Taking a trip just to fly on a specific type of plane

Kno · Thu Apr 19, 2018 6:16 am

I prioritize airplane type but I've never flown one place and straight back just to be on the plane. I mean if you're going all the way to AMS why not spend a day or two and enjoy the city?

With that said I'll make crazy connections and go out of my way to fly specific types no problem. I once flew BOS-ATL-EWR just because Delta was ending widebody service between BOS-ATL (763) and I wanted to enjoy the ATL-EWR 757 as well. Obviously I could have just flown BOS-EWR on a 737 with a 30min flight time but I made a day of it instead.

CarlosSi · Thu Apr 19, 2018 6:40 am

Beggars can't be choosers

.

I tried doing AUS-DFW-EGE and back last year to fly the 757, but the flight was on the most expensive week of the year to fly (it seemed as such, right after New Years Day) so I backed out.

Ended up adding a mini trip to Vegas and flew back home on an G4 MD80 (so I did treat myself that at least, but the fare was cheap to begin with).

I suppose it'd be considered less crazy if you were trying to fly a specific type because of the product offered on the plane (i.e., lie-flat, any 787 flight, etc.), but that's not what this thread is about.

blandy62 · Thu Apr 19, 2018 6:41 am

L1011 wrote:
I went to Alaska just so I could fly on Reeve Aleutian's Electras.

if this was still possible, I would surely go to Alaska just for that

388crazy · Thu Apr 19, 2018 9:17 am

when booking flights I will usually choose the flight with a new aircraft type or airline for me but I have done 3 trips just to get on a plane.

November 2013 MEL-OOL-MEL on JQ's first 788 return same day
March 2016 to fly on the 747SP (and also got my first A350) MEL-SIN-KUL-IKA-DXB-SIN-MEL in 5 days or so
November 2017 MEL-PER on QF 789, was meant to be first flight but it ended up flying 2 flights prior. returned same day on VA

longhauler · Thu Apr 19, 2018 1:07 pm

When I was a young lad, I used lawn mowing money to fly on "trips" when my parents let me fly places alone. It was always to fly on some interesting aircraft. A few examples ...

YYZ-BUF AL CV580 to BUF-ROC MO FH227 to ROC-YYZ MO BAC111

YYZ-YHZ AC L1011 to YHZ-YQX PV Dart Herald to YQX-YAY-YYR PV DC-3 to YYR-YWK-YUL PV 737 (yawn) to YUL-YYZ AC DC-8-40.

YYZ-YMX-PIK-MAN BA VC-10 to MAN-LHR BA Trident 1 to LHR-JFK AI 747 to JFK-YMX OK IL62 to YUL-YYZ AC DC-9.

YYZ-MIA AC 747 to MIA-SDQ PA 727 to SDQ-SJU QQ L749A to SJU-JFK AA 707 to JFK-YYZ AC DC-9

YYZ-YPQ-YOW GX CV440 to YOW-YYB-YSB 7F DC-3 to YSB-YYZ AC DC-9

I also recall joining my Dad on a Moscow layover (he flew for AC as well) to come home on an IL62 SVO-SNN-YUL, but imagine my delight when it got subbed to a TU114 nonstop SVO-YUL!

And countless more. But those were the days when with a little bit of searching, one could find unusual aircraft. Sad is the lot of today's enthusiast with no end of 737s and A320s.

ojjunior · Thu Apr 19, 2018 5:45 pm

Asked something similar not long ago:

https://www.airliners.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=1372595

Qfsaviation · Fri Apr 20, 2018 3:30 am

ubeema wrote:
Qfsaviation wrote:
I love it! Here is my booked plan for next weekend

Newark to Ottawa (United)
Ottawa to Iqaluit (Canadian North)
Iqaluit to Ottawa (First Air)
Ottawa to Toronto (Air Canada)
Toronto to La Guardia (Delta)

Crazy?

Insane Go get it! Worth a trip report too.

Yep! I'm a YouTube trip reporter.

YouTube.com/QFSAviation

MartijnNL · Sun Apr 22, 2018 7:22 am

PatrickZ80 wrote:
Quite by accident in fact, but for my trip to Thailand I was flying Norwegian Stockholm - Bangkok and I needed a feeder flight Amsterdam - Stockholm. The one that suited me most happened to be a Blue1 717 flying for SAS. I think I would have picked that flight anyway, but it happened to be the most convenient for me as well.

I thought you didn't like Amsterdam Airport. Transavia has direct flights from Eindhoven to Stockholm.

But the 717 is nice. I once took a day trip Amsterdam - Copenhagen - Helsinki - Oslo - Amsterdam to log this type. The flights to and from Helsinki were both on the 717.

If you want to experience the A350 why not fly to Amsterdam and return the next day? The journey is the destination!

Last week I travelled from Amsterdam to San Francisco and back in two days, only to experience the Boeing 747-400 of KLM. It was great!

PatrickZ80 · Sun Apr 22, 2018 10:15 am

MartijnNL wrote:
I thought you didn't like Amsterdam Airport. Transavia has direct flights from Eindhoven to Stockholm.

They do now, but that route was only started a year after I took that flight. They did fly from Eindhoven to Copenhagen, but Norwegian didn't yet fly from Copenhagen to Bangkok. Only from Oslo and Stockholm, Copenhagen was added the year after.

Indeed I don't like Amsterdam airport that much, I think it's too big. But sometimes you don't have a choice, sometimes a destination is only served from Amsterdam and not from any other Dutch airport.

theobcman · Sun Apr 22, 2018 9:39 pm

All of the following I have taken just for the type :

LHR-ATH OA A343
LGW-AGP ZB A306
LHR-CDG AF A380
LGW-AMS GA B77W
LHR-MAD BA B763
MAD-FRA LA B788 (J)
AGP-HEL AY A359 (J)
LHR-HEL AY A359
ZRH-LHR LX B77W (J)
BCN-MAD UX A332
MAD-LHR IB A346
LHR-HEL AY A333
LHR-MAD BA B772 (J)
MAD-FRA LA B789 (J)
LUX-DUS HN CJ4
LGW-PMI TOM B788
DUB-AGP EI A333 (J)
LHR-MAD BA B789 (J)
MAD-LHR BA B789 (Y+)

It is a very enjoyable (Sometimes a bit pricey) hobby !

FCOTSTW · Mon Apr 23, 2018 7:52 pm

You might want to think of a good excuse for European immigration officers. Controls are tight and (to their eyes) it may not make sense to see a passenger arriving from and going to on the same day! Just remember that in Europe security is VERY tight.

To me it makes VERY sense to fly on specific plane types. I did it many times, I am about to do it in August (LH 744 DTW FRA), and I am thinking about doing it in November (A380 JFK MXP). As of the layover? Well...

blandy62 · Tue Apr 24, 2018 5:14 am

FCOTSTW wrote:
You might want to think of a good excuse for European immigration officers. Controls are tight and (to their eyes) it may not make sense to see a passenger arriving from and going to on the same day! Just remember that in Europe security is VERY tight.

I don't think immigration would question why you are arriving and leaving on the same day.

MIAspotter · Tue Apr 24, 2018 11:44 am

Sometimes I do.

Specific flights just to get a particular type / Airline
- MAD-FRA to fly on the LA 787
- OSL-BCN to fly on the DY 787
-MUC-MAN to fly on the SQ 77W
-CDG-LHR-CDG to fly on the AF A380
-ZRH-LUG to fly on the Etihad Regional SAAB2000
-AMS-LGW to fly on the GA 77W
-BCN-VIE to fly on the CA A330
-DXB-KWI-DXB to fly on the KU A310
-MXP-VIE-MXP to fly on the OS F100
-VIE-MUC to fly on the Nikki E190
-BCN-LIS-OPO-LIS-BCN all arranged to fly on TAP E190, ATR6 and A319
-MAD-LHR to fly on the IB A340 (Either the -600 or -300 which I ended up on)
-LIN-ZRH to fly on the LX RJ100 (Also done BCN-BSL to get the same type)

Flights arranged in order to try a particular type/airline
DOH-BKK timed it to take the flight operated by the QR A380
HKG-DOH Chosen itinerary to fly on Cathay Pacific instead of QR on the HKG-DOH sector.
VIE-DUS-BCN in order to fly on a LH Cityline CRJ9 and the B735
BCN-SAW-IST-BCN flew JK A320 out to SAW and TK A321 back from IST.

Last minute changes that yielded a different type.
MAD-BCN JK MD83
CPH-BCN It was supposed to be a Norwegian 738, but it was subbed by an Avion Express A320
EWR-MIA CO 739 instead of 738

MIAspotter.

bluestreak · Tue Apr 24, 2018 8:58 pm

Thanks for all the responses guys!

I have done day trips just for spotting, such as down to MIA. or FLL for the day to spend taking pictures as the planes taxied past. Last year, I flew to Key West just to be able to fly on the turbo Otter float plane to Ft. Jefferson. Also, I have made connections, instead of taking the nonstop to avoid the CRJ, (or other boring plane) or vise versa. I think we have all done that. Of course, usually MOST my flights are arranged by 1. price 2. convenience 3. Aircraft.
But there are those times, like now, which I do treat myself to special trips, just for the experience. I don't get the opportunity often, so that's why I am planning this one.

There have been times when it didn't work:

I had booked a flight on one of the last USAir BAC 1-11 flight's, I showed up at the gate to see a new F-100, but it was still nice to get the new type.
I had booked one of the last United Express (Air Wisconsin) BAE 146's, they replaced it with a CRJ about a week before my flight! That one made me upset.
My scheduled MD-11 flight didn't work out as planned either. The Mad Dog broke down (imagine that!), they (Delta) cancelled the flight, and re booked me on a 767-300. Still nice, but I wanted the Mad Dog.
I wanted to fly the E-120 Brasilia, but VIA Air cancelled the flight, I'm still a little upset from that one too....
About 3 years ago, a friend of mine flew to all the way to Abu Dhabi to experience the A380, and A340-500. This was done in 2 days, the routing was JFK-AUH-LAX, then the red eye back to JFK, all in less than 48 hours! I wish I could have joined him.

So there are my reasons, and I don't travel to Europe, South America, or Asia very often. So I don't know when I'll get the chance to catch the A350 again. I had hoped to see the A350 on domestic runs in the USA, but Delta isn't doing that, I doubt United will either, and American, well, we know how that ended.

So I have my fingers crossed this will work out as planned. Maybe I'll post a trip report too!

BWIAirport · Tue Apr 24, 2018 9:15 pm

If I wasn't living off my college student schedule and budget I would be unstoppable. Fortunately my parents know this and are willing to help get me on a 747 before they're gone (the 747, not my parents).

Shuttle12T · Wed Apr 25, 2018 8:17 pm

I quite often build my trips around a certain airline or aircraft that I’d like the fly, then again I do write my own trip report blog and I guess it wouldn’t be as interesting if I was just taking direct EasyJet flights all the time.

TheRedBaron · Fri Apr 27, 2018 2:29 am

I have flown too many types but while planning a standard vacation trip, even a t the cost ormolu stops, the only time I have taken a Type just like a ride was Interjet MEX-PQM (SSJ-100) Flew there dismbarqued, then took a diet coke and up again to come back.... the crew was surprised because of this and the FO let me have a quick tour of the Cockpit....and a fast course of FMS programming.

Regards
TRB

CrewBunk · Fri Apr 27, 2018 11:54 am

longhauler wrote:
YYZ-MIA AC 747 to MIA-SDQ PA 727 to SDQ-SJU QQ L749A to SJU-JFK AA 707 to JFK-YYZ AC DC-9

I would assume the aim of your trip was to fly on the Connie from SDQ to SJU

Ironic though, that most enthusiasts today would love to fly on any of the aircraft involved in getting you down there and back

flyzapper · Fri Apr 27, 2018 2:24 pm

Sometime around 2004-2005 I was flying EWR-SEA on Delta, and I chose to fly EWR-CVG-SEA instead so I could fly on a 737-200 EWR-CVG.
I also flew SEA-PDX-SFO-LAX instead of SEA-LAX just to fly the Embraer 120 SEA-PDX on United.
Several years ago, I attended a work conference in Santa Barbara. Instead of flying SEA-LAX and renting a car to drive to Santa Barbara, I decided to fly LAX-SBA on American Eagle just so I could fly on the Saab 340.

ERJ135 · Sun Apr 29, 2018 1:40 am

I only took an out and back trip once in my life just to fly certain types, in my case it was to fly SYD-MEL-SYD first with the then new 767 with Ansett and then with TAA to fly their A300. Other trips I always look at options to try different carriers with my type list near complete I'd look at the 787-10 and A350-1000 if I get the chance. In the past I set out to fly the A380 as soon as I could but now I'm looking to complete all 13 operators of the type with only Malaysian needed and soon ANA.

Jerry123 · Sun Apr 29, 2018 8:20 am

I've got a trip coming up in August to Madrid and i booked the return with BA to Heathrow to fly on their short haul 767, never flown with BA either so should be an interesting experience!

Arion640 · Sun Apr 29, 2018 9:51 pm

Forked out £140 to daytrip to Taiwan just to get the China Airlines 747...

Qfsaviation · Tue May 08, 2018 2:27 pm

ubeema wrote:
Qfsaviation wrote:
I love it! Here is my booked plan for next weekend

Newark to Ottawa (United)
Ottawa to Iqaluit (Canadian North)
Iqaluit to Ottawa (First Air)
Ottawa to Toronto (Air Canada)
Toronto to La Guardia (Delta)

Crazy?

Insane Go get it! Worth a trip report too.

I'm a trip reporter!

A310 · Wed May 09, 2018 8:24 am

Qfsaviation wrote:
I love it! Here is my booked plan for next weekend

Newark to Ottawa (United)
Ottawa to Iqaluit (Canadian North)
Iqaluit to Ottawa (First Air)
Ottawa to Toronto (Air Canada)
Toronto to La Guardia (Delta)

Crazy?

Maybe a bit.... But it seems like you are not alone

Did you spend any time at one or more of the destinations... Would love to spend a few days in Iqaluit :roll:

KLM11 · Tue May 15, 2018 1:09 am

Two years ago I did UA ONT-SFO-ORD-SFO-ONT just to ride on a B747 for the first time. Spent about an hour total in ORD before flying back on the same 744 to SFO. Left ONT before dawn, returned late that same night. Well worth it!

In the TR forum: "1 Day, 2 United B747 Flights, $208"

KLM11

vhqpa · Tue May 15, 2018 2:20 pm

When I was younger I would take daytrips for the purpose of logging new types and sometimes new airlines, but never anything as crazy as the OP. The most memorable was when I was 15 I persuaded my parents into letting me do a BNE-SYD-BNE daytrip (on the condition I spent the day with family) solely to log a 744 and 333. Now I'm less inclined to do such a trip but I do sometimes take pretty interesting routings to take advantage of certain types. Some examples:

- Going to Melbourne for a weekend I took QF BNE-SYD-MEL 74E/763 with an unnecessary Intl-Dom connection. This was two weeks before the 74E QF8 DFW-BNE-SYD ended and three months before the 763 was retired so I went out of my way to fly on those typonl
- BNE-AKL-CHC on NZ for 77E/733
- AKL-SYD-BNE on LA for 343
- booked QF BNE-SYD-PER for 763/743 but got subbed for 763/763.

I'm going to Europe for the first time in November and I planned a lot of my intra Europe flying around new types/airlines, I've planned:

- AF LHR-CDG-AMS for 319/318

- KL AMS-CDG for KL (but ended having to change to AF metal as I changed dates and KL didn't have a suitable timed flight.)

- FI CDG-KEF for 752 I also actually shuffled the order of cities to accomodate flying out of CDG T1. (Now a 763 which I'm still annoyed about.)

- FI KEF-OSL for 753. (The 753 only appears on the route twice a week so planned around this. I don't mind if this changes to a 752 but please no 737-8 MAX or even worse another 763)

- SK OSL-LHR on 320 neo (part of a ALF-LHR tkt. Didn't actually go out of the way for this but it is a new type)

I also have a couple of 737 flights with SK but as yet subtype hasn't been released bit hoping to hit the jackpot and get a 736. Might even book a daytrip out of OSL if a 736 opportunity comes up.

XAM2175 · Tue May 15, 2018 5:32 pm

vhqpa wrote:
Going to Melbourne for a weekend I took QF BNE-SYD-MEL 74E/763 with an unnecessary Intl-Dom connection. This was two weeks before the 74E QF8 DFW-BNE-SYD ended and three months before the 763 was retired so I went out of my way to fly on those types

74E is the IATA code for the 747 combi

As far as I know the 744ER never got a code of its own.

That said, I did the same around then too but in the opposite direction

10-Sep-14   QF430   QFA  B767-338ER   VH-OGJ   MEL - SYD
10-Sep-14   QF532   QFA  B767-338ER   VH-OGO   SYD - BNE
18-Sep-14   QF008   QFA  B747-438ER   VH-OEJ   BNE - SYD
19-Sep-14   QF487   QFA  B767-338ER   VH-OGM   SYD - MEL

vhqpa · Tue May 15, 2018 7:57 pm

XAM2175 wrote:
vhqpa wrote:
Going to Melbourne for a weekend I took QF BNE-SYD-MEL 74E/763 with an unnecessary Intl-Dom connection. This was two weeks before the 74E QF8 DFW-BNE-SYD ended and three months before the 763 was retired so I went out of my way to fly on those types

74E is the IATA code for the 747 combi As far as I know the 744ER never got a code of its own.

That said, I did the same around then too but in the opposite direction
Code: Select all
10-Sep-14   QF430   QFA  B767-338ER   VH-OGJ   MEL - SYD
10-Sep-14   QF532   QFA  B767-338ER   VH-OGO   SYD - BNE
18-Sep-14   QF008   QFA  B747-438ER   VH-OEJ   BNE - SYD
19-Sep-14   QF487   QFA  B767-338ER   VH-OGM   SYD - MEL

I didn't realise 74E was for a combi. I knew the ER never had it's own official code.

My flights were the very next day after your last.

20/SEP/2014 QF8 BNE-SYD B747-438ER VH-OEG
20/SEP/2014 QF423 SYD-MEL B767-338ER VH-OGU
21/SEP/2014 VA887 MEL-SYD B737-7FE VH-VBY
21/SEP/2014 VA999 SYD-BNE B737-7FE VH-VBY

Initially there was no particular reason for the trip but then my team qualified for the preliminary final which happened to be that Saturday. My initial SYD-MEL flight was on a 332 which would have left me with just enough time to make it to the MCG for kick off. But by luck the day before QF downguaged the flight to an overbooked 73H and a rep called me asking if I'd change to an alternate flight. I asked if there were any 767 operated flights available, and it turned out there was one that got me into MEL two hours earlier. Unfortunately my team missed out on the grand final by under a kick.

blandy62 · Wed May 16, 2018 1:51 am

Last week OKD-HKD on JL to log the Saab 340

SyracuseAvGeek · Wed May 16, 2018 11:12 pm

I went out of my way to fly on an American MD83 SYR-ORD-DTW (the MD83 was the ORD-DTW leg) but my flight was cancelled, I spent the extra time and money and will didn't get to fly on it.

CitizenJustin · Sun May 20, 2018 1:08 pm

Yep, I do this all the time and it annoys people. Whenever I’m going on vacation with people, I demand to choose the flights. Otherwise, we’d end up on some plane I could care less about, while the 777(which I would have booked) is sitting right next to us and going to the same destination, all while I’m stuck on a regional jet. Not ok in my book.

I also book according to type of plane even if the timing isn’t as ideal. 8 hour layover? Who cares, we’re on a 747.

CitizenJustin · Sun May 20, 2018 1:09 pm

I often think a travel site offering an option to search by plane would be awesome!

TWA772LR · Mon May 21, 2018 2:13 am

CitizenJustin wrote:
I often think a travel site offering an option to search by plane would be awesome!

Or have that as an option here on a.net!

TWA772LR · Mon May 21, 2018 2:13 am

CitizenJustin wrote:
I often think a travel site offering an option to search by plane would be awesome!

Or have that as an option here on a.net!

777Jet · Mon May 21, 2018 2:18 am

I've done this several times to log a new type or two for me.

Day trips.
SYD MEL SYD A330-200 767-300ER

AUS DEN IAH AUS 787-8 on DEN IAH then 737-900ER on IAH AUS

BKK HKT A350-900

Longer than day trips.
CNX BKK HKG SIN BKK CNX A300-600 A380 777-200ER A340-600 A300-600 - Intent to log A300 but all types except for 777-200ER in that trip were new for me.

SAT ATL TPA ATL SAT 757-200

DMK SIN DMK 787-9

SYD LAX SYD 777-200LR

LAS AUS DTW LAS 757-300 Had been chasing this type for years and finally got it - felt so happy after the 753 rotated!

On the to do list.
The rare 747-400ER. Possibly Antarctic sightseeing day trip or I'll wait to QF retire all non-ER 744s and then book a QF 744 flight somewhere.

A340-300. I regret not doing SYD AKL SYD on the LAN 343 / Argentinas 342 when they both operated the sector.

767-400ER 747-8 787-10 then anything else that I haven't logged yet as well as another 717 just to be sure...

gotthrust · Mon May 21, 2018 4:19 am

I’ve never done this solely for a certain plane, but like many others, I have booked certain flights for an existing trip that include a plane type I wanted to fly. Back in 2014 we were flying YOW-YVR. Instead of taking the cheaper non-stop, I booked via YYZ so I could get on a 763 there and 772 back. The YOW-YYZ flight was on an A319. Going there, our plane was changed from the 763 to an A319 and on the way back we hoped on AC34 fresh in from SYD only to have a nice tour of the YVR airport in a 772.....twice. A malfunction with an engine anti-ice unit caused us to go back to the gate twice from the end of the runway before they cancelled it. We ended up sitting at the airport all day with a 5-month old before they finally got us on a...... yep, another A319. We got into YYZ just after midnight and expecting to be put up for the night, they surprised us by holding the last YYZ-YOW flight of the night for a few minutes just for us and we were able to get back to YOW that night..... this time on an E190! The plane ended up being at the gate right beside where we arrived from YVR so it was a quick switch and go! That flight was very light so we had the back end nearly to ourselves! Still to this day I have never flown on a 777, only ridden in one lol.

N626AA · Mon May 21, 2018 5:19 am

Back in 2002, with the rumor that NW would be retiring it's DC-10-40s soon, I booked a trip to SEA in June of that year to visit my grandfather.

AUS-MSP DC-9-30
MSP-SEA DC-10-40
SEA-MSP DC-10-40
MSP-AUS DC-9-30

Very thankful I did, as those DC-jets and NW are no longer.

Same thing in 2009 to catch an AA 762 and visit JFK before my nonrev days were over.

AUS-DFW MD80
DFW-JFK 752
JFK-LAX 762
LAX-AUS MD80

CairnterriAIR · Mon May 21, 2018 7:08 pm

Done so many times. A few years ago booked a leg through ATL instead of BWI or nonstop from PBI to BDL,just to get the Boeing 717. Fun plane to ride in!

drdisque · Mon May 21, 2018 8:36 pm

long ago when I worked for NW I flew MSP-FSD-MSP on a Saturday just because I knew I'd get F on the way out on the DC-9 (I'd been on DC-9's a ton before but had never sat in F) and the SF340 on the way back (which was a new type for me). I don't think I'd ever pay for it though. The main thing I regret was never flying the Avro RJ-85 when NW Airlink flew them (they were retired just before I started working there). I also never flew on an F100 but I never had a good reason. I would like to fly the JS31 on MDW-MBL but it's hard to make the time.

vatveng · Tue May 22, 2018 11:50 pm

I haven't gone on a trip specifically to fly on a particular type, but I have chosen the airline based on the type. I was flying ORF-TPA and rather than flying on yet another 737 or 717 I flew US Airways because they were flying the A321 on the CLT-TPA leg and I'd never been on any Airbus at that point.

zubin · Wed May 23, 2018 10:53 am

I once convinced my sister to let me join her on her trip to Bangkok where she was to give a presentation in a conference. My sole motivation was to be able to fly the 747 Thai Airways were using on their BKK-BOM-BKK route.

That was the same day I flew an EK A380 from DUS-DXB, an EK 77W from DXB-BOM and later that night the Thai 747 from BOM-BKK. Best day ever!

N776AU · Thu May 24, 2018 6:10 pm

Plenty. Seems to be a regular part of my travels. Aside from changing flight times for better aircraft type, I've done plenty of out-of-the-way routings and deliberate bookings for aircraft type. My list is numerous. Be warned

Orlando to Atlanta via Raleigh (and as it turned out, a little more)
Not only flying just for a 787, but also routing myself to Chicago via Dallas to do so.
Atlanta-Richmond via Orlando both ways. This one proves my craziness, because after booking Southwest changed my itinerary to a "more convenient" pair or direct flights. I called 1-800-Valujet (Ok...so I'm old school like that ) and told them to change it back. I'm pretty sure the girl I talked to thought I was certifiably nuts.
Blowing 30,000 Delta SkyMiles just so I could fly the 747 to Minneapolis and back. I regret nothing.
Routing ATL-IAD via EWR
And my personal favorite. One could fly ATL-LAX nonstop with plenty of choices, but where's the fun in that? Instead it's more fun to go ATL-IAD-JFK-LAX-BOS-IAD-ATL. On the trip I scored a new airport, a new airline, and 3 new aircraft types.
And in July I'm on Delta's A350 flight to LAX from Detroit. Did I also give myself a 9 hour layover in DTW just so I could fly a 757 up there? Yes I did

fbgdavidson · Thu May 24, 2018 8:01 pm

Other than a pleasure flight on a DeHavilland Dragon Rapide, I have never taken a flight purely to "log a type".

Whilst I do pay attention to the types that I've flown I've never actively collected. This explains why I have some pretty amazing holes in my flown types. I have only flown an Airbus widebody once that I know of, an AA A300 and that was by accident. I was due to fly a 757 and there was a rolling delay ex-SJU so was put on an earlier flight to MIA that happened to be an A306. I do have two flights in the next few weeks on A330s though!

Am also yet to fly the 787, A350 or A380!

StlHsvSfoSan · Mon May 28, 2018 2:17 am

I just (today) booked a trip to get on an A310 before they are gone. (I wouldn't have booked the trip otherwise). And of course I had to come up with an unusual routing to make It more interesting and add some new things to my log.
STL-CLT-YYZ-VCE-AMS-CPH-ORD-STL o ver 5 days. This trip gets me CLT (first time flown through), YYZ (first time flown through), A310 (Air Transat YYZ-VCE - new type, new airline, and first time to VCE), Easyjet VCE-AMS (first time on Easyjet), and finally A340-300 (SK CPH-ORD, first time on the -300). 3 new airports, 2 new airlines, and 2 new types/variants - not bad for 5 days! But I will be seeing some things in between flights though.

But otherwise, I usually will pick a new airline or type that I haven't flown on, and then design a trip around getting on that flight.

In February I went to Florida for 10 days, and instead of taking one of the many STL-Florida flights, I went over to BLV and gave Allegiant a try to VPS. And as part of that trip, I drove down to Tampa and took a day trip TPA-FLL-TPA (TPA-FLL on WN, a day of spotting at FLL, and then FLL-TPA on Spirit (to give them a try also). Spirit and Allegiant flights were fine - on time and no problems, despite the amount of complaints they get.

I have also done
- trip to Scandinavia starting with a flight on an MD-11 (AY)
- trip to BeNeLux with a seat on the upper deck and the return in seat 1A on a KLM 744
- on the BeNeLux trip above I took a side trip on Portugalia BRU-OPO-BRU. so I could get on an F100

mtnwest1979 · Tue Jun 05, 2018 2:04 pm

L1011 wrote:
I went to Alaska just so I could fly on Reeve Aleutian's Electras.

I did the same. Went up to Bethel on AS then RV Bethel-Dillingham-ANC. Was an extra section flight with only 7 pax. Was great.
I have also gone to FLL en route to TPA to get on a SF 340. Also ANC again for a DHT. Otger times trips just work oou like when I went to Merced,CA and got to have a PC-12. Fun to put these tyty of itineraries together.

BWIAirport · Mon Dec 03, 2018 3:03 pm

I went to London this fall and drove up to PHL instead of flying out of BWI so I could check the 747 off my bucket list

727tiger · Mon Dec 03, 2018 6:44 pm

Doing this on 1/1. We're flying MCI-DUB. I'm routing us through DTW (and then AMS) on DL so we can fly DL's A350 (Premium Select). 717 MCI-DTW; A350 DTW-AMS, KL 737-800 AMS-DUB and then the reverse on the 1/10 return. I almost never pass up a chance to fly one of DL's 717s. Looking forward to trying out the A350 on the TATL legs.

vhqpa · Mon Dec 03, 2018 8:49 pm

vhqpa wrote:
I'm going to Europe for the first time in November and I planned a lot of my intra Europe flying around new types/airlines, I've planned:

- AF LHR-CDG-AMS for 319/318

- KL AMS-CDG for KL (but ended having to change to AF metal as I changed dates and KL didn't have a suitable timed flight.)

- FI CDG-KEF for 752 I also actually shuffled the order of cities to accomodate flying out of CDG T1. (Now a 763 which I'm still annoyed about.)

- FI KEF-OSL for 753. (The 753 only appears on the route twice a week so planned around this. I don't mind if this changes to a 752 but please no 737-8 MAX or even worse another 763)

- SK OSL-LHR on 320 neo (part of a ALF-LHR tkt. Didn't actually go out of the way for this but it is a new type)

I also have a couple of 737 flights with SK but as yet subtype hasn't been released bit hoping to hit the jackpot and get a 736. Might even book a daytrip out of OSL if a 736 opportunity comes up.

An update.

I managed to log both an A318 and A319 with AF

FI CDG-KEF remained a 763 but KEF-OSL got subbed to 752 but at least I logged a 757. While I was in Iceland I also managed to log a Norlandair Twin Otter.

My SK OSL-TOS was assigned a 738 but I was able to change to a OSL-TRD-BOO-TOS which was 73W/736. When I checked in the first flight got subbed for a 736 so nearly got 2x 736 but had a last minute swap back to a 73W turned out to be an ex DJ/VA frame which I logged back in 2007 when it was with DJ. But logged a 736.

Haven't flown the ALF-OSL-LHR yet but the 320N got subbed to 738 but I upgraded to SAS plus and picked a later flight on the 320N

flyingdoc787 · Wed Dec 05, 2018 2:46 am

To catch SR’s then new MD-11, I flew LAX-ZRH (via GVA) on the MD-11, then after an overnight stay, continued my journey ZRH-MNL (via BOM) on the 743. That was a long way to get to the other side of the Pacific Ocean!

More recently, I flew MNL-SIN (772), then SIN-SFO just to ride on the A350.

n729pa · Wed Dec 05, 2018 6:01 am

Nice to know I'm not the only made one around

Recently did LHR-MAD just to fly on a BA 763 for the last time.

But have done
WLG AKL WLG to get NZ and a 733 plus got a A320 back
MAD FRA LA 787
MAD LHR IB A343 A346 A330 BA 787 772
LHR-MAD BA 772
ZRH HAJ ZRH LX B777 one of stewardess gave me a guided tour of F and C on the return flight
LHR FRA BA A380
LHR CDG AF A380 and B787x3
LHR KEF LHR to try FI plus my first 757 with a 767 on the return
LHR EDI LHR to get BE Q400
HEL LHR AY A350
TXL FRA TXL LH 744 did return twice in C & Y
ZRH GVA LX CS300
AMS LHR KL CH F70 1st for both
ZRH LHR Helvetic F100 1st for both
LHR PER MEL PER LHR QF 787
SYD BKK DXB EK 77E

Got lucky on VIE LHR with a QR A320 sub
But FRA VIE OS 777 turned into a A320
STO LHR and MAD LHR (1st time) BA 787 turned into a 767

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