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)?

Your friend is extremely entitled and self centred to not be able to grasp that 90 is a lot. Do they also not understand how anyone can eat food not from Waitrose (or similar)?

I've flown 55 times that I can remember. I know I'm forgetting some. I'm 39 and my first time on a plane was going to Dublin at 12. And I never went abroad from 2014 till 2022. So could possibly be more of I had.

I'm off abroad this year again so it'll be 57 times.

91 flights is loads. I'm 53, and have taken return holiday flights to Cuba, Rhodes, Switzerland and Menorca, plus one of those "flying lesson" experiences, and been taken to hospital in a Royal Navy Sea King. So that's ten individual spells in the air, in total.

I've also travelled to France twice, once by ferry, the other by bus through the Tunnel, and Belgium and Spain by ferry. Every other holiday I've taken has been in the UK. We usually take holidays at Easter and Summer, as well as several weekends away in hotels or in our touring caravan. I certainly don't feel like I'm missing out in any way.

Also my parents go abroad at least 4 or 5 times a year so they'll be 100+

How did you get to 91? I'd have lost track. I didn't get on a plane until I was 28. I think it's very privileged to judge that as not many flights.

I've only been outside the UK 3 times in my life but I've flown within the UK a few times as well. When I went to France we actually flew from Aberdeen to Luton where a bus collected us for the rest of the trip.

I've been on 12 flights in total but half of them were for one holiday to Alaska as I needed 3 flights each way.

I've travelled over a lot of the UK via his, train and car though. All my childhood holidays were camping within the UK and as a result I've only ever had 2 passports (one for the France trip and one for Alaska. My first holiday abroad was to Florida, I was 14 and my brother and I travelled on our parents' passports).

By the age of 29 I had been on three flights (a school trip when I was fifteen).
I am 67 now and have still only been on three flights.
91 seems a lot.

Either you are joking or a spoilt brat.

A quick bit of mental arithmetic reveals I've been on well over 600 flights.
Have been or am Gold frequent flyer on BA, Cathay, Emirates, Qantas and Air Nz.
My first ever flight was when I was 25.
I'm now late 40's

I have no idea how many flights I have been on as I don't keep a tally.
A few anyway. Not as many as you have obviously!
Well done for being so " well travelled "!

Leaving environmental issues aside for a moment and addressing the OP.

90 ish flights is a decent number for somebody traveling on their own dollar just for holidays but TBH I suspect not that unusual…one clue is in the number of threads you see elsewhere in MN asking for advice on things like good cities for weekend breaks.

When I used to travel a lot more than I do now I’d see the same folks (often well heeled) regularly in airports/on aircraft off to their holiday pad on a Friday night…

Under a hundred flights certainly almost trivial compared with the amount some business flyers do (see some pps).

I couldn’t be proud of 91 flights. I love travelling but I try and restrict my flights to one a year because… well you know climate change and all that.

Certainly couldn’t sit there and have a debate (humble brag) over who was f’ing up the planet more!

Just feels like a dirty secret, and yes I know I’m entirely hypocritical over this but there you go!

So I suppose you’ve never been abroad on holiday, no?

I am 46 and have done 8 return flights in my life, non long haul

I’m terrified of flying. I’ve flown once in my life, and got the train home. I spend 2-3 months a year abroad.

Supply and demand - if people reduced flying they would need to reduce the number of flights offered.

Either you are deliberately being a bit thick to wind us up or you really don't understand about supply and demand.

Either you are deliberately being a bit thick to wind us up or you really don't understand about supply and demand.

TBF to the OP I thought the question posed in that post(“I don’t get though…”) and certainly the one I attempted to answer, was about the effect of one passenger on the emissions on a single flight.

God help us! They only fly because people buy tickets. If everyone took responsibility and stopped buying tickets, they'd stop flying. If most people flew less, there'd be fewer flights. No wonder we have a climate emergency

I've flown 10 times. I'm 61.

Comparison is the thief of joy.

Who cares? I've been abroad fewer times than I can count on my 2 hands and I'm 34. Do I really care? No. Not much money growing up. Much less now 🤣. This a beautiful country we live in and I absolutely love exploring it. Although I'm always pleased there are so many people caught up with foreign travel, it leaves the nice bits of this country a bit quieter.

I've just totted up my flights, I'm fairly well travelled in my mind and I've done around 50 legs in 50 years. Didn't fly much as a kid then most years as an adult though did take ferry some years or not go abroad

I don't think flying a lot makes you cultured or well travelled in the proper sense. You could've just gone to the same resort in the Costa brava 3 times a year every year, you could consistently fly long haul all over the world go directly to your all inclusive resort and back again. I don't think those things broaden the mind.... I flew regularly between Essex and Manchester for a previous job, it was quicker and cheaper than driving or train, I don't think that adds to my social capital

What an odd thing to worry about!

I've flown precisely 7 times (and back again obviously).

It’s not that physics isn’t your strong point, it’s that thinking isn’t your strong point.