This year I took 109 flights, travelling 233,000-plus miles, while visiting 29 countries.
I have been busy.
As the principal spokesman at The Points Guy, the world’s most trusted authority on points, loyalty and aviation strategy, 2025 took me on first flights and tested everything from economy to the world’s best first class cabins.
Knowing about the ins-and-outs of flying is my bread and butter, you might say, and I regularly report my discoveries to my 250,000 followers on Instagram and more than half a million followers on YouTube.
So here’s my look back at all things aviation over the past 12 months – from the best cabins to the worst airline food and my top travel hacks.
Best moment of 2025: SAS Copenhagen auto landing
The cabin of the SAS flight Nicky caught into Copenhagen earlier this year
The ultimate AvGeek dream is to sit in a cockpit for landing, and this year, I got the chance to do this again but with a twist. On an SAS flight to Copenhagen, incredibly bad visibility meant an autopilot landing was mandatory. Listening to the altitude being announced, getting lower and lower, with only a view of fog in front was thrilling, before finally, at around 100 meters, getting the first glimpse of the runway lights.
Another huge highlight was a first for me, having the honour of being at the Airbus facility in Hamburg as it ‘handed over the keys’ to Etihad for their brand new A321LR. I think I got to fly on this aircraft on its maiden voyage to its home in Abu Dhabi.
Best plane in 2025: Etihad A321LR
Etihad have done a stellar job decking out this narrow-body plane with long-haul comfort, says Nicky
Which leads us on to this award, that Etihad aircraft was my best of the year. While I would usually be far more excited by a wide-body aircraft, Etihad have done a stellar job decking out this narrow-body plane with long-haul comfort. They have also broken the mould by adding two first class seats at the front of the aircraft where a full first class service will be conducted.
Best cabin tried in 2025: New Air France La Premiere
The luxurious cabin on Air France La Premiere, which features two seats, two screens and five windows
Air France La Premiere was a fan favourite, without even needing an update, but a full cabin refresh took this already chic seat to the next level. After a launch event in Paris, I was lucky enough to join Air France’s CEO on the very first flight of the new La Premiere from Paris Charles de Gaulle to New York JFK. The suite with two seats, two screens and five windows combined with the exceptional ground service (think Porsche transfers to the door of the plane and Sisley spa treatments) deliver a product that you’re going to want to earn Flying Blue status and fight for a heap of points to book.
Best airline food in 2025: Qatar Business: caviar service, dine on demand, delicious rice
Qatar’s biggest competition in the passenger experience game is itself, and it continues to outdo its previous wins. The airline is unique in many respects, providing an almost first class level of service in business class, like dine on demand rather than sticking to strict timings, and a new-ish caviar service that you won’t find in other airlines’ business cabins.
Best airline crew in 2025: Virgin Atlantic
Best crew is a clear Virgin Atlantic win for me for a second year, for very different reasons this time around. Virgin’s crew live and breathe the iconic brand and their attitude makes flying exciting and fun, but this year I got to experience them displaying the most important part of their job. On a flight from Miami to London, a medical emergency took place in the middle of the night. The crew sprang into action and I witnessed the most incredible show of professionalism, efficiency and skill attending to an incredibly unwell passenger. A full resuscitation and diversion to Gander airport followed where the passenger was taken by medical staff on the ground. I believe the crew saved that person’s life that day and it made me look at crew in a different light, now knowing the skills that they possess that they thankfully rarely use.
Best overall flight in 2025: Swiss A350
You can’t beat new plane smell, so I was particularly excited this year by the chance to join Swiss’s very first transatlantic flight on their new A350s. The airline has introduced their new Swiss Senses product, with updates in all cabins and a very swanky new first class. It was great to see another legacy airline upping their game and an aircraft full of eager frequent fliers.
Best travel hack of 2025: Global Entry
Global Entry is still the hack of all hacks for US travel. For just over £100 British passport holders can apply for Global Entry for five years which reduces wait times at US immigration significantly. This year, on a trip to the US, where I had a tight connection through Miami, it was the only way I was able to make my second flight, while complying with the US need to clear customs and immigration at the first US port of arrival. As an added benefit you get TSA pre-check, speeding up your departure from US airports with a special TSA security line.
Best hotel you’ve stayed at in 2025: Waldorf Astoria New York and the Kisawa Sanctuary Mozambique
It’s a dual award for two very different hotels. First up, we were the first to stay in the reimagined, iconic Waldorf Astoria New York. With hundreds of millions of dollars of investment, it really has the wow factor and is seeped in history.
Kisawa stood out not only as a 2025 pick, but the best hotel I have ever stayed in. A luxury resort partnered with a marine research facility set on a stunning island in Mozambique’s Bazaruto Archipelago and nestled among more than 700 acres of sand dunes and oceanside forest, there’s really nothing else quite like it.
Best activity you did in 2025: Nurse shark swimming in the Maldives
I’m a sucker for animals, and a safari took the prize last year, but this time around the ocean held the key. I experienced swimming among a swarm of nurse sharks and rays in the Maldives. The W Hotel provides a day trip, but even more incredible was the brand new JW Marriott Kaafu Atoll Island Resort which has a nurse shark station only minutes from the shores of the hotel’s beach.
Best travel moment in 2025: Abercrombie & Kent safari watching leopard/lion kills
On the theme of nature, back to land, I witnessed a movie play out in front of my eyes in Botswana. As the sun was setting we watched a leopard mother hunting, while trying to protect her cub against an incoming pride of lions, competing for the same prey. The leopard killed a warthog and hid the kill from the lions but in the chaos of the chase the rest of the warthog family chose the direction of the lions and met their end. It was nature at its most raw and I was mesmerised.
Most disappointing cabin tried in 2025: BA A380 Club World
The oldest style of British Airways business class seat remains on their fleet of 12 Airbus A380s, the largest passenger jet in the sky. The product is now uncompetitive compared to other airlines, and indeed their own excellent Club Suite business class seat. I don’t hate the seat itself, I find it comfortable, especially for sleeping as you have a lot of space around the feet, but these aircraft are really showing their age. On my last flight, the storage bins were held together with stickers and tape and you needed an expertly positioned teaspoon to keep the IFE screen in front of you. There are huge improvements coming though, read on to ‘the most looking forward to section’, below.
Most disappointing airline food of 2025: Hawaiian
The food itself wasn’t terrible on Hawaiian’s Boeing 787 Dreamliner, but for a very long flight from Seattle to Seoul, I would have hoped for a much more plentiful offering.
Most disappointing flight of 2025: Airlink from Cape Town to Maun, Botswana
This was my very first flight of 2025. After significant confusion at the airport around baggage allowances because the tickets were booked on Airlink using United miles and no information of baggage had been shared between the airlines, we arrived at our destination to find no luggage. We were heading immediately out on safari and because of this, we didn’t see our luggage for six days. During this time, I became ill with a bad virus, suffering from fever, stuck out in the bush without even the basics like paracetamol which was in my checked luggage.
Most disappointing hotel of 2025: Sonder Miami
Sonder has now crashed out of the Marriott family, and I am not surprised, based on my recent stay in October at the 17 West Sonder Miami property. Broken aircon, rude staff, an alarm that was going off in the lobby for our entire stay, lack of cleaning even after multiple requests and more, all came together to create a disastrous experience. To make matters worse, because of Sonder’s fall from Marriott grace, my complaint and feedback emails have now been met by a brick wall.
What are you most looking forward to in 2026?
Cabins: British Airways A380 retrofit programme with new first class and installation of Club Suites and a very exciting launch of Singapore Airlines new first and business class products, coming from an airline which is already among the leaders in premium cabins.
Flight: We edge ever closer to the launch of Qantas’s Project Sunrise flights which will provide direct, non-stop flights from Sydney to London and New York with reimagined cabins on the Airbus A350 and also the launch of Alaska’s new long-haul routes, utilised never-seen-before long haul aircraft which will include London and Rome for the first time ever.
New aircraft: United will bring its 787-9s to the market with a hotly anticipated new business class cabin and more.
New hotels: After the successful launch of Waldorf Astoria NYC, the Waldorf Astoria Admiralty Arch London will open its doors.
New travel hacks: Ensure you have the right apps to beat the competition – Flightradar24 or Flighty will get you ahead of the competition when chaos ensues.
