Darn, I am envy and jealous.
Nice places to see and good foods to eat. What a life.
http://www.businessinsider.com/ben-schlappig-is-homeless-but-flies-first-class-free-2015-12
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He takes at least one international flight every week and tries not to stay in one place for over three days.
Steve Rothstein bought a golden ticket from American Airlines in 1987 — granting him a lifetime of unlimited travel.
He clocked more than 10 million miles and 10,000 flights. He used his power to fly hopeless strangers home, a friend to the Louvre, and a priest to Rome to meet the pope.
He hopped planes to other cities just for a baseball game or a sandwich.
Everybody, even American’s CEO, knew his name.
“ became a hero at the airline,” Rothstein, 61, a Manhattan investment banker, told The Post. “I could just show up and get a seat.”
But in 2008, the airline accused him of fraud and snatched his bottomless boarding pass.
American is reviewing its AAirpass program to find ways to terminate some of the 66 high-flying contracts that are costing the company millions of dollars a year.
Rothstein, then living in Chicago, bought his AAirpass for $250,000, plus a companion ticket for $150,000 more.
“I could go someplace and I wouldn’t even have to think about it,” he said. “Just make the reservation and go.”
He traveled 18 times in July 2004 alone, jetting to Nova Scotia, Maine, London, Los Angeles and Denver.
Once a business meeting in Miami was postponed for a day, so he took a junket to Caracas.
He booked flights under fake names such as “Bag Rothstein” if he didn’t know who his companion would be — a practice that the airline later used to accuse him of fraud.
Because of the AAirpass, his daughter went to boarding school in Switzerland. He took his son to dozens of nationwide sporting events including the Yankees-Mets Subway Series.
Some days he flew to Providence, RI, home of his alma mater, Brown University, just for a baloney-and-Swiss-cheese melt from a place called Geoff’s.
“A very fun Saturday would be to wake up early and fly to Detroit, rent a car and go to Ontario, have lunch and spend $50 or $100 buying Canadian things,” Rothstein said.
He’d be home in time for dinner with his wife and friends.
“But I wouldn’t say, ‘Oh, I went to Canada today.’ That would sound obnoxious.”
Still, the charmed traveler paid his fortune forward.
He gave away all of his 14 million air miles. If a stranded traveler was crying — such as one woman desperately trying to return to Bronxville, NY, because her children didn’t have a baby sitter — he’d offer her his companion seat.
“I felt those random acts of kindness were exactly the sorts of things that we’re meant to do as people,” he said.
It was on another goodwill trip that Rothstein was ultimately dethroned, and he had no idea it was coming.
On Dec. 13, 2008, he checked in at Chicago O’Hare International Airport with a friend, a policeman hoping to return to his native Bosnia.
An American Airlines employee gave him a letter saying his pass had been terminated due to fraudulent activity.
He went home in shock and didn’t get out of bed for days.
“I feel betrayed,” Rothstein said, adding that he helped sell AAirpasses to firms and spoke at the carrier’s events. “They took away my hobby and my life. They essentially destroyed my persona.”
Rothstein filed a lawsuit and a federal judge in Illinois ruled against him for booking under phony names. The case is now being appealed.
“Our country is almost captive to big companies who have incredible power to do whatever they want to do,” said Rothstein, who moved to New York in 2009. “It’s hard to fight them.”
But that’s just what he’s doing to get his beloved AAirpass back.
“They signed a contract,” he said, “and a contract’s a contract.”
Frequent flier Steve Rothstein’s travels under American Airlines’ AAirpass program since 1987, which allowed him first-class flights for life:
* 10,000: Number of flights
* 10 million: Miles traveled
* 40 million: Frequent-flier miles earned
* 500: Trips to England
* 70: Trips to Australia
* 120: Tokyo flights
* $21 million: Cost of the flights to American Airlines
* $250,000: What Rothstein paid for his AAirpass in 1987
* $3 million: Cost of an AAirpass in 2004, the last year it was offered
* 0: Number that sold that year
Good for him, but I absolutely cannot stand getting to airports, waiting there, checking in, being on a plane longer than 2 hours, and living out of a suitcase. Absolutely cannot stand it - the whole ordeal is tiring in itself. I am sitting first class in my computer chair right now, really what's so special about it? Other than having to sit in an otherwise cramped cabin you voluntarily put yourself in of course.
As much as I like traveling, I hate airports and I hate flying. The only thing that is appealing to this is living out of a single small check bag. That's pretty cool.
Maybe I don't live as balling as rh71, but I generally don't get offered caviar, $100 bottles of wine, $900 bottles of alcohol, etc. on a daily basis. All of which are paid for via the ticket. So if you didn't pay anything for the ticket, it could very well be the cheapest most exclusive bar you can find.
Also, if you get globalentry/tsaprecheck, the security portions aren't bad (when first class/business class lines aren't available). And then you get shuttled into first class lounges, which are often attached to spas, which often give discounted or gratis services for first class passengers.
My 20 hour Emirates first class trip felt much shorter than my recent 5.5 hour Virgin America economy trip. I felt tired as hell after the 5.5 hour trip; when I got off the Emirates plane I felt like magic. Getting picked up by the included chauffeur is always a nice touch too.
Maybe I don't live as balling as rh71, but I generally don't get offered caviar, $100 bottles of wine, $900 bottles of alcohol, etc. on a daily basis.
That's shiz' pretentious as hell.
but delicious. well except caviar, I still don't understand that shit.
caviar: hell no. bulldick: hell yes.
some mysteries we can never solve.
I prefer a job that may not result in my office going kaboom at 400 mph...
That's silly. You're far more likely to die on your commute to a physical office than you are on a plane. You're probably more likely to die just sitting in the office than flying in a plane.
Nope. I don't enjoy flying or airports.
He convinced his parents to pay for his cross-country flights, which sometimes occurred eight times in a single week.
Damn, wish I had parents like this. Were always lucky to have two pennies to rub together.