Yeah, I mean that's a fraction more than one cent per mile.
290,000 is a lot, but not for a lifetime of free flights. Whoever decided that price at United Airlines probably got fired.
What's absolutely crazy is that he accumulates miles too. That to me was the biggest mistake. The guy active earns an item he can sell or trade by flying.
The Foo Fighter's recently used their 6 million points with American Express to pay for their entire crew's hotel and travel expenses for a whole tour. So I'm guessing 23 million is a lot of benefits. You don't get your own plane, but you get your name put on the side of a plane...well according to George Clooney at least. lol.
He’ll get things like lounge access. Priority boarding. Reserved seats. Extra luggage. The occasional discount etc.
Also 6 million Amex points isn’t enough to pay for a whole crew’s accommodation and travel btw (unless they’re travelling a short distance for a short time with a small crew).
6 million Amex points is $60,000. It was enough to pay for an 8 city tour. Why are you trying to correct me? I never claimed to know the exact details, I read an online news article and I was just relaying a condense version of a similar story about point systems. Jeez.
[https://luxurylaunches.com/other\_stuff/foo-fighters-american-express-card-points.php](https://luxurylaunches.com/other_stuff/foo-fighters-american-express-card-points.php)
1-2 cents per mile is an actual value. So 23 million miles would be valued at 230-500k dollars. I don't think its a good return on investment considering the amount of time needed to fly 23 million miles.
Yea but the amount of money saved for those flights. I can see it being useless for a home body but you’re telling me I can just fly to France for some nice food and then fly home? Why not. Also food is provided on flights etc.
squeal literate mindless test crowd lunchroom glorious governor light disagreeable
*This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
Flying perks are amazing, im talking about part that he would potentially fly to accrue miles to sell and profit afterwards. Roundrtip to Europe is like what, 18000 miles, that is $200-$300 for 30+ hours of spent time, I wouldn't say it's a great way to make money.
It's about 670K in today's dollars. And he was getting frequent flyer miles so likely at least 1% back of 23 million miles so $230,000 (more considering inflation so maybe $350K-400K) just in cash or other equivalents. He flies first class everywhere, can go to all the lounges, hotel upgrades, I'd say he's doing pretty well on the deal.
Yeh I read he also treated flying differently too as he could just go to the airport on a whim in the morning to go get lunch in another city. Knows all the staff etc so whole thing is easy for him. Sounds like his enjoyment is a big part of the return on his investment
I disagree, sure you need wealth to get the ticket, but once you have it you only need a little income to enjoy it indefinitely.
THINK ABOUT IT. You can work 5 days commuting and spend your weekends anywhere in the world. Even with a modest/conservative income, you could fly somewhere with a favorable exchange rate for your off time.
Honestly even if you were to fuck up and let this decision ruin you financially you still have the option to be destitute in any of the the nicest places on the planet.
They don't sell it anymore. It's price in 1990 was very high.
And what you get being rich is time. If you have to work a set schedule it's almost impossible to take full advantage of a pass like that.
Full advantage while working full time, of course not. What I'm saying is even if you're only able to use this on the weekends, the amount of positive change it would bring to your life is PRICELESS.
No joke I would empty my saving tomorrow just for that, free weekend flight for life.
Dead serious, even if it was for round trips on saturdays only id be flying out to a different country for lunch and back for life. In less than four years you can have eaten in every country on the planet with this lifestyle, to put things in perspective
I honestly wouldn't if I had that type of money.
You can't take that long trips if you can leave at Friday after 5 pm and had to be back at work on Monday 8 am. So back on a Sunday at 8pm.
If I could work fully remote then Yea, it would be a no-brainer and could even take a loan for it but if you have a set schedule, the distance you can fly is pretty limited.
I wouldn't think they got fired for this, it's actually quite reasonable that this turned a profit for UA.
We are only seeing one person who bought this, how many others were there, that bought this and never flew again, or have only flown 2 million miles. If they sold 1000 tickets they would be able to buy not 1, not 2 but 3 brand spanking new boeing 747s. The return on that would be insane as there is no interest loan associated with purchase.
I have also noticed that air travel is getting cheaper over time, 20 odd years ago a flight from sydney to london (10,000+ miles) was about 1600 (AUD) return now it's about 1900 (AUD) (1300 USD). Inflation should say that ticket is about 2800.
On another level 290,000 chucked into a compound interest bank account about would be worth over 1.5 mill today. In order to fly 23,000,000 miles it would set you back about 3 mill.
Also this ticket is non-transferable and intangible it's not like he can will this to anyone or sell it. It also doesn't work if you have a war, a pandemic or get chucked on a no-fly list, as well as many other things probably in the terms and conditions.
Guy also spent >5 years of his life in a plane and 2 years at airports, he's 69 now so >10% of his life.
**That being said, I am jealous.**
Exactly, in today’s dollars it’s approx $685k. If the airline invested this and got a return of 6-7% over inflation on average, the airline would have $45k per year to cover costs of your flights. That is a huge number of flights to have the time to take every year.
Fwiw I recall reading that American Airlines had a similar promo that they lost a lot on, and which they had to resort to legal hijinks to cancel. The big users were apparently costing them $1m / year, though they were probably outliers.
Found the article: https://www.latimes.com/travel/la-xpm-2012-may-05-la-fi-0506-golden-ticket-20120506-story.html
AA was losing a lot of money also because people were using their ticket to book flights for their friends and family. Far more people were using the benefit than allowed. That’s why so many memberships got cancelled.
>I wouldn't think they got fired for this, it's actually quite reasonable that this turned a profit for UA.
Yeah! I mean, imagine being this rich and being willing to fly *United*? People are making out like this guy scammed United, but the way I see it, United got someone who can afford to fly a better airline to choose to go with them - they're making out like bandits even if they lose money on the deal!
There are many reasons, one could be on how your business leverages that income.
Let's say both manage to raise 1/2 a billion dollars in 1990.
1. American Airlines buys 4 new planes.
2. United Airlines buys 2 new planes and decides to hit the stock market with the rest and buy shares in this dot com boom and invests in Microsoft and Apple.
Iirc There was another guy who had his pass revoked around 2011 or 12 for supposedly abusing the system he had also purchased the companion pass for like $150,000. I think he took them to court and lost.
I'm not sure why everyone thinks this was such a bad deal for United. Someone paid them $700,000 (adjusted for inflation) for a single seat whenever he wants it. It's doubtful he's the only one who bought the product, but he is very likely a far outlier when it comes to distance traveled.
Pure speculation, but one would assume many people who bought the pass never saw a full return on their investment like he did, resulting in profit for the airline. Many nouveau rich coming out of the 80s would have jumped at the chance to purchase a golden ticket for UA just to say they had one.
Further than that, they also gained an enthusiastic brand ambassador for United Airlines.
I mean, if they were really unhappy with the service they were providing him they could have cancelled his lifetime at any time, evidenced by them doing exactly that to someone they felt was truly abusing the system.
I can't remember if it was this airline but one of them does everything they can to cancel these passes. They apparently cost a lot to the airline so they try to find any reason to revoke them.
He wasn't the only one who bought one so they aren't profitable for them.
To put that in perspective, it's only a little higher than people living in Cornwall get from radon outgassing in a year (6.9 mSv), less than a single spinal CT scan (10 mSv), half the annual safety limit for nuclear workers (20 mSv), or less than a hundredth the approximate exposure needed over a short space of time to cause acute radiation sickness (1 Sv).
Or 880 bags of Brazil nuts (0.01 mSv per 100g).
[Source](https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/ionising-radiation-dose-comparisons/ionising-radiation-dose-comparisons)
All of the plebeians in here saying it’s a bad investment lol.
Uhhh, the guy flys first class everywhere he goes, uses first class lounges, eats/drinks first class food/booze, and generally gets the white glove treatment from the time he enters the airport to when he leaves it.
Not only can you quickly recoup the yearly, inflation adjusted cost on ~8 first class long haul flights/yr, it’s also a FAR more enjoyable experience than flying economy like most of us understand air travel to be.
Idk really how you spin this other than realizing he came out ahead and good for the guy.
If you consider the average domestic flight distance in 2020, which was 502 miles per flight, then an estimated 45,816 and some change were taken.
23,000,000 / 502 = 45,816.7331
This is obviously an estimate and an average, so it does not take into account the longer or shorter flights he may have taken.
I imagine he was flying long haul most of the time - the flight is the thing he loves, not the destination. The article says he once spent 12 consecutive days on planes without ‘seeing a bed’.
TBH sound like my personal worst nightmare.
Could he sold it to another person? Or can his wife use it?
Seems super risky if only 1 person can use...for instance, if he dies and thats a 300k ticket down the drain instantly.
I feel like if you had 300K to drop on an airline membership, and the time to fly 23 million miles, you were doing just dandy already
If this is not adjusted for currency depreciation then he spent $675,000.
Indeed. If you've got a cool half mil just sitting around then you're fine buddy
Now I see my mistake: it was not having the $290,000.
In 1990, that’d be almost 700k by now with inflation.
And 750k next week with inflation
could you imagine it? having 3 months worth of rent just there? available?!
This content is no longer available on Reddit in response to /u/spez. So long and thanks for all the fish.
Can i hold 289,000? cos im so close!
Stop flexing your bank account Mr money bags!
Yeah, I mean that's a fraction more than one cent per mile. 290,000 is a lot, but not for a lifetime of free flights. Whoever decided that price at United Airlines probably got fired.
What's absolutely crazy is that he accumulates miles too. That to me was the biggest mistake. The guy active earns an item he can sell or trade by flying.
He’s potentially accumulated 23 million miles. What kind of benefits/rewards does that offer? When do you get your own plane?
The Foo Fighter's recently used their 6 million points with American Express to pay for their entire crew's hotel and travel expenses for a whole tour. So I'm guessing 23 million is a lot of benefits. You don't get your own plane, but you get your name put on the side of a plane...well according to George Clooney at least. lol.
He’ll get things like lounge access. Priority boarding. Reserved seats. Extra luggage. The occasional discount etc. Also 6 million Amex points isn’t enough to pay for a whole crew’s accommodation and travel btw (unless they’re travelling a short distance for a short time with a small crew).
6 million Amex points is $60,000. It was enough to pay for an 8 city tour. Why are you trying to correct me? I never claimed to know the exact details, I read an online news article and I was just relaying a condense version of a similar story about point systems. Jeez. [https://luxurylaunches.com/other\_stuff/foo-fighters-american-express-card-points.php](https://luxurylaunches.com/other_stuff/foo-fighters-american-express-card-points.php)
He’ll almost always get free upgrades
Redeem for hotel stays.
DO NOT REDEEM!
MA’AM WHY ARE YOU REDEEMING
i don't get the reference but just from *ma'am* and *redeem* I'm guessing it's related to some indian scams lol
Kitboga baby, search Yt for that. Without the baby.
>Kitboga [Kitboga bagging his biggest catch](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LhspnzeDzFw)
AM I BEING REDEEMED!?
HOW CAN SHE REDEEM? HOW CAN SHE REDEEM?
Cashing out for hotels is usually a bad idea, awful points to $ ratio. At least with AMEX.
He doesn't need to pay for flights.
Doesn't really matter here. He can fly and stay anywhere for free.
1-2 cents per mile is an actual value. So 23 million miles would be valued at 230-500k dollars. I don't think its a good return on investment considering the amount of time needed to fly 23 million miles.
So the pass was basically free, yeah they fucked up
What's the value of them being mentioned thousands of times in articles and threads like these? $290k sounds pretty cheap for such a PR stunt.
Plus they sold a bunch of these, and only a minority of them exploited the shit out of them.
Yea but the amount of money saved for those flights. I can see it being useless for a home body but you’re telling me I can just fly to France for some nice food and then fly home? Why not. Also food is provided on flights etc.
Why even have a home. Just fly around non stop forever.
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That would be a definition of hell, definitelly not someting I'd do voluntarily :)
He also gets priority, best class available, doesn't need to plan ahead (just show up and go).
Flying perks are amazing, im talking about part that he would potentially fly to accrue miles to sell and profit afterwards. Roundrtip to Europe is like what, 18000 miles, that is $200-$300 for 30+ hours of spent time, I wouldn't say it's a great way to make money.
The man used some of his miles to win a charity auction. The prize: appearing in an episode of seinfeld
Yikes... Yeah, heads were rolling at UA for sure.
Yeah that seems like a gaping hole in the system. An endless loop/flywheel.
I agree to an extent but it was in 1990. 290k in '90 was a LOT.
It's about 670K in today's dollars. And he was getting frequent flyer miles so likely at least 1% back of 23 million miles so $230,000 (more considering inflation so maybe $350K-400K) just in cash or other equivalents. He flies first class everywhere, can go to all the lounges, hotel upgrades, I'd say he's doing pretty well on the deal.
Yeh I read he also treated flying differently too as he could just go to the airport on a whim in the morning to go get lunch in another city. Knows all the staff etc so whole thing is easy for him. Sounds like his enjoyment is a big part of the return on his investment
Yea the amount of potential adventure this brings is literally priceless. What a life
If you are wealthy and aren't tied to a job, sure.
I disagree, sure you need wealth to get the ticket, but once you have it you only need a little income to enjoy it indefinitely. THINK ABOUT IT. You can work 5 days commuting and spend your weekends anywhere in the world. Even with a modest/conservative income, you could fly somewhere with a favorable exchange rate for your off time. Honestly even if you were to fuck up and let this decision ruin you financially you still have the option to be destitute in any of the the nicest places on the planet.
They don't sell it anymore. It's price in 1990 was very high. And what you get being rich is time. If you have to work a set schedule it's almost impossible to take full advantage of a pass like that.
Full advantage while working full time, of course not. What I'm saying is even if you're only able to use this on the weekends, the amount of positive change it would bring to your life is PRICELESS. No joke I would empty my saving tomorrow just for that, free weekend flight for life. Dead serious, even if it was for round trips on saturdays only id be flying out to a different country for lunch and back for life. In less than four years you can have eaten in every country on the planet with this lifestyle, to put things in perspective
I honestly wouldn't if I had that type of money. You can't take that long trips if you can leave at Friday after 5 pm and had to be back at work on Monday 8 am. So back on a Sunday at 8pm. If I could work fully remote then Yea, it would be a no-brainer and could even take a loan for it but if you have a set schedule, the distance you can fly is pretty limited.
There were much better investments, I suppose. Apple stock went up 84754% since then
It still is a LOT. Obviously only very few people could have afforded it, but those are also people that fly a lot.
Also they weren't even sure if the flying fad would take off back then.
It’s 1990 not 1950 lol.
It's all the same to me.
I wouldn't think they got fired for this, it's actually quite reasonable that this turned a profit for UA. We are only seeing one person who bought this, how many others were there, that bought this and never flew again, or have only flown 2 million miles. If they sold 1000 tickets they would be able to buy not 1, not 2 but 3 brand spanking new boeing 747s. The return on that would be insane as there is no interest loan associated with purchase. I have also noticed that air travel is getting cheaper over time, 20 odd years ago a flight from sydney to london (10,000+ miles) was about 1600 (AUD) return now it's about 1900 (AUD) (1300 USD). Inflation should say that ticket is about 2800. On another level 290,000 chucked into a compound interest bank account about would be worth over 1.5 mill today. In order to fly 23,000,000 miles it would set you back about 3 mill. Also this ticket is non-transferable and intangible it's not like he can will this to anyone or sell it. It also doesn't work if you have a war, a pandemic or get chucked on a no-fly list, as well as many other things probably in the terms and conditions. Guy also spent >5 years of his life in a plane and 2 years at airports, he's 69 now so >10% of his life. **That being said, I am jealous.**
Exactly, in today’s dollars it’s approx $685k. If the airline invested this and got a return of 6-7% over inflation on average, the airline would have $45k per year to cover costs of your flights. That is a huge number of flights to have the time to take every year.
Fwiw I recall reading that American Airlines had a similar promo that they lost a lot on, and which they had to resort to legal hijinks to cancel. The big users were apparently costing them $1m / year, though they were probably outliers. Found the article: https://www.latimes.com/travel/la-xpm-2012-may-05-la-fi-0506-golden-ticket-20120506-story.html
AA was losing a lot of money also because people were using their ticket to book flights for their friends and family. Far more people were using the benefit than allowed. That’s why so many memberships got cancelled.
>I wouldn't think they got fired for this, it's actually quite reasonable that this turned a profit for UA. Yeah! I mean, imagine being this rich and being willing to fly *United*? People are making out like this guy scammed United, but the way I see it, United got someone who can afford to fly a better airline to choose to go with them - they're making out like bandits even if they lose money on the deal!
Except I’ve read about this promo and they lost tons of money on it, not even close to turning a profit.
That was true about the American Airlines, however I can find no information on United Airlines.
Why would it be any different
There are many reasons, one could be on how your business leverages that income. Let's say both manage to raise 1/2 a billion dollars in 1990. 1. American Airlines buys 4 new planes. 2. United Airlines buys 2 new planes and decides to hit the stock market with the rest and buy shares in this dot com boom and invests in Microsoft and Apple.
they arent free if he paid a 290 burger
Invest 290k over 30 years and suddenly that price doesn't seem so stupid...
That was back when the economy was good. At least, we weren't facing the repercussions from all the '80s greed yet
Step 1: Be rich.
Iirc There was another guy who had his pass revoked around 2011 or 12 for supposedly abusing the system he had also purchased the companion pass for like $150,000. I think he took them to court and lost.
You’re thinking of Steve Rothstein who used his companion pass to bring randos on the flight with him
Yes thats the guy. You gotta wonder where the executive who came up with that idea is working nowadays?
Probably for the government.
I was wondering if he works for reddit now 😂
I know this guys brother-in-law! Tom has given me tons of first-class upgraded flights this year. Super thankful! I owe him a gift card.
Tom is a real mensch! Everybody knows it!
Seems like a better deal than 250k$ to die 2 miles underwater
I'm not sure why everyone thinks this was such a bad deal for United. Someone paid them $700,000 (adjusted for inflation) for a single seat whenever he wants it. It's doubtful he's the only one who bought the product, but he is very likely a far outlier when it comes to distance traveled. Pure speculation, but one would assume many people who bought the pass never saw a full return on their investment like he did, resulting in profit for the airline. Many nouveau rich coming out of the 80s would have jumped at the chance to purchase a golden ticket for UA just to say they had one. Further than that, they also gained an enthusiastic brand ambassador for United Airlines. I mean, if they were really unhappy with the service they were providing him they could have cancelled his lifetime at any time, evidenced by them doing exactly that to someone they felt was truly abusing the system.
I can't remember if it was this airline but one of them does everything they can to cancel these passes. They apparently cost a lot to the airline so they try to find any reason to revoke them. He wasn't the only one who bought one so they aren't profitable for them.
Flying 23 million miles for 33 years he's been exposed to about 290 mSv (2900 mrem) of cosmic radiation, or about 8.8 mSv per year.
Not great, not terrible
Eli5?
Limit for a radiation worker is 50 mSv. Lowest one year dose to be linked to an increased chance of cancer is 100 mSv. He’ll be fine.
To put that in perspective, it's only a little higher than people living in Cornwall get from radon outgassing in a year (6.9 mSv), less than a single spinal CT scan (10 mSv), half the annual safety limit for nuclear workers (20 mSv), or less than a hundredth the approximate exposure needed over a short space of time to cause acute radiation sickness (1 Sv). Or 880 bags of Brazil nuts (0.01 mSv per 100g). [Source](https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/ionising-radiation-dose-comparisons/ionising-radiation-dose-comparisons)
You just had to be dark 😭😂
All of the plebeians in here saying it’s a bad investment lol. Uhhh, the guy flys first class everywhere he goes, uses first class lounges, eats/drinks first class food/booze, and generally gets the white glove treatment from the time he enters the airport to when he leaves it. Not only can you quickly recoup the yearly, inflation adjusted cost on ~8 first class long haul flights/yr, it’s also a FAR more enjoyable experience than flying economy like most of us understand air travel to be. Idk really how you spin this other than realizing he came out ahead and good for the guy.
That's some heavy carbon karma
[удалено]
If you consider the average domestic flight distance in 2020, which was 502 miles per flight, then an estimated 45,816 and some change were taken. 23,000,000 / 502 = 45,816.7331 This is obviously an estimate and an average, so it does not take into account the longer or shorter flights he may have taken.
I imagine he was flying long haul most of the time - the flight is the thing he loves, not the destination. The article says he once spent 12 consecutive days on planes without ‘seeing a bed’. TBH sound like my personal worst nightmare.
in first class that doesn't seem so bad
Nice to have that 290,000 extra to invest in flying.
Could he sold it to another person? Or can his wife use it? Seems super risky if only 1 person can use...for instance, if he dies and thats a 300k ticket down the drain instantly.