Most loyal customer ever

This guy got 10 million frequent flyer miles on United. They said 6000 flights since 1982. That works out to more than 1 every 2 days (but I suspect that they mean flight segments since no one could fly that much).

He's been to Hawaii over 80 times, and he said he accumulated 4 million miles going to Australia. He must be getting triple miles because by my calculation that would be over 240 trips if they only counted once. Actually he must have a lot of multiple count miles, because it's only a 1/4 million miles to the moon.

They did name a jet after him, and they are letting him throw out the first pitch in a Cubs game.

My boss made it to 1 million miles on United, but it took about 10 years.

Any frequent flyers out there?

I agree with your math on the Australia trips. ORD to SYD via SFO is about 18,000 miles round trip, so I get 222 round trip journeys. I guess if he has money to burn (and tickets aren't bad...$1400ish), that's about 2 round trips every quarter since 1982. Maybe he really does visit his friend that much?

I'm sure they mean segments. Especially in the most common scenario where different segments have different flight numbers, I'm sure they're differentiated. It isn't clear to me if United is counting his actual flight miles, or his earned flight miles. As a 1K buying unrestricted tickets, he'd be eligible to earn status miles at 150% of the actual flown mile rate.

As for my own travels, I've flown on 92 segments in the last 18 months. That's good for about 40,000 actual flight miles, 45,000 status miles, and 80,000 award miles. My rate of travel is escalating, but it's all domestic. I also live in the middle of the country, so my maximum flight length is constrained. I expect to reach between 1 and 2 million total actual flight miles over the next 3 decades.

I'll hit lowly 2P on United next month, probably. Can't wait to not get those UDU's!

10 million frequent flier miles is ridiculous. That is an insane amount of time spent on a plane. I'm not sure that's something I'd necessarily be proud of ;-)

There are different levels of "lifetime status" at United, starting at 1 million miles - crazy to think this guy blows all of them out of the water.

Saw a video segment on this and the guy said the miles were BIS miles(Butt In Seat).
OH what a boring life it would be to fly that much.

I'm probably between 200,000 and 300,000 miles spread out among lots of airlines. What have I received for all these miles? Nothing! My miles always expire on me, and I have no loyalty at all, flying whoever is cheapest.

You probably know this but the movie Up on the Air tells the story of somebody who achieves 10 million miles on American Airlines.

Anyone with any transferable international business class upgrades on United they may not use, please PM me. I'm thinking of going to Argentina later this year.

Although I don't have any issues with flying, there's always been plenty of other things I'd rather be doing than spending that much time in an airline seat.

Certainly not a goal I'd ever want to attain.

I wonder two things:

A - What the heck does this guy do that requires him to fly so much?

B - Why / how does the reward of throwing a first pitch tie into it?

Quote: DJTeddyBear

B - Why / how does the reward of throwing a first pitch tie into it?

I suppose he has to sit through the game, thus finding out there's something more boring than flying coach :P

Here's an easier question: What model is the plane they named after him? It's easy enough to tell from Paco's photo.

I've met Stuker, he is one hell of a guy.

Quote: Nareed

Here's an easier question: What model is the plane they named after him? It's easy enough to tell from Paco's photo.

That's the queen of the skies - a 747.

10 mil? Dang. I've got like 125k by the end of this year. I'm happy to make ContinUnited Silver two years running. I need to fly more.

Quote: PerpetualNewbie

That's the queen of the skies - a 747.

As I said, it was easy. Only one plane has that kind of nose.

Quote:

10 mil? Dang. I've got like 125k by the end of this year. I'm happy to make ContinUnited Silver two years running. I need to fly more.

I fly once per year on my own dime, which doesn't amke for accumulating anything at all. When I fly for work it's usually on a low cost airline without a frequent flier program; not to mention the fligths are kind of short.

Quote: rdw4potus

It isn't clear to me if United is counting his actual flight miles, or his earned flight miles. As a 1K buying unrestricted tickets, he'd be eligible to earn status miles at 150% of the actual flown mile rate.

They must be talking about "earned flight miles". There are a little more than 11,000 days since 1982. So he would have to average over 900 miles per day including weekends and holidays. I doubt that even pilots log those kind of miles.

EDIT: I googled some more articles, and the claim is that I am wrong. He actually sat in an airplane for ten million miles.

Quote: pacomartin

They must be talking about "earned flight miles". There are a little more than 11,000 days since 1982. So he would have to average over 900 miles per day including weekends and holidays. I doubt that even pilots log those kind of miles.

EDIT: I googled some more articles, and the claim is that I am wrong. He actually sat in an airplane for ten million miles.

While averaging nearly 29,000 miles in the air each month for 29 years... I think this puts it best. Chicago to NYC to LA to Chicago is about 5,000 miles round trip. So if he did that every 5 days, that'd get it done without counting the trips to Europe or Australia on the weekends. I guess if he traveled extensively for work during the week and also traveled on vacation, it'd be possible to get to 10 million flight miles over 30 years.

Quote: Nareed

As I said, it was easy. Only one plane has that kind of nose.

It's a 747-400 to be exact (as far as I can tell)

Quote: thecesspit

It's a 747-400 to be exact (as far as I can tell)

It's hard to tell by the nose. If memory serves, the -400 has winglets on the wingtips, as opposed to previous models. Oh, and United tends to keep planes around a long, long time.

Quote: Wizard

My miles always expire on me

No expiry on my Alaska Airlines miles (majority of which are earned form Alaska Air credit card). But you really need to be based out of Seattle or Portland to get good value.

Quote: Nareed

It's hard to tell by the nose. If memory serves, the -400 has winglets on the wingtips, as opposed to previous models. Oh, and United tends to keep planes around a long, long time.

The -400 series has a longer hump at the top of the plane, which also adds an upper level door.

.... though actually the -300 series had that as well it seems. BUT there is a news article that states it's -400 out there :)

Quote: thecesspit

The -400 series has a longer hump at the top of the plane, which also adds an upper level door.

.... though actually the -300 series had that as well it seems. BUT there is a news article that states it's -400 out there :)

I believe that United only has the 747-400 model in their fleet.

Only 56 of the 747-300 configured for passenger use were ever delivered. I think the last ones are all flying in Indian subcontinent.

Most of the American fleets were aggressively modernized in the recession.

Thinking about this guy's flying schedule. He said that it took him 20 years to get the first 5 million miles. He lives in Chicago, so that would be equivalent to weekly roundtrip to LAX (4 hours each way) plus 8 trips to Hawaii per year. He probably wasn't that efficient, but I am sure he went to Australia, and New Zealand and Europe a few times as well. It's extreme flying, but you can imagine someone doing that and having a career. Some people do that level of flying, but they must take different airlines to save costs. That's the kind of distance Hillary Clinton puts in as Secretary of State (but she has her own jet).

But he did the next 5 million miles in only ten years (twice the pace). But by then he stopped flying in coach and was getting executive treatment including being met at the gate and shuffled to a tight connection. United may be counting his frequent flyer trips as part of his "butt in seat" total mileage. While that level would be extreme, it's not the most expensive or the worst addiction middle aged men get. He was getting some notoriety, and he found that he was getting famous as a result.

I have to try and be content with the SWA frequent flier program (which they
just changed all around, not for the better ).

But at least its been getting me and the Mrs out to LV about once per year.

We used to rent a car to get SWA FF credits once in a while on the weekends.
Dirt cheap, save the miles on our own SUV's, get better mileage..... It helps
to have a nice regional airport about 2 exits up the interstate.

Quote: Slowride

Saw a video segment on this and the guy said the miles were BIS miles(Butt In Seat).
OH what a boring life it would be to fly that much.

Boring and I bet you would be sick quite a bit given the low quality of air on airplanes. Some jobs let you rack up the miles. One guy I knew was introducing new accounting software and it was nothing for me to have to meet him when he just got back from Europe and was leaving for OZ a day later. A college professor said she was told by a stewardess that she flew so much she would be over FAA limits for crew members.

You can keep that much flying. Here is another question for everyone. When did (if you did) notice you stopped saying "I get to fly" and started saying, "I have to fly?"

Quote: AZDuffman

Here is another question for everyone. When did (if you did) notice you stopped saying "I get to fly" and started saying, "I have to fly?"

I still like just about everything about work-related travel. Flying, peoplewatching in the airport, hotels. I'm 4 years into a highish travel job, and it hasn't worn off yet.

Quote: AZDuffman

Here is another question for everyone. When did (if you did) notice you stopped saying "I get to fly" and started saying, "I have to fly?"

(1) On a round robin flight from Washington to Los Angeles to Miami and back to Washington I got an uncontrollable twitch in my eye. I was sitting in my hotel room thinking how lucky I was to travel.
(2) When I was routed from San Diego to Norfolk via Philadelphia in a blizzard. They knew the blizzard was coming but they saved $20 over routing me through Atlanta. I spent 7 hours waiting out the blizzard, and had to go to my meeting with no sleep.
(3) Every trip to Guam was a nightmare.
(4) I was stranded on a small Carribbean island during a hurricane.

Quote: AZDuffman

You can keep that much flying. Here is another question for everyone. When did (if you did) notice you stopped saying "I get to fly" and started saying, "I have to fly?"

I dislike flying. Not for the actual flying part, but the hurry up and wait that takes up most of it. Queue for check in, luggage, security, pre boarding, boarding, sitting down. Wait for take off, wait for the meal, wait for the movie, wait to land, wait to get off, wait for immigration, wait for luggage, wait for taxi.

That said, taking an Ipad with some books attached and a couple of games made the last two trips much better. As did the Gravol to make me sleep at least part of the way. I've also started refusing the food on the planes and just drinking water.

I've started say "I have to fly", but also with a resigned knowledge it's the only way I can get where I want to go, and I'm very lucky to be able to do it as often as I do.

Anyways, I'm only a two trips a year person, though I would like to travel a bit more for work.