Featured Map for 17 September 2016:
One Million Miles on United

This morning I'll be flying from San Francisco to Los Angeles to join the Cranky Flier and other friends for a few hours of airplane watching at the In-N-Out Burger just north of LAX. It's an annual event with the humble name Crankyspotting Dorkfest.

My flights will be on United, and just before landing in Los Angeles I will hit one-million miles on United. Many Great Circle Mapper fans and users have logged several times that many airline miles but for me it will be a nice upgrade, and hitting that mark on the way to watch airplanes with friends seems like the perfect way to celebrate.

Today's Featured Map shows the assorted routes I've flown during my personal odyssey on United (and Continental before the merger), cropped to the United States (since that has accounted for the bulk of my flying) plus a handful of locations in México and Costa Rica that fit within the boundaries of the map. The map isn't quite right because it shows Denver as one airport even though some of those flights were before 28 February 1995 and thus used Stapleton International Airport, and one visit to Austin was before 21 May 1999, the last day of commerical service at Robert Mueller Municipal Airport. Later trips to Austin used Austin-Bergstrom International Airport. (General aviation continued at Mueller for another month, ending after 22 June 1999.) Those details wouldn't be visible on the map except as labeling clutter and thus were omitted.

References and additional information:

• Cranky Flier
  • It's Time for Crankyspotting Dorkfest at LAX on September 17 (24 June 2016)
• United Airlines
  • MileagePlus Million Miler Program