2014 Year in Travel

2014 has been a record travel year.

Flights

I flew on 86 flights this year, which was my best year yet.

A chart of my flights by year. 2014 shows 86 flights. — Number of Flights by Year. Includes both business and personal flights.

In particular, the last four months of the year have had me traveling about three weeks a month; I’m on a high stakes program at work, and it’s been a particularly busy travel time for that program. I also had a few personal trips this year.

New Airports

I’ve visited six new airports this year:

#	Code	Airport	First Visit
55	ICT	Wichita Kansas, United States	28 May 2014
56	TUS	Tucson Arizona, United States	21 Jun 2014
57	FLG	Flagstaff Arizona, United States	28 Jun 2014
58	LAW	Lawton Oklahoma, United States	6 Oct 2014
59	SAN	San Diego California, United States	1 Nov 2014
60	SJU	San Juan Puerto Rico, United States	26 Nov 2014

Hotels

A chart of my hotel nights by year. 2014 shows 110 nights. — Nights Away from Home by Year. Includes both business and personal nights.

Hotel nights are up this year, too, to 110 nights. From 2011 through 2013, I was doing a respectable amount of travel, but my program moved into a phase with less travel. However, I moved to a higher priority program in mid-2013, which caused my travel to climb back up. In addition, I’ve had a lot of personal nights again this year, an effect of taking a good number of weekend trips when I got the chance, plus a true vacation in the summer.

Frequent Traveler Status

I was able to reclaim Hilton HHonors Diamond this year—in fact, I hit the 60 nights required for Diamond in September, and ended the year with 96 elite-qualifying nights. In addition, I was able to hit United MileagePlus Gold for the first time (in fact, it’s the first time I’ve hit the second tier on any airline’s program).

Since United was partnered with Marriott, my United status also granted me Marriott Rewards Gold.

Superlatives

Longest Flight: MCO–SEA (2550 miles or 4103 km)
Shortest Flight: FLG–PHX (119 miles or 191 km)
Least Direct Layover: ORD–DEN–ICT, 122.4% longer than ORD–ICT

Unplanned Overnight Stays

I had six unplanned overnight stays this year.

14–15 Apr, Newark (EWR). High winds cancelled my connecting flight.
27–28 May, Chicago–O’Hare (ORD). A thunderstorm cancelled my connecting flight. I also had to take an extra layover in Denver the next day.
5–6 Jul, Orlando (MCO). A mechanical issue led to a delay as the airline brought in a replacement aircraft; the replacement aircraft ingested a bird into the engine, leading us to wait for a second replacement aircraft. By that time it was after 22:00, so we accepted a flight change to the following afternoon.
25–26 Aug, Chicago–O’Hare (ORD). Air Force Two closed the ramp at Chicago, followed by a thunderstorm.
10–11 Oct, Charlotte (CLT). A stuck cargo door at Lawton led to a chain of delays that ended up with me being stuck overnight at Charlotte.
11–12 Dec, Chicago–O’Hare (ORD). I was delayed leaving Orlando by a late incoming aircraft, causing me to miss my connection in Chicago.

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