Looking back to 2021: one year of flights

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sn26567
Posts: 40828
Joined: 13 Feb 2003, 00:00
Location: Rosières/Rozieren, Belgium
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Looking back to 2021: one year of flights

Post by sn26567 »

Like for many of us, 2021 was a poor year, although better than 2020. Being in the category of people at risk, I was very cautious in my selection of flights (time of the year, coronavirus wave, etc.) and tried to use vouchers received for previously cancelled flights. I had again to cancel some flights that were duly booked.

Thus, here is the small list of my 2021 flights:

Flown:

BRU-SPC TB1665 7M8 OO-TMY (before the volcanic eruption of the Cumbre Vieja)
SPC-MAD IB581 321 EC-HUI
MAD-BRU IB3214 32N EC-NDN

BRU-RHO SN3233 320 OO-SNN (Eurowings livery)
RHO-AOK TB2342 7M8 OO-TMB
AOK-BRU TB2342 7M8 OO-TMB

BRU-FCO SN3175 319 OO-SSL
FCO-DBV OU385 DH4 9A-CQE
DBV-FRA LH1417 32N D-AINI
FRA-BRU LH1024 319 D-AIBD

BRU-RIX BT602 223 YL-CSK (Lithuanian flag livery)
RIX-WAW LO782 E75 SP-LIL
WAW-BRU LO231 E95 SP-LNL

BRU-SKG TB2171 E90 OO-JEB
SKG-MUC A3502 320 SX-DVT
MUC-BRU LH2294 319 D-AILP (operated by LH CityLine, Star Alliance livery)

BRU-MUC LH2295 319 D-AILT (operated by LH CityLine, Star Alliance livery)
MUC-BER LH1932 319 D-AIBE
BER-MUC LH1951 320 D-AIWE
MUC-BRU LH2294 319 D-AILS (operated by LH CityLine, Star Alliance livery)

Cancelled:

BRU-SPC TB B38M Cxld by airline, and later reinstated
BRU-LPA SN A320 Cxld by airline
LPA-SPC NT AT76 Cxld by me after SN cxld previous flight

BRU-RHO SN A320 Cxld by me after LH cxld last leg
RHO-MUC LH A320 Cxld by me after LH cxld last leg
MUC-BRU LH E195 operated by Air Dolomiti Cxld by LH

BRU-FCO SN A319 Cxld by me after SN cxld last leg and LH wanted me to stay a night in FRA
FCO-DBV OU DH8D Cxld by me after SN cxld last leg
DBV-FRA LH A20N Cxld by me after SN cxld last leg
FRA-BRU SN A319 Cxld by SN

BRU-HER SN A320 Cxld by me after SN cxld last leg and LH wanted me to stay a night in FRA
HER-FRA LH A321 Cxld by me after SN cxld last leg
FRA-BRU SN A319 Cxld AGAIN by SN

Map of flown sectors
© Great Circle Mapper www.gcmap.com
© Great Circle Mapper www.gcmap.com
New countries: Latvia
New airports: RHO, AOK, RIX, BER
New airlines: airBaltic, Aegean
New aircraft types: Boeing 737 MAX 8, Airbus A320neo

Best flights: BRU-RIX BT602 223 (almost empty spacious aircraft with good legroom, excellent pre-ordered hot breakfast)
Worst flight: WAW-BRU LO231 E95 (fully booked flight with minimal service)

And to mimic another frequent traveller on this site:

Northernmost airport: Riga
Easternmost Airport: Rhodes
Southernmost Airport: Santa Cruz de La Palma
Westernmost Airport: Santa Cruz de La Palma
André
ex Sabena #26567

Charlie Roy
Posts: 523
Joined: 29 Aug 2006, 22:20
Location: Europa

Re: Looking back to 2021: one year of flights

Post by Charlie Roy »

2019 was a record year for me, in terms of number of flights and miles travelled:
104 flights
194,296 miles travelled
1,868 miles per flight on average

2020
24 flights
42,153 miles travelled (Most before mid-March)
1,756 miles per flight on average

2021
21 flights
17,572 miles travelled
837 miles per flight on average
2021 was probably my lowest mileage since 2007 or thereabouts.

http://www.gcmap.com/mapui?P=bru-dub,or ... rk,ork-agp
flights-2021.png
BRU-DUB Ryanair
ORK-AMS KLM
AMS-ORK KLM
ORK-AMS KLM (Note 1)
AMS-BRU KLM (Note 1)
BRU-DUB Ryanair
DUB-BHX Aer Lingus
BHX-DUB Ryanair
DUB-BRU Ryanair
BRU-LIN ITA (Note 2)
LIN-NAP ITA (Note 3)
NAP-LIN ITA
LIN-BRU ITA
CDG-JFK Delta (Note 4)
LGA-DFW Delta (Note 5)
DAL-ATL Delta (Note 6)
ATL-ORD American Airlines (Note 7)
ORD-CDG Air France (Note 8)
BRU-AMS KLM
AMS-ORK KLM
ORK-AGP Aer Lingus

Notes:
  1. ORK-AMS-BRU: KLM, one ticket, with a short connection in AMS. I actually missed the AMS-BRU flight because ORK-AMS had a small delay. I was put on a later AMS-BRU arriving in BRU with a 4 hour delay compared to what I had booked. I was wondering does this case qualify for EU compensation? (I do not intend to apply, I knew the risk of the short connection).
  2. BRU-LIN: New airline - ITA! Flew in Business Class. Nice product, excellent service. Strangely coats are now allowed in the overhead bins by Italian law "due to Covid-19" :roll:
  3. LIN-BRU: New airport - NAP! Not a bad little airport. Nice views on approach.
  4. CDG-JFK: First long-haul flight in a while, and with my favourite airline - Delta! It was a lovely feeling. A long weekend stateside, spending some nights in NYC, Dallas and Atlanta. Transatlantic fares (early December) from CDG were a lot cheaper than BRU or AMS. All the paperwork and testing is such a hassle, although at check-in every detail was studied. JFK no longer has the immigration self-service kiosks, and hence had long queues for immigration.
  5. LGA-DFW: New aircraft - A220! New airport - DFW! 1389 miles, around $100, got upgraded to First Class! Definitely my best flight of 2021. Used public transport at DFW. Very poor signage. Only minimum wage airport employees use the train to downtown it seems. I was the only tourist on board. Explains the lack of signage from Arrivals to the station. Was nice being in Texas, a refreshing break from Covid-19. It did not seem to exist there 8-)
  6. DAL-ATL: New airport - DAL! Good food options, easy to navigate. Like everything else in Dallas: clean and polished and modern. 721 miles, around $100, got upgraded to First Class!
  7. ATL-ORD: I wouldn't usually fly American out of Atlanta but I had a Covid voucher to use (for a DFW-MSY flight which never happened in 2020). And returning to Europe from ORD was a lot cheaper than returning from ATL. Sunday 10:30am and the Boeing 737-800 was full.
  8. ORD-CDG: 2 days before my flight, an SMS from Air France: "New regulations mean you need a negative Covid-19 test for your flight to CDG". So a bit of a stress finding a test in Dallas. Got a free PCR test in the end, with results promised within 24 hours. Of course 24/25/26 hours later still no results and I'm in ORD ready to check-in for my flight. So I got a rapid antigen in ORD. Signage was poor. Paperwork for the test was abominal, pages and pages of forms to fill in. Horrible! I had some time so I was not too stressed. But I saw a lot of Irish flying ORD-DUB, rushing for their flight, surprised by new testing requirements, and having a terrible time getting through the paperwork so that they could get their tests. Paperwork aside, the testing itself was quick, and I had the result within 30 minutes. Of course, I got the result from Dallas at the same time, so had just wasted a $125 on the second test. Interestingly in ORD they were also offering a specific "Hawaii test" for around $250. God knows what's so special about that test. All that paperwork and test stress, and the check-in agent for Air France paid absolutely zero attention to any of it. Had an empty row in the flight, was nice to be able to lie down for the night flight to CDG.

jerry
Posts: 41
Joined: 03 Jul 2014, 18:34

Re: Looking back to 2021: one year of flights

Post by jerry »

Charlie Roy wrote: 01 Jan 2022, 14:35
  1. ORK-AMS-BRU: KLM, one ticket, with a short connection in AMS. I actually missed the AMS-BRU flight because ORK-AMS had a small delay. I was put on a later AMS-BRU arriving in BRU with a 4 hour delay compared to what I had booked. I was wondering does this case qualify for EU compensation? (I do not intend to apply, I knew the risk of the short
Yes it does. Delay is on the arrival time at your last destination so if that is more than 2 hours (in case of short flights), then EU261 applies.

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