Now that it’s been a full year of travel, I thought I’d revisit where I’ve been. Needless to say, I’ve been busy! This post summarizes my 2024 travels by air, and highlights a few memorable ones. You can compare this to my post from last year.

MyFlightRadar24 Travel Stats

For those unfamiliar, FlightRadar24 has a feature where you can log your own travels. Each leg has fields for flight information, seat number, class, and even reviews of airports, planes, and airlines. While I don’t spend much time reviewing on that site, it’s still a nifty tool to see full flight summaries.

Here are my stats for 2024:

Compare these stats to the ones last year:

I took significantly more flights but with about the same number of miles flown. Last year I took three long-haul international trips (New Zealand, Vietnam, and Austria) whereas this year I only went on one trip to Spain/Germany. Domestic flights don’t nearly cover the same distance – while I know the United States is big, it’s not THAT big 🙂

Elite Status in 2024

I largely followed my initial plan on elite status strategy at the start of the year, but with a few surprises…

American Airlines – Platinum

As I have now moved to a Southwest/United hub, I think my odds of flying American will be slimmer and slimmer. But the elite status is just so easy to get and recent speculation of Citi TYP transferring to AA miles makes it worth it to keep OneWorld Emerald.

Southwest Airlines – A-List

In January I wrote about how I might qualify for Southwest A-List. And sure enough, I completed the status match and got A-List through the end of September. Now I do have the option of renewing A-List until December by completing the 20 flights needed in a program year. Painfully enough, here’s where I stand as of December 31:

There was a slight miscalculation on my part so I probably won’t get it through December. But no sweat – Southwest allows for status matching every year, so I’ll just try again in September (if I find it worth it).

Let me just take a moment and say that A-List has been an absolute game-changer. All the things I hated about Southwest (having to check in right at 24 hours on the dot, playing the guessing game of whether I’d be stuck in a middle seat, intentionally booking long layovers just to get a better seat on my connection) have gone out the window. With A-List, if you make a change or if you check in late and get a boarding pass in B or C, you can board before your position immediately after A60. That’s huge, and basically guarantees you will never get a middle seat! The only thing I don’t get on Southwest is any form of free wifi…but that’s a first world problem.

United Airlines – Silver

This one definitely was unexpected. My move to Denver kind of accelerated this effort here, as did my existing lifetime mileage balance.Silver is the lowest status offered by United and normally I wouldn’t care much about it. But there’s quite a few benefits that makes this so valuable, at least for me:

• United same-day confirmed changes are free for all elite members, including Silver! American requires Platinum Pro and Delta needs Gold. This is a big one for me as it provides maximum flexibility on travel day.
• Waived upgrade copays on domestic upgrades. This is incredibly handy when the first-class cabin is an international life-flat seat!
• A dedicated elite status member phone line and chat. American routes all calls through one call center now, just prioritizing based on status.
• 1 free checked bag up to 70 pounds instead of the normal 50 pounds, and 3 free checked bags on any premium cabin (F, J)

United Silver status is a benefit of Marriott Titanium, so maybe that’s the right way to do this going forward. But for now, hooray!

Marriott – Platinum Elite

Hyatt – Explorist

Thanks to all my friends in the game, I’ve slowly started chipping away at Hyatt status. The loyalty program is quite robust and redemption rates are fantastic. I’ve spent 20 nights in Hyatt hotels this year (all organically, no credit card) and so far I’ve liked it. The rooms aren’t quite as consistently nice as Marriott, but the mini-suites that I get are quite spacious. No Discoverist just yet, but that’s the goal for next year.

“Wow, that’s a lot”

Yes I know my methods are a little unorthodox. Most travel-hackers are so affixed on putting all eggs in one basket. I spit them across programs and honestly each program’s marginal benefit is good enough for me! Sure maybe I’m just a lowly United Silver, but if a flight is completely empty on United but almost full on American, I have no issue with choosing United instead to get a larger seat and free meal.