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US frequent flyer reaches 10 million miles

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US frequent flyer reaches 10 million miles

 

It took Thomas Stuker 29 years to reach the milestone with United Airlines

 

A US businessman has been rewarded for his loyalty to one single airline company after accumulating 10 million air miles.

 

He has boarded 5,962 United Airlines flights and flown the equivalent of 400 times around the globe.

 

As a reward he will never have to queue at airports, always get upgraded and has even had a plane named after him.

 

Mr Stuker reached the milestone after arriving to his native Chicago on Saturday.

 

It took him 19 years to accumulate his first five million miles and another 10 years to double the mileage.

 

"So we figure that we're going to be here in five years when you hit 15 million miles, because you're cutting it in half every time," Martin Hand, United's Vice-President of Customer Experience, was quoted as saying by NBC.

 

Before boarding the flight to Chicago, Mr Stuker admitted that many years ago he was scared to death of flying.

 

"I couldn't get on an aircraft, it really bothered me," he told America's National Public Radio.

 

"But now it's evolved to a time where if I go a week without a flight something's not right."

 

Mr Stuker has now enough reward points through the airlines' frequent flyer programme to take several foreign holidays a year - assuming he can find the time.

 

A few years ago George Clooney played the role of a man who had achieved the same feat in the film Up In The Air.

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-14097038

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I feel a little bit sorry for this man. Can you imagine having flown so much with such a terrible airline???

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Will be interesting to know what nature of business he is in that necessitates so much travelling :)

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George Clooney amassed the same amount with AA.

A little OT - UA's million mile status is one of the hardest to achieve in the industry. UA ONLY counts the "butt-in-seat" miles on United/United Express metal alone for million mile status (no bonus for booking in Y/B/C/F and 0 miles for *A metal). AA counts everything, including bonus, miles from partners and credit card purchases into their MM status, thus making it easier to achieve.

 

I feel a little bit sorry for this man. Can you imagine having flown so much with such a terrible airline???

Don't want to sound like an UA apologist here, but you can't really compare UA with MH/SQ/CX - they are in a totally different league. There are no MH/SQ/CX to choose from in the US and UA was a really good carrier back in the 90s (deteriorated in the early 2000s and then slowly improving again starting 2008-ish). Also, UA (at least PMUA) treats its top-elite flyers (1K and GS) extremely well - they bend over backwards for them.

 

Will be interesting to know what nature of business he is in that necessitates so much travelling :)

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Edited by Craig

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I feel a little bit sorry for this man. Can you imagine having flown so much with such a terrible airline???

 

Can you imagine having flown so much full stop? Not sure what Thomas Stuker's lifestyle is like, but it must suck to live like Ryan Bingham.

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