My environmental disaster

A KLM wing against a purple, pink, and orange sunrise sky

I’ve kept track of all the flights I’ve ever taken since the first time I flew when I was twelve. I started because it felt like a special thing, not because I’m an aviation nut, and kept doing it out of habit. A few days ago I was adding a couple of pivot tables to my spreadsheet, and thought that some of the data was interesting enough to share with my zero readers.

  1. At the end of 2024 I’d taken 470 flights, with an average of a fraction over 13 flights per year since the year I started flying. My first flight was Milan Malpensa to Los Angeles on Alitalia’s Boeing 747 “Porto Cervo”.
  2. 1996 and 1997 were the only years I didn’t take any flights.
  3. My first double-digit year was 2003 (12 flights), when I went to Lisbon a bunch of times to learn about interactive TV.
  4. Since 2007, the only single-digit year was 2020, because of course.
  5. My top two years, tied at 33 flights each, were 2010 (at the height of my academic activity) and 2023.
  6. It took me until 2007 (about 18 years) to get to 100 flights. My 100th flight was Bologna to Amsterdam on KLM.
  7. It took me until 2011 (about 4.5 years) to get to 200 flights. My 200th flight was Bologna to Lisbon on TAP.
  8. It took me until 2016 (a little less than 5 years) to get to 300 flights. My 300th flight was Amsterdam to Bologna on KLM.
  9. It took me until 2022 (about 6 years) to get to 400 flights. My 400th flight was Boston to Amsterdam on Delta.
  10. My top airline is KLM, with 137 flights, followed by Delta (102) and Air France (with a nice 69 flights).
  11. My top departure airport is Bologna, with 85 departures, followed by Amsterdam (82) and Boston (52).
  12. My top arrival airport is Bologna, with 83 arrivals, followed by Amsterdam (82) and Boston (50).
  13. I’ve crossed the Atlantic westward 57 times. My top port of entry in the US is Boston (25 entries), followed by JFK (10) and San Francisco (9).
  14. The first flight I took by myself was in 1993, from Milan Malpensa to Amsterdam on KLM, on my way to San Francisco.
  15. I have 4 KLM Delft Blue houses.
  16. My favorite flight remains, to this day, my second flight ever, from Los Angeles to San Francisco on Delta, at sunset.