2014 Year in Travel

2014 has been a record travel year.

2014 Flights

I have flown on 86 flights this year, which has been my best year yet.

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.

2014 Hotel Nights

Hotel nights are up this year, too. From 2011 through 2013, I was doing a respectable amount of travel, but the phase of my program combined with budget cuts (and the 2013 federal furloughs and shutdown) had a serious effect on the number of nights I spent on the road. However, I moved to a higher priority program in mid-2013, so while our budget still isn’t great, the priority of the program and the acquisition phase we’re in means that mission-critical travel has climbed back up. In addition, I’ve had far more personal hotel nights this year than usual, an effect of taking a good number of weekend trips when I got the chance, plus a true vacation in the summer.

These stays ended up being:

• 97 nights in Hilton brands
• 2 nights in Marriott brands (a stay at the Gaylord Opryland)
• 1 night in Wyndham brands (American Airlines put me up at a Baymont at the Charlotte airport)
• 6 nights in a VRBO vacation home in Flagstaff I rented with some friends this summer
• 1 night in military base lodging

New Airports

I’ve visited six new airports this year:

#49	ICT	Wichita, Kansas, United States
#50	TUS	Tucson, Arizona, United States
#51	FLG	Flagstaff, Arizona, United States
#52	LAW	Lawton, Oklahoma, United States
#53	SAN	San Diego, California, United States
#54	SJU	San Juan, Puerto Rico, United States

This put me at 54 total airports visited out of my 100 airport goal. I’m over halfway there!

Elite 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).

Of Note

• Longest Flight: MCO – SEA (2554 miles)
• Shortest Flight: FLG – PHX (119 miles)
• Least Direct Layover: ORD – DEN – ICT, 122.5% (720 miles) longer than ORD – ICT

I had six unexpected overnight stays this year:

• 14 – 15 Apr, Newark (EWR): High winds cancelled my connecting flight.
• 27 – 28 May, Chicago-O’Hare (ORD): Thunderstorm cancelled my connecting flight. 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. This one was quite a trip.
• 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.