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Tom Stuker is known as United’s number one flyer. He’s racked up over 24 million miles flown on the carrier thanks to an unlimited flight pass that he purchased back in 1990. Stuker was celebrated by United and even had his name put on the side of two aircraft, but rumors are swirling that United has now cancelled this pass due to a reported breach in the terms of the golden ticket that unlocked unlimited flights.
The Washington Post profiled the 70-year-old, New Jersey car dealership consultant last year when he crossed the 23-million-mile threshold. The article details Stuker’s flying, the redemptions that he has made using the miles (like redeeming $50,000 worth of Walmart gift cards in a single day or redoing his brother’s home with gift cards earned from redeeming miles), and more about his travel habits. It also spilled the beans on a long-held secret: how exactly was all of that travel funded? It turns out that Stuker made a very wise investment in a lifetime pass for a reported sum of $290,000 (he actually paid $510,000 total for his pass and one for a companion). This is said to have granted him unlimited access to First and Business Class travel on United Airlines worldwide.
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Posters on both Reddit and FlyerTalk are now discussing a rumor that Stuker’s pass was cancelled by United after he participated in the interview with The Washington Post. There is no way to prove the validity of these claims (and I hope that Stuker provides some insight on FlyerTalk, where he frequently posts). If it has been revoked, then United has shifted away from the brand ambassador that it once lauded with parties, custom jackets, and exclusive access to the airline.
I met Stuker once on a flight within the United States several years ago. We share a favorite seat (1B) and he was seated in it. He seemed like a genuinely nice guy and was being doted on by the flight crew. It would be a bad public relations move for United to toss out someone that has talked so highly of the airline for so many years, but the contract tied to the pass might have had a clause that prohibited media interviews around it or something else that provided an out. This has been speculated by some and again cannot be proven unless confirmed by either United Airlines or Stuker (and I don’t see them benefitting from sharing the details).
Anthony’s Take: We may never know if the pass was cancelled or not. Honestly, it’s not the business of anyone other than Stuker and United. It’s incredible to have flown more than 24 million miles and whether that’s the end of his 34-year mileage run. I hope this is just rumor and wish Stuker many more flights.
(Featured Image Credit: United Airlines.)
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19 comments
He was at a conference and confirmed it.
If he signed a NDA for a settlement, your comment would mean he violated it.
Not necessarily. The conference could have happened or been alluded to prior to a signing of any relevant NDA related to pass suspension/termination.
Not necessarily. The communication about the suspension/termination could have happened or been alluded to prior to signing of any relevant NDA related to pass suspension/termination.
Thomas Stuker got flagged on FlyerTalk by the site’s alias detector tool for having a duplicate member account. That is technically against the rules of the site, although the site allows craigz and some others to operate two member accounts. FlyerTalk Mods thought that the account used by his brother was his account just because they shared the same electronic device. Lucky for United megaflyer Stucker, Sandiego1K told new community director NWIFlyer and the mods to back off from going after one of the site’s few “celebrity” members and they heeded her wise words on this issue and not suspend him for having a shared device with his brother.
TWA884? If so, how is your hunt for me coming along? Enjoy the FT Mod Do near LAX on Halloween weekend. Boo.
I miss GUWONDER on FT
They better not have too many conversations with different people or WineCountryUA will force them to all merge into one. Unless you point out something they got wrong in a post, then you will just disappear without any notification….
You wouldn’t be the only one, NedsKid. How is beltway doing? They — actually IBJoel — struck out at beltway for complaining about a tech problem on FT, and beltway just wanted the site to improve on a technical basis. At least they didn’t just suddenly ban beltwa without any notice — it was a suspension with no good reason to do so except maybe in the heads of little Napoleons who may as well work for United and fuss over someone like Stuker despite his on-going dedication and love for United.
Once upon a time, some little Napoleons there thought I was Swedish or Swedish American. I have only ever been American, so who knows whom they wanted to investigate or disappear as being me — but it would most certainly even include some high-profile Swedish government officials past and present if they go by IP address or device ID info.
Stuker seems to have come across this and is unequivocal in that he’s only ever had one FT account for himself. Makes sense, but the FT managers seem to have quite the obsession with real or imaginary secondary FT accounts and so the false allegations and misplaced suspicions were given a life of their own.
Villainizing and expelling United’s most beloved and celebrated loyalist? What could possibly go wrong? Just when I thought that maybe just maybe United had returned to form as a solid-to-good airline more of this Kirby stuff with horrifically bad decisions returns. The guy just doesn’t know how to run a full service airline IMO.
You have to wonder at what level of UA management a decision would be made and supported to eliminate his unlimited travel pass benefit. Surely anyone at UAL involved in reviewing Stuker’s MileagePlus account couldn’t but help notice that Stuker was an extraordinary customer and extraordinarily committed to the airline. Makes me we question the competence of UA management and the tendency of management types to back the clowns under them when they or their favorites picked the bungling and jealous clowns for the work of going after some customers/users of the service for either real or imagined infractions.
Might also be related to the crackdown on the lifetime GS daisychain abuse
Has the crackdown on the lifetime GS daisy-chain been anything more than just ending the practice without closing down accounts of those who participated in the daisy-chain of note? Stucker has been generous with sharing some of the returns he has generated from the lifetime travel pass, and maybe that included daisy-chain participation. Even if not, this shows that United is at it to try to crackdown on creative uses of the programs UA has had out there and that means increased risk of being a casualty for being a player in the games.
I’m starting to think that Stuker and UA agreed to some sort of ‘buyout’ of his pass. He’s mentioned wanting to hit 25mn miles – he just hit 24mn, and could hang up the excess flying after that.
You mean a financial settlement — perhaps with an NDA — for surrendering remaining claims on a suspended pass? Maybe, but that could trigger a taxable event, so I would hope he would have factored that in.
I heard that this blog piece has come to the attention of FT moderators. A bit of an extra audience perhaps — if not also Stuker.
I’ve long been in awe at the number of miles he has flown, the mystery around the pass, and all of the things that United has done to celebrate him through the years. This has been discussed as a rumor on FlyerTalk, Reddit, and elsewhere. I found it interesting, so I shared it. It’s all speculative as I said in the blog post. I guess time will tell (or maybe it won’t). I’m looking forward to reading the book when it comes out.
I too have been amazed and impressed by the volume of flying he has done. But what is all the more awesome is that he really got so much use out of the lifetime flight pass and really milked it nicely from the mileage program aspect too.
I still have my doubts that the lifetime flight pass was a great investment of money and time, but the volume of flying he’s done is undoubtedly in a league of its own for a revenue passenger. And I say that as someone with a good number of million miles of my own flying over the years.
Ay United I am surprised he was not bumped off a flight, beaten and brutally removed when they finally realized the petty gotcha violation. United has been so DUMB for so long that the company is actually sick and needs a serious overhaul in management and crew. The 30 years I’ve been flying I always find it is United that has a problem with being too big and the right hand doesn’t know what the left hand is doing.