Douala and Hong Kong, as I’ve traveled to each of them. The others not though I did look them up out of curiosity. I should have recognised NSI even though I’ve never landed there, but I have visited the country many times

[JonathanCohen09]

What an interesting thread!

My stats for the year:

– 160 sectors – predominantly on Easyjet
– 3 new airports – Aberdeen, Abu Dhabi and Mauritius
– 2 new carriers – Air Mauritius who were fantastic, even with old angled flat seat on an A340 the food and service were streets ahead of BA J class. Looking forward to their A350 later on this year and Norwegian whose Premium cabin was way ahead of BA WTP in my opinion and that before you take account of the price difference.
– Favourite airport – Luton believe it or not as it is only 30 minutes from home and. Never had to circle before landing
— One major delay with Easyjet, 3 days stuck in TLV due to snow at Luton but full compensation claimed and received quickly and without any arguments.
– Hilton took great care of me all year so a big thanks to them
– Finally achieved Blue status with BA
– in 2017 I saved more than £15,000 using LCC’s over so called premium airlines. I arrived at the five comparing comparale flights and times with BA, LH, LY and LXwith three LCC options, not an exact science but my bank manager and I are very happy.

Best experience in 2017 was a glorious week in Mauritius, I cannot wait to go back.

Have a greaaat year with safe travels everyone

[travelsforfun]

OK, so my stats for 2017 are:

140 sectors
90 airports (23 new)
32 airlines (11 new)
21 aircraft types (2 new)

Most flown airlines
BA (53), AY (13), AA (9), AF (8), QR (7)

Best new experiences
JL NRT-FRA Economy Class (787)
QR DOH-LHR Business Class “Qsuites” (777)
Most unusual experience
British Airways (BA Cityflyer) CMF-STN on an ERJ-190 with just one other passenger
Motor Sich Airlines IEV-LWO on an Antonov An-24 (delivered to Soviet Aeroflot in 1971)
Most frustrating experience
Getting ‘computer says no’ response when trying to select seats on flights when a partner airline’s flight number or ticket number

Best airport:
HKG is my perennial favourite
OSL, already a favourite, benefited from the opening of its impressive terminal extension
Worst airport:
CAI, no contest

Lounges:
Old favourite
HKG CX The Pier First Class
Great new airline lounge
LGW British Airways Lounge First
Nice third-party discoveries
RIX primeclass Business Lounge
VCE Marco Polo Lounge

And for those after detail…
My new airports:
JOE · LLA · OUL · NKM · KMJ · KOJ · SDJ · BES · LPQ · VTE · UTH · MSQ · LUZ · HAD · MCI · GEG · KUT · TBS · VRN · VCE · SHA · CMF · LWO
My new airlines:
Arctic Airlink · Fuji Dream Airlines · Japan Air Commuter · FlyKiss · Lao Skyway · Thai Smile · Belavia · BRA · Ernest Airlines · Cathay Dragon · Motor Sich Airlines
My new aircraft types:
Xian Y-7 · Antonov An-24

[FDOS_UK]

83 flight segments, around the world 5 times.

Nuff said 🙂

[DavidGordon10]

LP, I am absolutely with you on both Royal Jordanian and Amman airport. A serious airline and an airport with potential for those middle-East connections.

[capetonianm]

I am amazed and in admiration at the detailed records some of you keep. I have no idea and would have to check. Had my Filofax stolen by the ‘devout Catholic’ Brasilian cleaner halfway through 2017 and that contained much of my record keeping (don’t laugh!). The Filofax contained money, stamps, FF cards, and a few other important bits and pieces, but was a nice leather one that cost almost £100. She also stole my god-daughter’s crucifix. Some Catholic!

Most shorthaul on easyJet, probably 50-60 sectors.
Most longhaul on KL, LX and (reluctantly) BA, about 15 sectors all together.
Best airport : ZRH
Best carrier : LX = EI
Worst carrier overall : VY
Worst carrier for cabin facilities : BA
Best carrier for dealing with flight disruption : BA
Worst airline for responding to an EU261 claim : Lufthansa (but I won after issuing a County Claim even though they said they’d go to court but they backed down)
Best airline for responding to an EU261 claim : EZY
New a/c type : 787 (KL). Still haven’t been on a 380 or a 350.
Number of EU 261 claims won on behalf of other people : About 12. Number lost : 0 (I’m quite proud of that and haven’t made a penny out of it).

[Defcon5]

Good post @DavidGordon10. Was having a similar conversation with some colleagues earlier about our travels in 2017. Here is my input:

– 70 sectors
– Best carrier – Virgin Atlantic
– Best flight – AMS- BOS with DL on the A330 in J
– Best airport – DCA airport in Washington – what a charming interior. Also, what’s the deal with the transportation pods at IAD? Had a surprisingly good experience at MRS too!
– Worst airport – Take your pick from Miami or La Guardia. Both awful
– Best lounge – Virgin Atlantic Clubhouse @ JFK – great menu and staff are awesome
– Worst lounge – BA @ Terminal 3 – only nice thing here is the view of runway 27L
– Best in flight entertainment – I missed it when it was on TV but managed to watch all of the Night Manager episodes on a flight with Virgin in November
– Best in flight drink – Sweet Water IPA with Delta. It’s not always on the menu, you have to ask 😉
– New carriers – Aegean and they were impressive! Good to see some short haul carriers have a full service offering

Here is to more in 2018, looking forward to heading to Asia and Africa for a change!

Safe travels all.

[STORMIN']

Here’s mine:

114 Sectors
17 Airlines (new to me – Aegean, Skyworks, Porter, Jetstar Asia)
Most flown airline – Emirates
Airline most avoided – BA (even although I am GfL with 50k + tier points)
42 Airports (new to me – Toronto / Billy Bishop)
Best Airline(s) / Legacy – Swiss, Lufthansa, Emirates
Worst Airline / Legacy – Avianca
Best Airline / LCC – Jetstar Asia
Worst Airline / LCC – None that I have flown this year
Best Airport(s) – Toronto / Billy Bishop, London LCY, Zurich, Singapore
Worst Airport (s) – Kuwait, London STN (I live 10 mins way from this dump of an airport
Significant Upgrade – Business to First / DXB / SIN – Emirates (First Class as it should be)

[TominScotland]

After a challenging finger count (as I don’t really keep much of a record)

83 sectors
12 airlines (BA, AY, QF, QR, MH, KL, EI, BE, AT, VN, PR, LM, NZ)
New Airlines – Royal Air Maroc, Loganair (in new guise)
New Airport – Casablanca
Favourite International Lounge – CX Pier in HKG
Favourite Domestic Lounge – QF Business in Brisbane (revamped and just opened)
Best Lounge service – MH First in LHR
Worst lounge – Third party lounge in PSA and QR oneworld lounge in DOH (not the QR Business or First lounges)

[K1ngston]

Great thread here goes….

120 sectors
5 airlines mainly (majority on SQ)
12 countries
Worst Experience by a country mile MH (anywhere)
Best Experience QR

Best Airport (simply because of its improvement over the year) Indira Ghandi Delhi
Worst Airport (need I say) Heathrow T4 where my poor husband had to wait 4 hours in immigration back in May

Best Lounge F Lounge Qantas Sydney
Worst Lounge All lounges in Bangladesh Dhaka

And just a word for the wonderful crew on 2 flights, the QR crew when my husband and I flew back to the UK in May to get married, flying from SIN to DOH the staff bought us a plate of cakes and fruit and champagne into economy to wish congratulate us, an amazing gesture and well appreciated. And for the BA Legacy crew that were on board when I flew back to the UK in Nov to visit my very poorly mother, we moan a lot on this forum but these 2 crews made each journey special and deserve a mention…..

[ross]

I store this on my phone – it occasionally comes in handy 🙂

– 78 sectors
– 30 airports (11 of them new to me – SEN, CPT, JNB, AMD, GVA, NCE, MLA, DBV, SPU, CAS & BCN) and
– 13 airlines (EY, BA, EK, QR, SG, U2, FR, WY, SA, LH, AZ, AT, FZ) – 3 of which were new (Spice Jet, Royal Air Maroc and South African).

– Best airline – Etihad, but only for the A380 product
– Worst airline – Etihad, for pretty much every other aspect of their business

– Best lounge – I like the T2 concorde (may be an unpopular choice), and DXB is reasonable and the new Etihad First Lounge isn’t terrible.
– Worst lounge – Any in MCT (hurry uo and open the new terminal!)

– Best new experience? – London (?) Southend Airport, small, quick and efficient.
– Worst new experience? – Lufthansa cancellations/lost luggage. I’m sure they never used to be as bad as what I experienced this year 🙁

– Best airport? – Southend 🙂
– Worst airport? – Malta (Valetta) was crowded, No BA lounge in Split (and also lacked sufficient seating), the passport scanners in Barcelona won’t read my (new) passport and Casablanca was uninspiring and inefficiently slow/poorly organised. I’ll give it to Casablanca for generally feeling underwhelming.

[knightflyer]

Another tough year mostly in the back of the bus…

63 sectors
15 airlines
11 countries

New airlines Flybe, Vietnam Airlines

Best experience – seaplane flight from Hanoi to Halong Bay, fantastic!

Worst service experience – MI electing not to send my bag to Coimbatore for 3 days after they left it in Sing…not easy for me to shop in India.

Worst experience – being diverted to Ankara on BA KUL-LHR due to a young lady passenger who very sadly passed away just a few rows away. Huge shout out to the BA crew who were stoic and did their very best in awful circumstances.

[Author]

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