Looking back to 2019: one year of flights

[sn26567]

December is the ideal month to summarise a year of flights.

It was a very quiet year for me, due to a 4 months break after surgery. I keep slowing down...

A total of 15 single flights, down from 33 in 2018 and 41 in 2017.

New countries: Bulgaria, Albania, Serbia
New airports: Sofia, Tirana, Belgrade
New airlines: Wizz Air (i'm ashamed I never flew this airline earlier; only my wife did), Air Serbia
New aircraft types: none

Best flight: BEG-BRU on an Air Serbia A319 named "Novak Djokovic". To be fair, I had (cheaply) upgraded to business class
Worst flight: MRS-CRL on a Ryanair B738. More than 3 hr delay on departure, when the pilot pushed the engines to the maximum and arrived 2 hr 45 min late at destination, saving the airline 180 x 250 = 45,000 euros in EU261 penalties.

Map of flights:

© Great Circle Mapper www.gcmap.com

Looking forward to a new year of flying, starting with BRU-MXP on FR, with an opera evening at the Teatro alla Scala, followed by MWP-BRU on SN.

And anxious to read your own "annual reports"

[airtrainer]

Flew 43 sectors this year, a bit less compared to the past years but still very happy with that.
Total distance : 90000km
New countries : Ukraine, Palau, China, Mexico and Tanzania.
New airports : KBP, IEV, ODS, RHO, HER, CHQ, SGN, ICN, SPN, GUM, ROR, PEK, SJD, GDL, ZNZ and MBA.
New Airlines : Ukraine International, Motor Sich, Ethiopian, Asiana, Shenzhen Airlines, Volaris.
Highlights : Flying Motor Sich's 47yo Antonov An-24 and a sightseeing flight over Palau on a doorless Cessna 182 !

Map

Sightseeing flight over the Seventy Islands, Palau

[HQ_BRU_Lover]

Very nice summary, it seems 2019 was a very good aviation year for you André!

Worst flight: MRS-CRL on a Ryanair B738. More than 3 hr delay on departure, when the pilot pushed the engines to the maximum and arrived 2 hr 45 min late at destination, saving the airline 180 x 250 = 45,000 euros in EU261 penalties.

Congrats to the pilot for being company minded. I don't understand what's wrong with that, the agreements about the timeframe(s) are clear.

Great picture of Seventy Islands by the way, this must have been the highlight of the year?!

[sean1982]

Very nice summary, it seems 2019 was a very good aviation year for you André!

Worst flight: MRS-CRL on a Ryanair B738. More than 3 hr delay on departure, when the pilot pushed the engines to the maximum and arrived 2 hr 45 min late at destination, saving the airline 180 x 250 = 45,000 euros in EU261 penalties.

Congrats to the pilot for being company minded. I don't understand what's wrong with that, the agreements about the timeframe(s) are clear.

My thoughts exactly. I don’t understand the “hersenkronkels” or some people on this forum

[cathay belgium]

Hi,

Guess André know such things also.. without doubt, but arriving very late without a nice free extra can be hard..
Guess this is just understandable for some People here on the forum
Not everybody has unlimited funds you know...
Haha
Happy Xmas btw , don't expect presents from airlines anno 2019 !

CXB

[cathay belgium]

Hi,

My statistics :

#109 flights ( personal record)
#12 new airlines : Korean Air, Asiana, Pineapple Air, LeAir Charter, Air Italy,NokAir , Bangkok Airways, Alsie Express,CHC Helicopters, Atlantic Airways, Level and Air Antwerp
#3 new countries : South Korea, The Bahama's, Georgia and area's Puerto Rico and the Faroe Islands
#26 new airports : FNI,SGD,FAE,QFO,KBV,HGN,BKK,SFC,GHB,GHC,ORT,PTP,CLT,NASKHE,OZH,LWO,DHR,PUS,CJU,GMP,INC,SJU and TBS ( and a heli spot Torshavn )
# 9 new types with the long wanted shorts360,Embraer 110 bandeirante and DH Dragonrapide as personal highlights...
#1 flight in a B737MAX8 and survived it !

Overall a perfect year aviation wise which will be hard to equal in the future but we will try...

For 2020.. for now only a new A321neo planned... nothing really special planned ...
Guess focus for 2020 will be somewhere else for a year ...

CXB

[sn26567]

Hi,

Guess André know such things also..

CXB

He suggests the pilot(s) pushed the engine to the maximum and therefore saved 15 minutes of flight time.
If you know what I explained, you simply don't say such a thing.

I looked into the FR24 records and it was the fastest flight from MRS to CRL in the three previous months. FR pilots are asked to save fuel and it is certainly not by cruising close to the maximum speed that they can do so. But flying at the maximum speed to arrive no later than 3 hours after schedule saved the airline some 180 x 250 = 45000 euros. Well worth some extra fuel!

[cathay belgium]

Hi,

Back on topic please or start a new one

Nice to know that the maximum speed and the average speed is very close to eachother...
Real speed depends in winds,we all know...
As we all know average avgeeks like EU251 compensations if they can and pilots and airline who earn -too- much are still fighting these too social liberal european fees

So start a new topic or move this to the EU251 topic okay ?

Pfff

CXB

[cathay belgium]

Hi,

Pssss.... Who cares anyway as a pax ....
Aviation is only about flying yourself as we all know ? Haha.. Foe list +1 I guess ...
But as with FR and SN topics... Childish discussions like this nobody bothers... EU 251 or 261 , really ?
André mentioned this on a side... And we get these ?
I know you are annoyed as a car break down but someone also likes that when he is assured that he can claim some of his earlier investment, and if you are missed it by a minute .. that sucks okay
Clearer know... ? Pax don't make EU rules anyway..
I tought it was a funny remark ...

Merry Xmas and lots of flights in front of the cockpit !
Hope you can make sure nobody receives any EU compensations in 2020 and all flights are on time ...
So everybody is happy in front and in the back of the plane ...

Moderator please delete all of this ... Haha

CXB

[Comet]

Mine is very bland in comparison. Apart from the stress of being given incorrect information on the Edinburgh Airport "live" departures website, leading me to think I would lose my holiday, my flying year was very quiet, just the now-usual KLM flights to Warsaw via Amsterdam.
Next year will be a little more varied with my first visit to Wroclaw, my first flight in the Q400 and my first flight with LOT.

[MSS658]

THE SUMMARY!!

Flown

January:
02: Turkish Airlines TK 0337 Baku- Istanbul IST A321-200 TC-JMH Y 19F
02: Turkish Airlines TK 1957 Istanbul IST - Amsterdam A330-200 TC-LOI Y 35K

March:
09: Ryanair FR 0163 Brussels - Berlin SXF B737-800 EI-DPH W 04A
10: Eurowings/CSA EW2005 Berlin TXL - Stuttgart A319-100 OK-NEM W 10A
10: Eurowings/LGW EW2164 Stuttgart - Brussels DH8-400 D-ABQO W 9F

April:
06 Norwegian International Airlines D8 6687 Dusseldorf-Palma De Mallorca B737-800 EI-FJW Y 23F
07: Tuifly Belgium TB 1442 Palma de Mallorca - Ostend B737-800 OO-JAF W 01A

May:
30: Ukraine International Airlines PS 0146 Brussels - Kyiv KBP B737-800 UR-PSU W 15A
31: Belavia Belrussian Airlines B2 0846 Kyiv KBP - Minsk B737-500 EW-252PA Y 16A

Jun:
02: Ukraine International Airlines/Windrose Aviation PS 0832 Minsk - Kyiv KBP Embrear 145 UR-DNF Y 15A
02: Ukraine International Airlines PS 0147 Kyiv KBP - Brussels Boeing 737-800 UR-PSV W 04F

Sep:
08: Austrian Airlines OS 0352 Brussels - Vienna Embrear 195 OE-LWD Y 31A
08: Austrian Airlines OS 0757 Vienna - Sarajevo Airbus A319-100 OE-LDF Y 23A
10: Adria Airways JP 0700 Sarajevo - Pristina CRJ-900 S5-AFA Y 23A
10: Adria Airways JP 0700 Pristina - Ljubljana CRJ-900 S5-AFA Y 21D
10: Adria Airways JP 0394 Ljubljana- Brussels CRJ-700 S5-AAY Y 07A

Oct:
17: Brussels Airlines SN 2711 Brussels - Geneva Airbus A319-100 OO-SSD Y 21A
17: United Airlines UA 0957 Geneva - Newark Boeing 767-300ER N651UA Y 41L
17: United Airlines UA 2102 Newark - Charlotte Boeing 737-900ER N37474 Y 36F
20: United Express/Mesa Airlines UA 6010 Charlotte - Washington IAD CRJ-700 N504MJ W 09A
20: United Airlines UA 0168 Washington IAD - Lisbon Boeing 757-200 N18119 W 20A
21: Brussels Airlines SN 3816 Lisbon - Brussels Airbus A320-200 OO-SNA Y 11A

Nov:
04: Eurowings EW 0754 Cologne - Vienna A320-200 D-ABDU W 10A
06: Eurowings EW 0755 Vienna - Cologne A319-100 D-AGWX J 03F
07: KLM Cityhopper KL 1856 Dusseldorf- Amsterdam Embrear 190 "PH-EZO" W 07F
07: Delta Air Lines DL 0051 Amsterdam - New York JFK B767-300ER N190DN Y 33G
07: Delta Air Lines DL 2662 New York JFK - Charlotte B717-200 N927AT Y 26A
08: Frontier Airlines F9 0201 Charlotte-Denver A321-200 N721FR W 03A
08: Frontier Airlines F9 0553 Denver - San Diego A319-100 N553FR W 03F
13: Alaska Airlines/Horizon Air AS 2369 Spokane - Seattle DH8-400 N405XQ Y 08E
13: Alaska Airlines AS 0676 Seattle - Dallas DFW B737-900ER N481AS W 08F
13: American Airlines AA 0855 Dallas DFW - Charlotte A321-200 N510UW Y 32A
17: Delta Air Lines DL 1856 Charlotte - Atlanta B717-200 N966AT W 13E
17: Delta Air Lines DL 0090 Atlanta - Dusseldorf B767-400 N829MH W 18A


BOOKED:




CANCELLED:
TXL-STR: Change of operator from Germanwings to CSA Czech Airlines
MSQ-KBP: Change of operator from Ukraine International Airlines to Windrose Aviation
BRU-LJU: Cancellation by Adria Airways
LJU-SJJ: Rebooking via VIE
SJJ-LJU: Cancelled due to combination of the LJU/PRN flights
EWR-CLT: Due to schedule change rebooked to next flight
CGN-VIE: Change of operator from Germanwings -> Eurowings
VIE-CGN: Change of operator from Germanwings-> Eurowings
DUS-ATL: Cancellation by Delta Air Lines
ATL-CLT: Rebooking via AMS/JFK
GEG-SEA: Rebooking due to later flight being oversold
DFW-CLT: Rebooking from later flight due to schedule change on Alaska


Best flight: United Express/Mesa Airlines Charlotte - Washington IAD (87%)
Worst flight: Adria Airways Sarajevo - Pristina (70%)


Shortest flight (time): 0:48 Adria Airways Sarajevo - Pristina
Shortest flight (distance): 179km KLM Cityhopper Dusseldorf - Amsterdam
Longest flight (time): 8:38 United Airlines Geneva-Newark
Longest flight (distance): 7244km Delta Air Lines Atlanta-Dusseldorf


Northernmost airport: Minsk
Easternmost Airport: Baku
Southernmost Airport: San Diego
Westernmost Airport: Seattle

[Charlie Roy]

2019 was a record year for me, in terms of number of flights and miles travelled:

• 104 flights

• 194,296 miles travelled

http://www.gcmap.com/mapui?P=MDQ-AEP,EZ ... AN,HAN-DAD

My loyalty is to Delta (Skyteam).
Only 13 of my 104 flights were not with a Skyteam airline or partner.
Despite living in Belgium, and doing 104 flights in a year, only 1 flight was with Brussels Airlines: NCE-BRU.

Counting departures and arrivals, here is the frequency of my top airports:
ATL 28
BRU 27
JFK 15
MSP 10
LGA 9
AMS 8
GRU 8
DUB 7
LAX 5
...
CRL 4
CDG 3
...

New countries:

• Paraguay

• Uruguay

• South Korea

• Singapore

• Vietnam

New airports: 28 new airports!

• Asuncion ASU looked like something from Star Trek

• Wichita ICT claimed to be the "Aviation Capital of the World"

• Almeria LEI had a nice outdoor viewing area airside...

New airlines: It amazes me how these Asian airlines, even LCC, have excellent legroom, whereas KLM whose home population is on average a lot taller has terrible legroom!

• Korean Air

• Vietnam Airlines

• VietJet

New aircraft types: I don't really keep track of these, but on a KLM 747 from AMS-YYZ I was upgraded to business class, the nose section, that was interesting. Also, I was scheduled to fly on a 737MAX with WestJet but the aircraft type got changed for obvious reasons.

Highlights: Being Delta Diamond / Skyteam Elite Plus I got multiple upgrades, even to First Class on some longhaul flights.
Lowlights:

• MDQ-AEP with Austral Argentina took off during the safety demonstration!

• Flying SIN-CDG with Air France I did not get to see the amazing parts of Singapore airport.

• Air Canada cancelled my flight into Toronto Downtown (YTZ) on the day of departure and flew me to Pearson (YYZ) instead.

• A 16 hour delay on JFK-PDX, with significant time wasted on the tarmac before the first cancellation.

• I decided to gain miles by flying ICT-BRU as ICT-MSP-LAX-ATL-BRU (it was also cheaper so that my boss would approve), during the LAX-ATL redeye segment I had terribly high fever. Luckily during my long layover in ATL I was able to go to a friend's house and get some proper sleep in a bed.

• Dealing with Expedia to change the date of a fully flex, fully refundable ticket.

2020: I have already flown HUI-SGN-TPE-AMS-BRU, added a new type (A350 in business) with China Airlines (a new airline). I have already made reservations in 2020 for 58,000 miles...