This man bought a "lifetime ticket" for $250,000, and then used it 400 times per year on average for 25 years.

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2012/05/13/ne ... -airlines/

AA setup the game because they needed cash apparently. They should honor the deal. 350K back then was a huge amount of money even if you abuse the heck out of it.

He may have pushed the envelope of the deal a bit far but I don't fully understand what he bought or how he used it.

Even if his golden ticket granted the right to take as many friends and family as he wanted along for free I would be surprised if there was not some rule against booking flights using fake names. I certainly don't see how someone could get away with that today under the watchful eye of the TSA and HS gestapo.

I can understand how booking seats and canceling them at the last minute disrupts potential revenue for the airline but revoking the pass is a little cheesy.

Even 10 years ago, you couldn't use the fake name to get on the airplane. I think he used fake names to as a placeholder for the seat and then show up with whomever.

He obviously violated the intent with 1.1 flights per day, many given away to strangers.

But it comes down to contract language. I doubt they revoked it without him actually violating the terms of the contract.

silencertalk wrote:He obviously violated the intent with 1.1 flights per day, many given away to strangers.

But it comes down to contract language. I doubt they revoked it without him actually violating the terms of the contract.

I don't think he violated the terms of the contract. He did not send people flying without being present. Had he let others use his ticket or companion ticket without him being there that would be fraud. But such is not the case. His using "fake" names was not out of any intent to defraud the company. It was because he intended to use the companion ticket that he bought and paid for - but didn't know the name of the lucky person that would be his "companion" that day.

AA made a mistake in how they worded the contract and are now looking for any loophole to get out of it. They can change the language and add restrictions on future contracts but they need to nut up and honor the contract with this guy.

L1A1Rocker wrote:Had he let others use his ticket or companion ticket without him being there that would be fraud. But such is not the case.

Maybe he did. This story is as told by him and not neccesarily the whole truth. I can't see the ticket being terminated without him violating the terms of the contract.

Man that ticket was an awesome deal. Way cheaper than buying a jet. On the one hand I wish I had it. On the other hand I don't think I would fly much more as you still need to deal with airport hassles - parking, taxis, rental cars, etc.

I see no problem with what he did. He bought blanket tickets and used them as such. The airline shouldn't sell limitless tickets assuming that no one would take advantage of them.

I do agree that there's more to this than what was published in the article. I'd like to know the whole story but certainly never will.

Thinking about it, it is not fraud, but probably is contract violation - at least a federal judge already looked at the actual facts and decided the termination was valid.

without actually reading the language of the sales contract he signed when purchasing the flight pass, we'll never know whether his behavior was fraudulent or not.

The newspaper article isn't clear on the details, but based on the information they provided, it sounds like he just used the hell out of his lifetime pass, then gave away the frequent flier miles. not clear what's "fraudulent" about that but I'm sure the airline doesn't like the fact that they sold an all u can eat product to someone who actually made a vocation out of using it

If gluttony was wrong, God would have made it a sin.

robpiat wrote:Even 10 years ago, you couldn't use the fake name to get on the airplane. I think he used fake names to as a placeholder for the seat and then show up with whomever.

Correct, I'm not saying he used a fake name to get on the plane but, just as you say, to hold a place for an unknown traveler.

Booking a placeholder then canceling at the last minute can cost the airline money by having to let the fare go at a last minute lower price or leave the seat empty on what would have otherwise been a full flight.

Delta lists fraudulent, fictitious and speculative bookings in the same category of policy violation.

http://www.delta.com/legal/agency_polic ... s_faqs.jsp

I'm not saying he violated any part of the original golden ticket agreement but it does seem like he must have been violating some of the basic airline booking policies.

I still say it's a cheesy way to get out of the contract but he had a good run so he's got nothing to complain about.

silencertalk wrote:If gluttony was wrong, God would have made it a sin.

He did! Haven't you watched the movie "Seven".