AIBU to think I haven’t flown much

[Florraine]

I had a rather odd discussion yesterday about travel with a friend and have been left feeling a little glum. They travel everywhere and seem to think that I travel less than the average Brit, which I always thought wasn’t true.

they are a bit up themselves I must admit!

I’ve just turned 29 and having given it some thought, I have been on 91 flights in my life time (counting one trip as two flights - outward and return). Mostly in Europe but several in Africa and the USA.

I can’t seem to work out we’re they joking or being serious when they said I need to get out more.

were they right? Is it unusual not to have flown much by my age (29)?

By the time Work trips, helicopter trips, small aircraft etc have been counted, I've been on at least 150, if not 200+ flights. I've no idea of the actual number.
But a lot less than my husband.

Your mates obviously don't care about the environment.

I accidentally voted the wrong way as I mixed up your AIBU. Sounds like you've flown plenty to me. She was probably just bragging. Tell her you're thinking of your carbon footprint next time she goes on about it.

@takemeawayagain to be fair, I don’t even know what each option means in this instance!

sounds like you love flying from your username!

I think 91 is a lot but I'm more impressed that you can count/remember them all. I could probably count my flights as an adult but I grew up on a island of a larger country so would fly to the mainland several times a year. I couldn't even hazard a guess!

I think I have done 30 flights in my life. I'm 30 but I didn't fly til I was 15, and half those flights have been in the last two years.

I feel fairly well travelled but I think that's because the last couple of years have been busy and I have done quite a few trips by train or car on top of that but my travel has always been in Europe.

I can't imagine having flown 90+ times and not feeling well travelled!

91 is tonnes, and I love to travel.

But the planes wouldn't travel at all if people didn't fly on them. There's a new summer route from my local airport to Malta this summer. You seem to think that you taking that wouldn't make a difference to the environmental impact. But if that flight wasn't put on by Ryanair then NOBODY would fly there and the carbon emissions would be zero. Everybody's adds up! Take some responsibility.

91 flights sounds like loads. At over 60 I have done 8 if you are counting there and back

I'm 43 and I've flown twice, both times as a teenager. I don't intend to fly again tbh.

I'm probably not well travelled, though I'm happy to hike, walk, backpack and take a train or ferry so I do go places, just not far flung places.

This isn't anything of which to be ashamed. I certainly don't feel glum.

@KrisAkabusi

There's a new summer route from my local airport to Malta this summer. You seem to think that you taking that wouldn't make a difference to the environmental impact. But if that flight wasn't put on by Ryanair then NOBODY would fly there and the carbon emissions would be zero.

That’s a bit simplistic TBH….objectively, like it or not, there is a demand for flights to Malta.

If Ryanair/A N other airline don’t serve it direct from your local airport the locals that really want to go there will still find a way of doing so, either by getting in their cars and driving to a more distant airport to get a direct flight or worse still from an environmental POV fly from the local airport to an intermediate airport and connect from there.

Not having the new flight you refer to might, maybe, reduce demand but it certainly wouldn’t be a case of “NOBODY would fly there”.

I'm a bit older than you and have flown abroad 3 times (more than six flights though - I think 11 due to connecting flights - the odd number is because one journey was 2 flights out and 3 back.)

I've also flown a lot in a Cessna, and a couple of times in other private planes but that should probably be discounted from the data as it's not the same thing at all as what you're looking at.

To me, 91 commercial flights sounds like a lot!

😂😂😂

Why are people being so thick

Booking flights = creating demand = more fucking flights 🤷‍♀️

This is like when people sit in traffic moaning about the traffic without acknowledging they are the traffic.

I never thought about that before!!! MIND BLOWN!

What a dipshit I am. 😆

Exactly, I feel the op is a big plane fan who couldn't give a shit about her impact on the environment and has posted to be deliberately goady

I’m 31 and not been on as many as 91 flights! I’d say 91 flights is quite a lot.

I know that for one year of my life I would have done over 90 flights in that single year given I commuted by plane every week. I then did that for about 6/7 years.

^I don’t get though, given that there are THOUSANDS of flights PER DAY, the difference that one extra person goes on a seat that would have been empty - whether or not they have done this 91 times.

every year there are millions of flights^

And every year there are hundreds of millions of people who fly, some of them many times, which adds up to billions of 'person flights' per year.

But I also can't work out how anyone would think that flying an average of 3 times a year every single year isn't a lot. Many people never fly, others only once every few years .

Do you know how many times I'd flown by your age? None, not once.

And even though I've flown 5-10 times a year between age 30 and 50, I've still probably flown less than you, and I've only been out of Europe once, to Egypt.

Amazing how someone can get to the age of 29 and not realise that lots and lots of "one person" adds up to more than just "one person"

I am failing to see why that is at all important

personally imo this whizzing around the globe obsession is waaay overhyped. granted travelling does broaden the mind.

one can be cultured and learned without travelling
one can be small minded and not really learn anything despite travelling lots
there is sooo much to see right on our doorstep
one doesnt have to fly to travel. many walk/cycle/drive huge distances eg. Rory stewart

not to mention the carbon footprint

either way 91 is quite a lot

are there really people around so insensitive to environmental devastation that they seriously think the suggestion to holiday in your own country is a joke?

Booking flights = creating demand = more fucking flights 🤷‍♀️

Exactly. Not difficult is it? I am a hypocrite because I have flown a lot in recent times, but am going to cut back a lot when I move back to the UK.

Surely being ‘well travelled’ is about where you have been and for how long. Work flights often mean travel to work place, do work, go home for example.

Ditto! 44 and never been abroad