I fantasized about trumpets at the gate. Confetti flying out of the overhead bins. Teary-eyed pilots offering me a congratulatory handshake. An enthusiastic inflight announcement followed by a marching group of flight attendants prancing through the cabin to deliver a cake with sparklers right to my tray table, which would be larger than average because I’d have been already upgraded to the most fabulous first-class cabin you’ve ever seen. Upon arrival at our destination, there would be water cannons shooting celebratory bursts over the aircraft, and cute baggage handlers doing choreographed dance moves as the plane approached the gate.
Those were my fantasies about reaching Million Miler status with American Airlines. The reality, however, was a bit more mundane: a run-of-the-mill, economy-class flight on a Boeing 737 from New York’s JFK airport to Cancún International Airport. And I wasn’t even sure that I’d reached my longstanding flight goal until a few hours after arrival, when the mileage appeared in my account.
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They may not make a huge deal about reaching Million Miler status, but it’s still worth every mile. And it’s the result of a long-term commitment to remain loyal to a brand (as well as some good luck in terms of my air travel patterns).
My airline addiction is one of the subjects highlighted in my book, Prepare for Departure: Notes on a Single Mother, a Misfit Son, Inevitable Mortality and the Enduring Allure of Frequent Flyer Miles. The story of a mother and son facing the final months of the mother’s life while revisiting their lives together, Prepare for Departure is a hilarious and heartbreaking book that’s a coming-of-age story, a coming out story and and end-of-life story. It also happens to explore the roots of wanderlust.
My American Airlines History
I don’t even remember when I first started flying what is today’s the nation’s largest carrier. There are photos of me as a toddler, carried in my Uncle Ed’s arms, on the tarmac in front of an American Lockheed Electra, probably at Standiford Field airport in Louisville, Kentucky. Since I grew up near Rochester, New York, and had extended family in Kentucky’s biggest city, American Airlines was often the carrier of choice for our infrequent family air trips.
Like the rest of the airline industry, American didn’t start keeping track of how many miles its passengers flew until the advent of the frequent flyer programs. American, in fact, takes credit for debuting the first airline loyalty program, AAdvantage, back in 1981. I joined on September 10, 1987, as a poor recent college grad who’d just moved to New York City. I still wasn’t flying much, but I’d been addicted to travel since I was a kid and since it was free to join, I was enticed by the potential of free trips, even if I had to wait a while to accrue enough miles.
Around the same time, I joined two other frequent flyer programs — OnePass, which served both Eastern Airlines and Continental Airlines, and the USAir frequent flyer program, which would later be renamed Dividend Miles. Of the three programs and four airlines that received my pledge of undying loyalty, the only brands that still stand today are American Airlines and AAdvantage.
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How to Reach Million Miler Status with American Airlines
To reach million miler status with any airline you’ve got to, well, fly a million miles. It takes time and dedication. It took me from the fall of 1987 until December 2022 to fly one million miles. I think — but I’m not sure — that my mileage accrual got a boost when American and US Airways merged in 2013, since my miles in both of their frequent flyer programs were combined. Whether or not that merger helped get me to million miler status, I’m thrilled to finally reach my goal and appreciate the benefits: namely, a one-time bonus of 35,000 miles and AAdvantage Gold elite status for the life of the program (or the life of me, whichever ends first, I suppose). I also got a handy little 1 Million Miler baggage tag that I suppose I will flaunt on my carry-on luggage (even when I’m sitting at the back of the plane).
A few highlights of my own personal history with American Airlines and its predecessors:
• My first flight on a jumbo jet was an American Airlines DC-10 Luxury Liner from Chicago O’Hare to San Francisco. My mother said I kept running back and forth between my seat and the lounge at the back of the plane.
• My first inflight musical entertainment was aboard an American Airlines 707 Luxury Jet from San Francisco to Cleveland Hopkins airport. Back then, music was piped through hollow plastic tubes in pneumatic headsets that were plugged into the seat. The one song I recall hearing on that flight: “Love Will Always Find You” by Donna Summer. Those were the days of disco.
• My first inflight movie was a rather dull “short subject” film about glass blowing, aboard the same Cleveland-bound American 707.
• My first time puking on a plane was aboard a DC-9 operated by Ozark Air Lines between St. Louis and Paducah. Ozark was purchased in 1986 by TWA, which was in turn purchased by American Airlines in 2001.
• The first small plane I recall flying was a Beechcraft Model 99 operated by Air Kentucky, an Owensboro, Kentucky-based member of the Allegheny Commuter system, a groundbreaking network of commuter air carriers affiliated with Allegheny Airlines and then USAir. The first thing my grandfather said when he boarded was “where’s the toilet?”
• I used to fly Allegheny Airlines BAC 1-11 aircraft from Rochester that had nothing but racks above the seats for the coats — no doors!
• My first flight to South America was from Miami to Buenos Aires aboard a DC-10 flown by Eastern Airlines, which would later sell its South American routes to American Airlines.
• My first trans-Pacific first-class trip was aboard American Airlines from New York JFK to Tokyo Narita.
• My second-cheapest air trip ever was a $24 roundtrip between New York LaGuardia and Boston Logan on the Eastern Airlines Shuttle, as part of a special sale.
• My first flight to the Caribbean was aboard an American Airlines DC-10 Luxury Liner from New York JFK to Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic.
• My first trans-Atlantic trip on American Airlines was between Miami and Madrid in 1993. It also happened to be my first big vacation with the man who would later become my husband. (That was not my first trans-Atlantic trip, however; the very first was from New York JFK to Brussels aboard a DC-8 operated by Capitol Air, a long-defunct discount airline.)
• My first trans-Pacific trip on American Airlines was between New York JFK and Tokyo Narita, during which I experienced an amazing first-class service and beautiful VIP lounge in Tokyo.
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• The first fried pickle I ever ate was at Charlotte Douglas International Airport, an American Airlines hub. I still prefer to change planes there if I have a choice.
• The first time I saw a person die in public (I think) was at an American Airlines gate at Chicago O’Hare in the late 1970s. I wrote about the scene in my book, Prepare for Departure.
• The tastiest custom-branded inflight beverage I’ve ever had was Piedmont Punch, a fruit punch served in a blue can decorated with an illustration of a Piedmont jet. Piedmont later merged with USAir.
My mother always taught me that it’s worth following your passions and your dreams, and my life as a travel writer is an example of the good things that can come from that. I may not have received a 21-gun salute, but reaching Million Miler status is truly exciting, and it’s a wonderful reward for all the travel I’ve been doing. I’m looking forward to experiencing even more of the world with American Airlines — even if I don’t always get an upgrade.
I’m a travel writer, travel blogger and Mexico travel specialist, and I love sharing travel tips to make your next vacation or business trip better. My new memoir was just published: Prepare for Departure: Notes on a Single Mother, a Misfit Son, Inevitable Mortality and the Enduring Allure of Frequent Flyer Miles. Please click and check it out!
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