Is Tom Stuker the world’s most frequent flyer?
A man who chooses to fly over 1m miles a year with United Airlines
By B.R.
“AFTER entering a competition a lucky punter wins first prize: a week’s holiday in Skegness. Second prize is two weeks there.”
For some reason this most ancient of British jokes came to Gulliver’s mind when he read about Tom Stuker in the International Business Times. Mr Stuker, it is claimed, is the world’s most frequent flyer. He is about to clock up his 18-millionth mile on United Airlines. And as the Boarding Area blog points out, 18m miles with United means just that:
United calculates million miler status based on your “butt in seat” revenue miles flown on United. That’s right, we’re not talking about 10 million award miles, or even 10 million miles taking into account elite bonuses for flying first or business class.
Mr Stuker is president of a firm that trains sales staff at car dealerships around the world. He has flown to Australia over 300 times for business and pleasure; he travels to Hawaii “three or four times a year”. In recent times he has flown, on average, 1.3m miles every 12 months. Whether he is actually the world’s most frequent flyer is a contentious point. When, in 2012, he flew his 13-millionth United mile, he told the New York Times about his rivalry with Fred Flinn, a Briton in his 70s, who had apparently notched up 15m miles; Mr Stuker thought this achievement questionable because Mr Flinn had accumulated that distance at different airlines. Not so Mr Stuker, who is hugely loyal to United, which he describes as a “second family”.
One rumour is that Mr Stuker does not actually pay for his flights. Some suggest that he bought a lifetime flying pass from United many years back and has made the most of it ever since, presumably much to the penny-pinching airline’s chagrin. His modus operandi, apparently, is to catch red eyes, using flying time as a chance to sleep.
And yet Gulliver can't help but wonder: a lifetime spent flying on United? What did second prize look like?
Dig deeper:
Whack-a-passenger: A lack of competition explains the flaws in American aviation
Air rage: Police drag a man from a United Airlines plane
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