What Are The Flight Detective’s Flying Statistics For 2017?

Statistics. The very word conjures up a feeling of horror inside me, mainly because studying it is an experience I don’t want to repeat. The fun part of it though is something like working out how many flights you have done in a year.

In my case, it is quite easy as I use an online tool called Flight Memory. All I need to do is enter in all my flights and I can grab the statistics quite easily. Let’s have a look!

Domestic Flights

There are only two domestic routes in Ireland, from Dublin to Kerry and Donegal. Flying to either destination takes far less time than driving or by using a bus or train. Both of these routes are operated as a Public Service Obligation (PSO) meaning they are subsidised by the Irish Government.

The airport in Donegal has one of the most scenic approaches in the world and it really is quite pretty to see in person. I’ll have to make a point of getting to the other domestic destination in Kerry next year.

European Flights

Looking at the European map shows a lot of flights, however some of these were to connect to other destinations. Stockholm, Pisa and Frankfurt were for connections. I headed to Ibiza for two nights so I could be on the inaugural British Airways flight to there from Dublin.

Places like Paris and Amsterdam I did visit to meet up with friends. The others, such as Lyon and Luxembourg were straight overnight trips in order to use the Cathay Pacific First Class lounge at Heathrow. Yes, I booked flights to use an airport lounge and I’m not ashamed to admit it!

Intercontinental Flights

For the first time ever I took two trips back to the city that spawned me, Sydney. A lot of that was thanks to some very reasonable business class fares with Qatar Airways and I got to fly the world’s longest flight four times.

In Australia, I used my Avios points for domestic business class flights on Qantas, which I think is an excellent way to use miles. It resulted in a lot of enjoyment for me and I even got to take my Dad in business class for the first time ever too.

So What Are The Overall Statistics?

Okay, now to the statistics. I managed to fly 62 flights throughout the year, the longest being the 14,550km between Doha and Auckland. All in, I spend 181 hours in the air – just over a week – flying 115,687km or 71,885 miles.

British Airways was my carrier of choice, with 28 flights followed by Qantas with 12, Qatar Airways with 8 and Aer Lingus with 5. The vast majority were on the Airbus A320 family of aircraft which is no surprise considering I’m based in Europe.

When it comes to travel classes, I flew 21 flights in Economy Class and 40 flights in Business Class. I certainly can save on flight ticket costs when I put my mind to it.

My favourite flights, overlooking statistics, were the Qatar Airways flights. Business Class with them is an eye opening experience all round and I strongly recommend it.

Overall Thoughts

My previous best was 46 flights in 2009 so I’ve certainly beat that target. It is very unlikely that I will beat the 2017 total in 2018 but I am sure I’ll give it a go the following year, all going to plan.

While I am certainly not at the level of some of the BoardingArea bloggers, I think my total is respectable enough when it comes down to it. How was your 2017 in flying? Did you get many flights or just a few? Thanks for reading and please leave your comments or questions below.

To never miss a post, you can follow me on Facebook, and I am on Twitter and Instagram too!
All my flight and lounge reviews are indexed here if you want to see more.

Featured image by Artem Katranzhi, from Bakashikha, Russia via Wikimedia Commons.
Qatar Airways image by Darren Koch via Wikimedia Commons.