The retiree who bought a lifetime plane ticket for less than 300,000 euros: with 12,000 first class flights he has already recovered the investment

Tom Stuker is not your typical airline frequent flyer. What’s more, you could metaphorically say that you own a United Airlines seat for life. And the 69-year-old American He bought a lifetime plane ticket in 1990 for 270,000 euros. with which he has traveled almost 40 million kilometers. Here we tell his story. As of December 2023, Stuker or the world’s most famous frequent traveler had accumulated more than 37 million kilometers, in more than 12,000 flights, with his beloved United Airlines. Which makes him the human being who has flown the most kilometers in history.

We are talking about a car dealership consultant from New Jersey who, in 1990, when he was 35 years old, bought a ‘golden airline ticket’ known for being the “error” promotion of the American airline.

At that time, United offered a lifetime pass for $290,000, equivalent to 270,000 euros, Stuker jumped on it and He has practically lived in first class seat 1Bhis favorite, since then.

The 12 days sleeping in first class

According to the traveler’s stories collected by the Washington Post, he was once 12 days in a row without sleeping in a bed. “I continued traveling by plane from Newark to San Francisco, from Bangkok to Dubai and back, the equivalent of four trips around the world, leaving heaven only for the airport VIP lounge,” he declared. And it has access to the exclusive airport area, and other ‘premium’ options.

“The best investment of my life”, Stuker confessed to the media. He realized that frequent flyer miles aren’t just valuable for booking more flights. Once you get them, you can redeem them through the airline, and Stuker has lived like a sultan on United miles ever since: luxurious hotel suites around the world, week-long Crystal cruises, gourmet meals from Perth to Paris. It is worth remembering that he has done 12,000 flights in the 34 years he has been traveling.

The purchase that is on account

In data, the purchase he made 34 years ago has paid off. If we consider the year in which he made the most trips (2019) with 373 flights in 365 days, it would have cost him 2.2 million euros. That is, 1.93 million euros more than what it paid in 1990, or eight times the initial value of the lifetime ticket.

Taking into account the mileage he did in 2019, the data shows that Stuker covered more than six trips to the moon.

Miles for Walmart and works

The visionary traveler explained to the media that he even took advantage of the miles to get enough gift cards to redo his brother’s house. Besides, charged 46,000 euros in Walmart gift cards in a single day. Being a promotion that United got out of hand, they stopped offering passes a long time ago.

Mark Cuban’s call and the lifetime ticket

When Mark Cuban was 32 years old and became a millionaire, he decided to make a first investment that caught the attention of all his close friends. He called American Airlines and decided to buy a lifetime airline ticket. A decision he made with a few too many drinks, but Over time it turned out to be profitable.

After having a few drinks, some people challenge the risks in different ways. In Cuban’s case, he goes one step further and spent six figures to to be able to fly for life and to the destinations you want.

In 1990, Cuban had just become a millionaire after selling his software company MicroSolutions to CompuServe for 5.4 million euros. “My friends and I went out and we destroyed each other,” he told the ‘Club Shay Shay’ podcast. “They were like, ‘What do you think you’re going to do with all this money?’ And I said, ‘I don’t care about cars or houses, but, wow, you know, “I travel a lot by plane for work.”

According to his testimony, Cuban said that I didn’t know if lifetime airline tickets existed.but he still grabbed a phone and dialed American Airlines to ask them for this request.

“I called them and slurred, ‘Do you sell plane tickets for life?'” said Cuban, now 66. “I received all this information, with a terrible hangover, and I signed up. At first it cost 113,000 euros and then I paid a higher rate. I don’t remember how much I paid, but they gave me almost unlimited miles for myself and one other person for the rest of my life.

The ‘AAirpass’, which debuted in the early 1980s, according to CNBC, offered its members unlimited first class travel with the airline for the rest of their lives, for a price that depended on their age at the time of purchase. In Cuban’s case, his 113,000 euros in 1990 would be worth approximately almost 300,000 current euros, if they were adjusted for inflation.

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