A man who had a £190,000 lifelong, first-class plane ticket had his ticket cancelled after reportedly costing the airline millions.
Steven Rothstein, a stockbroker from the US, was able to travel first class every time he flew after purchasing an AAirpass with American Airlines back in 1987, when he was 37 for £190,000.
He later paid another £115,000 for a companion pass which would allow him to travel with a guest too.
The pass was launched in 1981, starting off as a membership-based discount programme for frequent flyers.
Bob Crandall, American Airline’s chairman and chief executive between 1985 and 1998 told the LA Times: “We thought originally it would be something that firms would buy for top employees. It soon became apparent that the public was smarter than we were.”
The publication reported that in July 2004, Rothstein flew 18 times to destinations including Los Angeles, Maine, Denver, Fort Lauderdale, Miami, New York, Nova Scotia and London.
Rothstein enjoyed the ticket for over two decades, travelling several times a month and by 2008, he had travelled 30 million miles on 10,000 flights – costing the airline over £16m.
It was at that point he was stripped of the pass.
Rothstein said he had only been given one rule when he purchased the ticket, and that was that he couldn’t allow anybody else to use the pass.
He told The Guardian: “When I bought the AAirpass, in no uncertain terms, they told me that there was only one rule: I couldn’t give anybody the AAirpass.
“And those were the days before they took identification from passengers.”
Rothstein claims he stuck to the rule despite receiving an offer from a work colleague who offered him $5,000 per week to use the pass.
The airline claimed that the stockbroker had made ‘speculative bookings’ for non-existent passengers under names including ‘Bag Rothstein’ and ‘Steven Rothstein Jr’.
After Rothstein’s pass was revoked, he took legal action against the airline, accusing it of breaking their deal.
Rothstein and American Airlines settled the issue out of court, but he wasn’t the only one whose ticket was revoked for fraudulent activity. Jacques E Vroom Jr also had his taken away.
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