It was twenty years ago today that I logged in at crankyflier.blogspot.com and introduced myself to… well, I guess the few family and friends who knew that I was going to start writing about the airline industry and not really anybody else. It’s been quite a ride since those early days when I still had a full-time job and was just doing this on the side. Who knew it would turn into the most influential and important blog ever to be written about anything in the history of the world? (No? Too much?)

Today, that little blog has grown into Cranky Flier LLC which not only puts out the blog but also publishes Cranky Network Weekly, produces The Air Show podcast, organizes Cranky Dorkfest, and puts on the Cranky Network Awards. This doesn’t even mention the 20+ hard-working people who do travel planning at Cranky Concierge. I could never have guessed back then that this is what it would turn into.

I can wax poetic about all this, but that’s boring. Let’s bring some data into this to spice things up.

Since I started writing this blog, I’ve personally written more than 4.3 million words here, which is apparently about the same as writing the entire Harry Potter series four times over. And I’ve loved writing every one of them…. but really… some more than others. I mean, there’s nothing better than those Alitalia posts back in the day.

Here are some more fun stats for you:

• More than 5,300 posts written
• American has been the subject of the most posts at 573, followed by Delta at 545, United at 518, and Southwest at 439
• Most importantly, Alitalia has been the subject of 72 posts, not nearly enough if you ask me
• I have written up 300 trip reports
• The Cranky Jackass has been awarded 34 times, making it truly an elite award that is not bestowed lightly

Of course, this is about more than just what I write, it’s also about the comments. There have been more than 120,000 comments published since this site started, made up for more than 9.3 million words. Sure, I’m responsible for 13,500 of those comments myself, but that means more than 100,000 have been written by you, and I’d say I probably enjoyed at least half of those.

The most frequent commenters are names you might recognize. Nick Barnard is first with more than 3,000 followed by Tim Dunn (2,700+), Bill from DC (2,400+), SEAN (2,200+), and Kilroy (2,100+).

Here’s another way to slice that. Want to guess who has written the most words in their comments? I’ll give you three guesses, but the first two don’t count. Tim Dunn has penned more than 647,000 words, presumably all of them praising Delta. That is roughly the same length as War and Peace and Moby Dick combined.

The number of weekly posts has declined since those early days when I used to write multiple times a day and then eventually once per day Monday through Friday. But the number of comments has held up well, and so far this year we have the most average comments per post ever. Keep it up. (Most of you.)

Cranky Flier Stats by Year

What were your favorite posts to comment on? Old-timers will definitely know the first one. But here are the top five.

• Family Airlines Gets Smacked by the DOT (317)
• Don’t Blame Overbooking for This United Mess (261)
• Blaming United’s Problems on Continental (or Vice Versa) is Exactly the Problem (240)
• How Southwest Determines Your Boarding Card Number, and How You Can Now Jump the Line for $40 (222)
• Feds Announce Massive, Haphazard Cuts in Air Service Starting Tomorrow, and We Should All Be Angry (189)

Of course I appreciate my family helping make this go, especially my wife Kirsten who has read countless blog posts and unwillingly sparred with me on a variety of topics. That always made the posts better. I will also always be grateful to my good friends Chris and Heather who were the ones who pushed me to start writing. This wouldn’t have happened without them, and heck, even the name is their doing.

I want to say “here’s to another 20 years,” but do I really want to still be doing this when I’m pushing 70? I might not have time for it when I’m running all those bingo games in the retirement home. I guess there’s only one way to find out. Just keep reading and participating in the comments, and we shall see where the runway takes us.