Man Has Lifetime First Class Ticket Revoked Mid-Flight After Costing Airline $33 Million

• American Airlines sold a lifetime first-class AAirPass in the ’80s.
• Over three decades, one flyer flew an estimated 30 million miles.
• Today true lifetime or unlimited flight passes have all but disappeared.

In the 1980s, American Airlines came up with a plan to boost its struggling finances: sell a lifetime first-class ticket called the AAirPass for a cool $250,000 (c. A$400,000). Steven Rothstein jumped at the idea and even forked extra for a companion pass, letting him bring a friend along free of charge and first class, every time.

How a $20,000 Ticket Cost $21 Million

Over the following decades, Rothstein made the most of his expensive purchase, clocking up a staggering 30 million miles and costing the airline an estimated $21 million (c. A$33 million) in flight fares.

By 2008, American Airlines decided they’d had enough. They revoked Rothstein’s precious pass mid-trip, breaking the news at the gate just as he was about to board yet another flight.

Tough love, you might think, given that Rothstein had purchased the pass — a legitimate product of American Airlines’s own creation — fairly and squarely. What followed suggests that the law might well agree…

To add insult to injury, they then launched legal action against him, claiming that Rothstein had booked over 2,000 seats which were ultimately left empty due to no-shows. The lawsuit eventually settled quietly out of court.

Rothstein denied any wrongdoing but admitted he had mixed feelings about ever buying the ticket in the first place.

Are Lifetime Tickets Still A Thing?

Today, lifetime or unlimited flight passes are more of a rarity, and the few that exist are nowhere near as generous.

One holder, Tom Stuker, reckons he’s saved around $2.4 million using his United Airlines pass but deals like that are all but extinct.

WizzAir, for example, offers a yearly “All You Can Fly” pass for €599, which includes one free flight and then subsequent flights at €9.99. Frontier does something similar.

Sounds decent, but there are a few catches: no luggage allowed and you can only book three days in advance, putting you at the bottom of the priority list for seat availability.

While the idea of an endless first-class getaway remains tempting, it’s safe to say the days of blank-cheque air travel are long gone.

Airlines have got much savvier with the fine print and if you’re still harbouring fantasies of unlimited first-class indulgence, you might want to read the terms and conditions before handing over your credit card.