In his life Tom Stucker has flown about 38 million km. It’s like he’s gone to the moon, and then come back, 500 times.
Tom Stuker is 69 years old and works as New Jersey Car Dealership Consultant. But all over the world it is known as the “frequent flyer” who has flown more than anyone else in history.
And he didn’t do it for work.
Stuker took advantage of an offer from United Airlinesan American company, which in 1990 proposed a lifetime fly pass priced at $290,000. An exorbitant amount, for the time, which the man paid immediately. “It was the best investment of my life,” Stuker told the Washington Post.
Come in “Between the clouds”the starring film George Clooney which – among other things – told of the obsession with the American Airlines card given to those who would have flown 10 million miles (equal to 16 million km), Stuker often lived for days dragging a hand luggage.
Once Stuker he spent 12 days in a row airborne, on seat 1B which he has had access to all these years. Except for moments spent in the lounge, the man flew from Newark (NY) to San Francisco, then through Bangkok and Dubai and back. For the pure pleasure of flying. And to earn miles.
For frequent flyers, miles are a precious commodity. Airlines reward their frequent flyers depending on the routes traveled and the value of the tickets purchased. The more you fly, the more you can access privileged services. Not only that: in some cases miles can be exchanged, give and also sell.
In short, for Stuker, the $290,000 pass was a serious investment. Like him, other travelers took advantage of similar offers in the 80s and 90s. Just in the early 80s also the American Airlineslooking for new income, has put on the market a lifetime pass called AAirpasses worth $250,000. By adding another $150,000, he could buy himself another one.
“We thought that companies would have bought them for their top managers – he said Bob Crandall, president of American Airlines from 1985 to 1998 -. But we soon realized that customers were much smarter than us.” In fact, those passes were mainly bought by celebrities, entrepreneurs and wealthy people.
Il Los Angeles Times told the story in 2012 of a man who bought a lifetime pass in 1994 after cashing out on insurance following an accident, an award of $4.2 million. American Airlines put the last “lifetime pass” up for sale in 2004 at a price of $3 million. Nobody bought it.
In short, Tom Stuker is one of the few in the world who can afford to pack his bags without thinking about his wallet. 2019 was his “best year”. The man took 373 flights in 365 days. If he had bought all the tickets, Stuker would have paid a lot of $2.44 million.
The Washington Post reporter who interviewed him, and who flew with him from Newark to Los Angeles to watch him in flight, couldn’t help but ask:
“Has anyone ever died while flying with you?”
And Stuker replied: “It happened four times. All heart attacks”.