LONDON – It has already been two months since 2023 started; Time goes by. What were my best flights in 2022?
As I have done many times over the last year. 2022 has been a year of ups and downs in aviation.
For me personally it was the best year of my life, at least in terms of travel.
Hello, I’m Joris and I used to be a flight assessor, writer and photographer for AviationSource News for over a year.
I joined the team at the end of 2021 and have been working ever since to bring the best travelogues, articles and pictures to all our readers.
In 2022, a friend and I had the challenge of flying at least once a month. For people who don’t work in the travel industry or travel for work, I’ve found that’s quite a challenge.
Like a true AvGeek, I overcame this challenge and managed to fly at least once a month alongside my full-time job.
Look back with me on a year full of spontaneous, exotic and nerve-wracking travels.
My flight statistics…
In 2022, I boarded 48 planes and made a total of 46 flights (more on the difference here later).
I’ve flown on 17 different airlines to 3 continents and 15 different countries, spending a total of 92 hours and 36 minutes in the air and covering a total of 51,752 kilometers (that’s 32,157 miles for our special readers).
16 of the 46 flights I took were domestic while the other 30 were international flights.
I sat in business class on 31 of my 46 flights and in economy class on 15. I sat at the window 41 times, 4 times in an aisle seat and once in a middle seat.
I visited a total of 23 airports, most of which were Berlin, Frankfurt and Munich. My most flown airlines were Lufthansa, airBaltic and Iberia Express.
I have flown Lufthansa 13 times, 11 times in business class and 2 times in economy class, all of which have been surprisingly comfortable.
I have also flown 6 times with AirBaltic (4x with wet lease carriers) and 4 times with Iberia Express.
A total of 4 flights were canceled this year and I had 3 delays of over 2 hours.
Let’s get away from the numbers and focus on my best and worst 3 flights this year. Let’s start with the worst.
My worst flights in 2022…
3 of my worst flights this year was my flight with Lufthansa from Berlin to Munich in June. I was actually supposed to fly to Vienna, but was rebooked to Vienna via Munich.
The Berlin staff was great with the rebooking but the flight was just awful. Bad food, bad service, bad crew.
I’ve never seen such an unmotivated crew in my entire life. There is not much more to say about this horrific experience.
2 of my worst flights in 2022 were my TAP Express flight from Berlin to Lisbon in June.
My flight was at 6am, boarding was uneventful until I got to my seat on board the E190 taking me to Lisbon.
I was in 1A, with 1B occupying the seat next to me; I immediately turned around and asked the flight attendants if that was or should be a mistake.
Looking at the TAP app, which clearly states that the middle seat will be vacant, I was quite surprised to hear that since the plane was a 2-2 configuration, the middle seat, in this case the aisle seat, was not vacant will be.
Well, it was all downhill from that moment.
We didn’t see a crew member until an hour into the flight, with the meal being served mid-flight.
I was expecting this to be a hot meal as it took so long but I was disappointed again.
It was a cold meal. On a 4 hour flight. Nothing more needs to be said. Once the trays were cleared, the crew was never seen again.
My #1 worst flight of 2022 was again with TAP Air Portugal, flying Business Class from Lisbon to Madeira.
There is not much to say about this horrific experience. After sitting on the tarmac for almost two hours, we had to disembark and our flight was eventually canceled at around 4pm.
I was at the airport until 11pm when I finally got rebooked on a flight four days later. Luckily I was able to rebook on a flight the next day.
The flight itself was decent but again delayed by more than 2 hours. Luckily, I arrived in Funchal shortly afterwards with a delay of only 26 hours – but not my luggage.
Just the things that happened on the spot were enough to make this trip terrifying.
My best flights of 2022…
Let’s get to my best flights of 2022, my third best flight was my Lufthansa 787 flight from Munich to Frankfurt in November.
The flight was truly amazing from start to finish, the crew did their best to present their brand new aircraft which is definitely an improvement over the old long range 2-2-2 configuration.
The service was brief but just enough for this short flight. Overall definitely 10/10.
Number 2 was definitely my flight with Ethiopian Airlines from Stockholm to Oslo in Business Class on board their 787-8. The crew was completely over the top and exceeded all of my expectations.
I was treated like a first class passenger. The crew spoiled me from boarding to disembarking. Providing drinks and snacks before departure and then serving a breakfast service that was beyond anything you would ever expect from a European airline.
My review of this flight can be found on the website.
My best flight of the year was my Lufthansa flight from Frankfurt to Washington, DC. The seat, the food, the crew.
Everything went perfectly. The crew just made this flight special and went above and beyond to accommodate our every need.
If you want to know more about this flight, check out my review on our website!
Thank you for joining me to summarize my flights in 2022.
