Thomas Stuker, Very Frequent Flier, Logs 10 Millionth Mile on United

by AOL Travel Staff Subscribe to AOL Travel Staff's postsPosted Jul 11th 2011 01:00 PMUpdated Jul 11th 2011 06:16 PM

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The CEO of United Airlines, Jeff Smisek, was waiting when Thomas Stuker stepped off his flight from Chicago to Los Angeles on Saturday to congratulate him on flying his 10 millionth mile with the airline, award him with a permanent upgrade, and tell him a plane would be named in his honor.

Stuker, a car sales consultant from Illinois, has taken roughly 6,000 United fights over the last 29 years, bouncing around the country and Europe from dealership to dealership, traveling a distance that could stretch around the earth 400 times according to the Daily Mail.

Stuker told ABC News: "People have vacation homes and I have United."

United pounced on the event as a possibility to drum up some good publicity. Stuker obliged the company by talking about the kindness he had been shown over the years.

Stuker is now more of a PR asset for the company than he is a paying customer. With 50 million frequent flier miles to his name, Stuker is unlikely to be reaching for his wallet in an airport any time soon. In the 1990s Stuker even used his glut of points to purchase an appearance on "Seinfeld."

Stuker's achievement echoes George Clooney's characters in the movie "Up in the Air," but doesn't seem to have been accompanied by the same existential angst. Stuker's flights, unlike Clooney's, do not seem to have been a well considered metaphor for his disconnection from emotional commitment. He's just a guy who flies a lot.

"If I go a week without a flight, something's not right," joked Stuker.

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Filed Under: Air Travel, News

Tags: 10 million mile man, airline industry, airlines, frequent flier, milestone, stuker, thomas stuker united, united

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Luke

‎Mr Stuker has travelled over 10 Million Miles on United airlines, making him a super frequent traveller, not only racking up a great deal of flights, reward points and appearances on Seinfeld - what hasn’t been mentioned is that Mr Stucker has also has gained the “honour” of having the title Highest Carbon Footprint of any road warrior in the world.

Over his 10 Million Miles and nearly 6000 flights, Mr Struker has seen every corner of the USA and much of the rest of the world.

These thousands of flights equal more than 5000 Tonnes of CO2e emitted with his travels. That alone is a huge number, however to give you more context that is equal to the average annual footprint of:

Over 300 people from the USA
Over 1200 people from Mexico.

Lets hope that United Airlines, along with their PR annoucements and permanent upgrades, include some gifts for Mr Stucker to address this enormous carbon footprint, or that he has been working with car brand that have electric powered vehicles. See more info here: http://bit.ly/q4PwuS

August 04 2011 at 3:38 AM Report abuse Permalink -1 rate up rate down Reply

1 reply to Luke's comment

lawmbajd

This is quite possibly the douchiest thing I've ever read.

April 17 2012 at 1:36 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Mr.Charlie

July 12 2011 at 1:11 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

mleverone

I know UA 4MM = 1K for life. I wonder if he is Global Services for life?! That would be so sick!

CO Platinum Elite
Star Gold

July 11 2011 at 5:02 PM Report abuse Permalink +1 rate up rate down Reply

Tom Rodeheaver

The man must be a masochist to have flown 10 million miles on United.

July 11 2011 at 3:19 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Nails

I know that re-blogging crap from AOL is part of the HuffPo's mission, but I'm so annoyed by the total lack of proofing on articles. My 9 year old nephew knows the difference between 'of' and 'off' or award vs. awarded. I get that you need filler and push 400 articles a week, but damn proof before publish!

July 11 2011 at 3:14 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

roommate

He probably wasted over $100k on plane tickets, hotels etc

July 11 2011 at 2:44 PM Report abuse Permalink -1 rate up rate down Reply

wally zebco

You fly once with United and you should get a party, if you ever arrive at your destination. If this guy flew 10,000,000 miles he should be awarded the congressional medal of honor.

July 11 2011 at 2:42 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply