This has been an incredible year for me in general, and traffic growth on the blog has been amazing. Every year for the past eight years blog traffic has grown by at least 100% per year, though this year was especially great. Traffic grew by well over 150%, which I’m incredibly grateful for (especially considering the absolute pageviews that represents is exponentially more than a few years ago).
I love looking at the Google Analytics page for the site, and today was going through to see what the most read flight reviews of 2015 were. While regular readers make up a large portion of the pageviews, the most read reviews were also the ones which were found most through Google. So which products are people in general most interested in reading about?
Below are the 10 most read flight reviews I published in 2015 (this is limited to ones published in 2015, and not ones published in previous years which in many cases received even more traffic in 2015 than ones published this year).
#1: Emirates A380 First Class Los Angeles To Dubai
#2 Singapore Airlines 777 First Class Singapore To Melbourne
#3 Etihad Airways A380 First Class Apartment Abu Dhabi to London
#4 Cathay Pacific 777 First Class Chicago To Hong Kong
#5 Qantas A380 First Class Sydney To Los Angeles
#6 Cathay Pacific 777 First Class New York To Hong Kong
#7 American Airlines 777 First Class London To New York
#8 Cathay Pacific 777 Business Class Hong Kong To Newark
#9 Air France 777 Business Class Paris To New York
#10 Qatar Airways A350 Business Class Doha To Frankfurt
Bottom line
I’m really excited about the number of business class products I’ll be reviewing in the coming months, as I have quite a few tickets booked.
In looking at data I find it quite interesting how many people are searching for first class reviews. Practically speaking you’d think more people would be searching for business class reviews rather than first class reviews (given that substantially more people fly business class), but that doesn’t seem to be the case. I guess there are plenty of people out there truly looking for “first class porn,” if you will.
It's really no surprise First Class reports are searched for more often than Business Class reports.
Firstly, you publish more First Class reports.
Secondly, First Class is a major investment (either in points or cash) so people research a lot more before committing. Business Class is a bit more pedestrian.
Lastly (as highlighted), as an "aspirational product" you get a lot of people just interested in seeing what on offer on the other side of...
It's really no surprise First Class reports are searched for more often than Business Class reports.
Firstly, you publish more First Class reports.
Secondly, First Class is a major investment (either in points or cash) so people research a lot more before committing. Business Class is a bit more pedestrian.
Lastly (as highlighted), as an "aspirational product" you get a lot of people just interested in seeing what on offer on the other side of the First curtain (where all the best on show for that airline is).
Glad to hear you could use the lounge at DXB....but still no luck in Singapore? By the way, when I called, they said I was good to go for the lounges in PRG and DXB.
Just fyi, I WAS able to use the lounge at DXB without any issues, and YES, it adds an incredible value to what is an unbelievable experience.
@ Sam K.: Hopefully they let you use the lounge...I am flying on Emirates next year...booked with Alaska miles. I just called them, and they said I will have lounge access.
Also, I should add: It was great when you were going to London and you let your readers try to pick a route. It is a shame the Aeromexico thing didn't work out. You should do the same and block out a week or so to do a RTW and let your readers pick the routing and airlines a week or two in advance.
Lucky,
We love your writing and reviews, but I’m hoping the new year has you trying lots of new products instead of reviewing AA, Emirates, Etihad, BA and Cathay over and over. Let’s get some J reviews on Hainan, China Airlines, Garuda (in F), Finnair, Saudia, Aerolineas Argentinas, Kuwait, China Eastern, Fiji, Air Tahiti Nui, Kenya, Aeromexico, Avianca and Aeroflot. Maybe you can do a paid business ticket on Norwegian too! I’ll keep throwing you...
Lucky,
We love your writing and reviews, but I’m hoping the new year has you trying lots of new products instead of reviewing AA, Emirates, Etihad, BA and Cathay over and over. Let’s get some J reviews on Hainan, China Airlines, Garuda (in F), Finnair, Saudia, Aerolineas Argentinas, Kuwait, China Eastern, Fiji, Air Tahiti Nui, Kenya, Aeromexico, Avianca and Aeroflot. Maybe you can do a paid business ticket on Norwegian too! I’ll keep throwing you CC referrals when I can.
TAM will start to operate their new A350 in a 4h domestic flight on January 25, think you could review it! Also, congrats for the reviews above :D
I am actually here for first class porn, especially those aspirational one :)
Can someone help me asap? I'm currently checked in at Singapore airport to fly to JFK in Emirates first class by redeeming Alaska miles. However, I was denied access to the lounge and they are saying I can't even access Dubai lounge either because my ticket is an award ticket using Alaska miles. Has anyone experienced this? I don't really care about the lounge in Singapore, however, I would really like to have access to...
Can someone help me asap? I'm currently checked in at Singapore airport to fly to JFK in Emirates first class by redeeming Alaska miles. However, I was denied access to the lounge and they are saying I can't even access Dubai lounge either because my ticket is an award ticket using Alaska miles. Has anyone experienced this? I don't really care about the lounge in Singapore, however, I would really like to have access to Dubai lounge since I have +7 hour layover. Help is much appreciated. Thanks.
Glad to hear you will be reviewing more business class products next year. I enjoy looking at "first class porn" but dont ever fly international first class (though, I must admit, my girlfriend recently got to fly SQ first class and we spent some time reading all your reviews before the flight). On the other hand, I do fly business class 3-4 times a year between Europe and Asia / North America. I like to...
Glad to hear you will be reviewing more business class products next year. I enjoy looking at "first class porn" but dont ever fly international first class (though, I must admit, my girlfriend recently got to fly SQ first class and we spent some time reading all your reviews before the flight). On the other hand, I do fly business class 3-4 times a year between Europe and Asia / North America. I like to try out different airlines and business class products and I'm sure I'd find your reviews to be very helpful.
I wonder if the additional investment required for first class also makes people more likely to do research before making a purchase.
I think a lot of it is probably 'First Class porn' hunters.
The nature of your blog obviously means that you're able to record the experience as it is, with photos showing lounges/cabins/food in their 'natural state' as opposed to the airline's official pictures where everything's tarted up and stylised somewhat to suit the marketing.
It was your reviews of Virgin Atlantic's UC cabin a few years back that drew me here, personally. For the very reason above!
@Jason: Don't be a douche. It's HIS blog, and he can post whenever he sees fit. People like you are what's wrong with this world. Patience is a virtue.............
It's interesting that you'd bring up the first vs. business class issue. Obviously, I generally search for products that are on the routes I'm going to fly. One thing I've definitely noticed about your reviews is that the most recent reviews (because the date on the review is important to me!) are predominately first class, whereas you have lots of business class from previous years.
I think it also helps that you flew several...
It's interesting that you'd bring up the first vs. business class issue. Obviously, I generally search for products that are on the routes I'm going to fly. One thing I've definitely noticed about your reviews is that the most recent reviews (because the date on the review is important to me!) are predominately first class, whereas you have lots of business class from previous years.
I think it also helps that you flew several popular routes and several routes where AAdvantage flyers might as well redeem for first vs. business (for now, that is). And, of course, the inaugural AUH-LHR was going to be a hit.
Looking forward to hearing about some new products next year!
Finish your trip report with the inaugural a380 AUH-JFK! It's been over a month!
Just wondering, how do you measure "most read"? Do you make any sort of adjustment for reports published later in the year?
And yay...one of Nick's reports made it ;) Tiffany needs to step it up--she's had some great posts this year, but I guess not a lot of trip reports (and I think the ones she did post were later in the year) :D