Who travels a lot? (two to three long hauls a month)

Who travels a lot? (two to three long hauls a month)

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robm3

Original Poster:

4,927 posts

227 months

Sunday 18th November 2018
quotequote all
The initial message was deleted from this topic on 18 November 2018 at 21:15

brickwall

5,250 posts

210 months

Sunday 18th November 2018
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I did - I have recently moved jobs, in part to slow it down. I've had a BA Gold Card since I was 23.

Last 3 years:

2015 I did ~60 flights, mostly long haul to the US and Caribbean (NY, Trinidad, Greneda, St Lucia, Barbados)
2016 a similar number, this time to Vietnam, Malaysia, Kenya, South Africa, and a couple of trips to Madrid and Geneva
2017 it was about 100 flights. South Africa, Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Riyadh, plus a few to Berlin, Dublin, Amsterdam,
and Geneva

I was spending >50% of my time away from home, so in 2018 I vowed to slow it down. I've taken 6 work flights this year. The gold card expires next year - I see it as a sign of success!

Kenty

5,047 posts

175 months

Sunday 18th November 2018
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I'm now Emirates Skywards Gold member.
Last couple years done - Oz (x2), NZ, Maldives, India, China, Hong kong, Dubai, Miami and a few short haul.
If your after a mega flyer - Schmalex, he does UK/OZ a couple of times a month i think!

rich1231

17,331 posts

260 months

Sunday 18th November 2018
quotequote all
brickwall said:
I did - I have recently moved jobs, in part to slow it down. I've had a BA Gold Card since I was 23.

Last 3 years:

2015 I did ~60 flights, mostly long haul to the US and Caribbean (NY, Trinidad, Greneda, St Lucia, Barbados)
2016 a similar number, this time to Vietnam, Malaysia, Kenya, South Africa, and a couple of trips to Madrid and Geneva
2017 it was about 100 flights. South Africa, Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Riyadh, plus a few to Berlin, Dublin, Amsterdam,
and Geneva

I was spending >50% of my time away from home, so in 2018 I vowed to slow it down. I've taken 6 work flights this year. The gold card expires next year - I see it as a sign of success!
All on BA ? If yes, you must be be Gold card for life.

brickwall

5,250 posts

210 months

Sunday 18th November 2018
quotequote all
rich1231 said:
brickwall said:
I did - I have recently moved jobs, in part to slow it down. I've had a BA Gold Card since I was 23.

Last 3 years:

2015 I did ~60 flights, mostly long haul to the US and Caribbean (NY, Trinidad, Greneda, St Lucia, Barbados)
2016 a similar number, this time to Vietnam, Malaysia, Kenya, South Africa, and a couple of trips to Madrid and Geneva
2017 it was about 100 flights. South Africa, Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Riyadh, plus a few to Berlin, Dublin, Amsterdam,
and Geneva

I was spending >50% of my time away from home, so in 2018 I vowed to slow it down. I've taken 6 work flights this year. The gold card expires next year - I see it as a sign of success!
All on BA ? If yes, you must be be Gold card for life.
Not all BA. Etihad, Emirates, Caribbean Airlines, Malaysian....

I'm only about half way to Gold for life actually...I've only done about 5 years of serious flying (I'm still in my twenties!). I tend to be between 2-4,000 TPs per year. Some years are quieter.

K50 DEL

9,237 posts

228 months

Sunday 18th November 2018
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Very jealous of all of you who fly so much..
For a few years I managed to maintain gold on both BA and EK but they've long since gone and I'm back to no status with either as I no longer have to fly with work.

I know many people hate it but for me I would happily fly long-haul weekly if I could, i absolutely love it! (assuming premium cabins of course, there's no fun in flying at the back of the bus!)

jontysafe

2,351 posts

178 months

Sunday 18th November 2018
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Travel long haul a fair bit and it’s hard on two little ones (2 and 4) and my very understanding wife. I’m probably away 5-6months of the year in total.
Been gold on Emirates a while, probably go platinum, was gold on BA but handed off a lot of the euro stuff to concentrate on Asia and ME. It’s just a bus at the end of the day. I enjoy Hà nội, Bangkok, Pattaya, Seoul, Mauritius and Manila amongst others. Not so keen on KL, Phuket, Delhi. Those are just my experiences though.
I’m in Dubai for a week every 6 weeks or so as it’s a great springboard to Asia and we have an office there.

schmalex

13,616 posts

206 months

Sunday 18th November 2018
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K50 DEL said:
Very jealous of all of you who fly so much..
For a few years I managed to maintain gold on both BA and EK but they've long since gone and I'm back to no status with either as I no longer have to fly with work.

I know many people hate it but for me I would happily fly long-haul weekly if I could, i absolutely love it! (assuming premium cabins of course, there's no fun in flying at the back of the bus!)
Why jealous?!?!? I’m Platinum on Emirates and Silver in BA. I’ts not a badge I wear with pride. On top of the little hops, this year, I’ve done 53 sectors over 6 hours and been away from home for 87 nights.

smifffymoto

4,554 posts

205 months

Monday 19th November 2018
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If you get Platinum or Gold status without buying it,home must be a hotel room or a plane cabin. All the tea in China wouldn’t be enough for that life.
You must have the support of a very understanding,patient wife.

K50 DEL

9,237 posts

228 months

Monday 19th November 2018
quotequote all
schmalex said:
Why jealous?!?!? I’m Platinum on Emirates and Silver in BA. I’ts not a badge I wear with pride. On top of the little hops, this year, I’ve done 53 sectors over 6 hours and been away from home for 87 nights.
Simply because I love to travel and love to fly in particular....I actually enjoy living out of a suitcase!

To be fair I am single with no kids, if I had family at home I'd probably feel different.

StevieBee

12,890 posts

255 months

Monday 19th November 2018
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Most of my work these days is international mainly in post-conflict, low income and emerging economic regions.

Was in Sarajevo last week (very cool city), Got Zanzibar to squeeze in before the end of the year. North Cyprus is an ongoing project. Sierra Leone, Bulgaria, Indonesia, Panama.....and other similar to them.

In September, I was in the UK for just six days.

I'm a lone voice in loving it. Most of the places i get to go you would never consider as viable destination in any other context and what they say about travelling broadening the mind is very very true.

The only downside is that in the past, I had nobody to share the experience with. But with my kids a bit older, my wife can now come on a few of the trips with me.






K50 DEL

9,237 posts

228 months

Monday 19th November 2018
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anonymous said:
[redacted]
Less than that (or it used to be) I think it was 5 full fare business tickets from LHR to LAD saw me go through silver and reach BA Gold (that actually happened so quickly that I had already become gold before I actually got home to pick up the silver card!) once I'd moved to DXB and started to use the front of the EK bus to fly around, that gave me Gold on them pretty quickly, whilst my business tickets back to the UK on leave kept the BA Gold for several years.

If you fly premium cabins on full-fare tickets it really doesn't take long to gain status... at one point my CIV score on BA was 97 - I imagine it's about 9.7 now lol

smifffymoto

4,554 posts

205 months

Monday 19th November 2018
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What benefits do you get with status? Do they make your travelling life better?
I will never get any status because I fly for holidays and even then try to avoid it.

SS2.

14,462 posts

238 months

Monday 19th November 2018
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robm3 said:
I have deleted my initial message from this topic.
Why ?

Doofus

25,819 posts

173 months

Monday 19th November 2018
quotequote all
SS2. said:
robm3 said:
I have deleted my initial message from this topic.
Why ?
Presumably because he got comprehensively out-PHed.

smile

Unexpected Item In The Bagging Area

7,028 posts

189 months

Monday 19th November 2018
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What jobs do the frequent flyers in here do to that require them to spend so much time in the air?

Doofus

25,819 posts

173 months

Monday 19th November 2018
quotequote all
Unexpected Item In The Bagging Area said:
What jobs do the frequent flyers in here do to that require them to spend so much time in the air?
I worked for a chap many years ago who told me "You'll know when you're important, because that's when everyone else comes to you."

wink

Polite M135 driver

1,853 posts

84 months

Monday 19th November 2018
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I’m a seat checker for a wealthy family. It’s my job to fly ahead of them and make sure the seat they are getting on the plane is satisfactory.

GT03ROB

13,263 posts

221 months

Monday 19th November 2018
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smifffymoto said:
What benefits do you get with status? Do they make your travelling life better?
I will never get any status because I fly for holidays and even then try to avoid it.
It can certainly make life easier. I've been BA Gold for the last 5 years or so. Pros:
1) 1st Wing at T5. - Own check in & security area, straight into the lounge.
2) Always able to use business or 1st check ins elsewhere, less queues.
3) Fast track security where it exists, less queues.
4) Lounges, less hassle
5) No need to pay to reserve seats
6) Extra baggage allowance
7) Theoretical seating, means BA will block the seat next to you if the load allows
8) Certain seats reserved for Gold card holders (usually from row or exit row seats)
9) Extra Avios.
10) Phone lines quicker, think through in 30secs, not holding for 30mins.
11) Better in flight service : think champagne in economy
12) better service when it all goes wrong.
13) Priority boarding.
14) When they need to upgrade, better chance.

captain_cynic

12,004 posts

95 months

Monday 19th November 2018
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Unexpected Item In The Bagging Area said:
What jobs do the frequent flyers in here do to that require them to spend so much time in the air?
There'd be a few different ones but for me years back it was to do software deployment and training. Of course this was back in the day before the internet was so ubiquitous and most of the places weren't particularly glamorous as most of our clients were mining companies, so I went to such lovely locations as a mining site 400 miles from Ulaanbaatar, the time I've seen a server room that required a heater.