Flight Log
A running record of the trip details that actually matter — route, aircraft, schedule, and how the day really went.
I’ve kept some version of a flight log for years, mostly because memory is unreliable and marketing copy is worse. A gate agent will tell you a delay is “just a few minutes.” A seat map will tell you an aircraft has more room than it does. The only way I actually know what a route, an aircraft, or a connection is like is to write down what happened and look at it later, across enough trips that a pattern shows up instead of a single good or bad day.
This page is where that record will live once it’s built out from real trips. Right now, the table below is a demonstration of the format, not Brad’s actual travel history. The dates, flight numbers, times, and ratings are illustrative examples built to show how the log will look and function — nothing here should be read as verified data about specific flights Brad has taken. As real trips accumulate, this page will be replaced with his actual log.
The idea is simple: log the boring, factual details of a trip while they’re still fresh — scheduled versus actual departure, which aircraft actually showed up, whether an upgrade request cleared, how the lounge or the connection felt that day — and let enough of them pile up that real patterns emerge. One late departure out of a hub means nothing. A pattern of them on a specific route, at a specific time of day, on a specific aircraft, means something useful. That’s the whole point of keeping a log instead of just a memory.
Illustrative figures shown to demonstrate the format — not Brad’s verified historical record.
What This Log Will Actually Show, Over Time
A handful of entries don’t tell you much. A year or two of them will. Once this log is populated with real trips, the goal is to be able to answer questions like: Which routings are actually reliable versus just usually fine? How tight is too tight for a given connection at a given hub, at a given time of day? What’s the realistic aircraft mix on a route I fly often, and does it matter? Are upgrade requests clearing at a rate that makes elite status worth the trouble on certain routes but not others? That’s the kind of thing you can only see by tracking the same details, the same way, trip after trip.
Sample Entries
The rows below illustrate the fields the log tracks and how mixed results — on-time and delayed, cleared and not cleared, regional jet and widebody — will be presented side by side.
| Date | Flight | Route | Aircraft | Cabin | Sched. Dep. | Actual Dep. | Upgrade | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Feb 9, 2026 | AA 4820 | AVP–CLT | Embraer E175 | Main Cabin | 6:55a | 6:58a | Not Requested | 4.0/5 |
| Feb 9, 2026 | AA 1188 | CLT–MCO | A321 | Main Cabin Extra | 10:20a | 10:20a | Cleared | 4.5/5 |
| Feb 23, 2026 | AA 4562 | AVP–PHL | Embraer E175 | Main Cabin | 7:10a | 7:14a | Cleared | 4.5/5 |
| Feb 23, 2026 | AA 1904 | PHL–DFW | A321neo | First Class | 9:45a | 10:02a | Cleared | 4.0/5 |
| Mar 10, 2026 | AA 2277 | DFW–ORD | 737-800 | Main Cabin | 1:15p | 1:15p | Not Cleared | 3.5/5 |
| Mar 10, 2026 | AA 1450 | ORD–CLT | A319 | Main Cabin | 5:40p | 6:05p | Not Cleared | 3.0/5 |
| Mar 28, 2026 | AA 4820 | AVP–CLT | Embraer E175 | Main Cabin | 6:55a | 6:55a | Cleared | 4.5/5 |
| Mar 28, 2026 | AA 1732 | CLT–MIA | A320 | First Class | 9:10a | 9:10a | Cleared | 5.0/5 |
| Apr 14, 2026 | AA 1188 | CLT–MCO | A321 | Main Cabin Extra | 10:20a | 10:47a | Not Requested | 3.5/5 |
| Apr 30, 2026 | AA 4562 | AVP–PHL | Embraer E175 | Main Cabin | 7:10a | 7:10a | Not Requested | 4.0/5 |
| May 12, 2026 | AA 1972 | PHL–DFW | 787 | Premium Economy | 11:30a | 11:36a | Not Requested | 4.5/5 |
| May 27, 2026 | AA 738 | DFW–MIA | 737 MAX | Main Cabin | 3:05p | 3:20p | Not Requested | 3.5/5 |
| Jun 8, 2026 | AA 4820 | AVP–CLT | Embraer E175 | Main Cabin | 6:55a | 6:58a | Cleared | 4.5/5 |
| Jun 8, 2026 | AA 1662 | CLT–ORD | A321 | Business Class | 9:35a | 9:35a | Cleared | 4.5/5 |
Fourteen sample rows are enough to show the format — a real log builds its value from dozens of trips, not fourteen. As this page fills in with actual flights, expect to see it linked from individual flight reviews, referenced in Two-Step Travel comparisons, and folded into the bigger annual picture over on AA By the Numbers.