It's a long read, but it was a fascinating story.

Basically, American Airlines at one point sold a $250,000 ticket for lifetime unlimited first class tickets (where a companion ticket could be bought for $150,000). There's so many great parts of the article, like a guy who ferried a couple back and forth from Europe on his companion pass for cash, or another dude who would surprise random strangers at the airport with an invitation to fly on his companion pass in first class. American was stupid enough to let you accrue frequent flyer miles on these flights, so one guy gave his away to people with AIDS so they could visit family members.

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-0506-golden-ticket-20120506,0,3094073,full.story

5/7/2012 10:10:12 AM

thx for the summary...not reading it

5/7/2012 10:11:45 AM

thx for the summary...not reading it

5/7/2012 10:12:55 AM

summary is tl;dr

5/7/2012 10:23:42 AM

thanks for posting. it's a very interesting read

5/7/2012 10:27:27 AM

long read? you act like people have other stuff to do here...

good story

5/7/2012 10:31:09 AM

I was talking to someone else about this, and I suggest that AA stops trying to run this program for money and instead just gives out like 3 of these unlimited passes for a one year time frame, and record the crazy stuff people do with them. I think it would be great publicity. If these couple of people did all that awesome stuff when no one was looking, imagine what it would be like if someone was actually documenting all of it.

5/7/2012 10:43:24 AM

Good article, thanks for posting.

5/7/2012 10:49:31 AM

i enjoyed the read

AA fucked themselves

5/7/2012 10:53:46 AM

you give people an inch, they will take a mile

fuck those guys....booking 3000+ flights in 4 years, and only using 400-500 is horseshit.

AAs tactics don't seem all that savory, but these guys should have had their privilege yanked long ago.

5/7/2012 11:02:20 AM

I can only feel so bad for people gaming a shitty company like AA.


[Edited on May 7, 2012 at 11:08 AM. Reason : ie, I don't feel bad for AA at all.]

5/7/2012 11:07:50 AM

Quote :

"thx for the summary...not reading it"

5/7/2012 11:08:01 AM

^^^Or AA coulda just told the guys to stop doing that long ago.

5/7/2012 11:10:45 AM

oh, its AAs fault for not having rules, and allowing some of the practices, but these people were out and out leaches.

If you ever wonder why there are lawyers in the world, and why they spend all day writing page after page or highly specific contracts/provisions....this is why.

The first time a seat was empty, there should have been a reprimand, penalty, etc. There should have been a max per month, something high, but within reason, and no ability to trade anyone without a personal relationship up to first class.

5/7/2012 11:12:01 AM

All I can think of...

<Cartman> I've got a Golden Ticket.... </Cartman>

5/7/2012 11:14:14 AM

The pricing model was outright retarded as well.

250k +150k for a companion ticket

Even in the late 80's-early 90's it was probably $400-$1000 for a first class international ticket. Did they really think people would only use this for 300 or so flights. Not even accounting for inflation, etc.

5/7/2012 11:17:56 AM

It's insane!

I'm kinda small-minded so I originally thought about how people don't have that much time to travel and lodging is expensive so it's not like they can just go places totally for free.

I didn't even think about the fact that, with this pass, you could fly places for a day trip...I mean, every weekend would be crazy awesome!

AA was stupid.

5/7/2012 11:37:39 AM

neat article

5/7/2012 11:39:11 AM

Quote :

"long read? you act like people have other stuff to do here... good story "

5/7/2012 1:31:55 PM

AA is dumb.

Revoking peoples ticket for doing things that weren't disallowed in their contract. Congratulations, you're giant douchebags who suck at business.

5/7/2012 1:49:07 PM

makes sense that the leadership of a failing company refuses to honor its contracts

5/7/2012 2:07:43 PM