I watch a lot of sports and one of my favorite commentators is Chris Fowler from ESPN. He covers all the major tennis tournaments, college football games and more. He has a great and recognizable voice, plus he always seems to call a game without bias and doesn’t hesitate to criticize the refs if they make a bad call.
I watched the National College Football Championship in Atlanta a couple of weeks ago and I told my wife, “I bet after the game he’s jumping on a plane to travel to Melbourne for the last week of the Australian Open.” I forgot about that until I came across this video on Threads, where Chris talks about reaching the 2 million-mile milestone on United, and how the pilots and flight attendants kept approaching him during the flight to thank him for his business.
Chris’ video is embedded below the transcript, which I think any frequent flier can relate to.
In the video, Chris says: “So I kept getting congratulated yesterday. Pilots, pursers, flight attendants kept coming to my seat. Two different flights. I had no idea what I had done, but they explained with great excitement that I had reached the 2 million-mile threshold on this airline, United, and they wanted to show their appreciation. It was definitely the friendly skies. There was no special celebration, no fancy champagne splashed around. Not expected. But when I got to LAX, my bag was the first one on the belt from Australia and that is the first time that ever happened so maybe that wasn’t a coincidence on 2 million-mile day for me.
“I had to joke with them I don’t know if it’s congratulations or condolences in order. That’s a lot of your life in airplanes and a lot of your life in airports … which, if you share this kind of lifestyle, you know that is not the fun part. But I have to be philosophical about it. It’s a lot of time and planes when you can unplug from devices, listen to music, read books, see movies you otherwise wouldn’t see. But also eat meals you otherwise wouldn’t eat.
“I won’t describe all of this as necessary evil; you do have to get from A to B and I’ve traveled with relentless consistency professionally since I joined ESPN in 1986. That’s a lot of shoots, a lot of shows and a lot of games traveled to. And it’s all part of it and I’m certainly grateful for the career that allows me to do that. Grateful for the fact that I also got the travel bug early in life and a lot of great leisure travel, Jennifer and I have taken adds into that 2 million miles. By the way, that’s on one airline.
“I got 1,000,000+ I’m not sure how much more on two other airlines, but as I said, it’s all part of the package and it’s part of the lifestyle you sign up for and I don’t whine about it. But if you do travel as much as I do, you know that it is a mixed blessing and maybe you chart your miles, maybe you have no idea how many you have but at some point, you do this long enough to come to your seat congratulations and you’re gonna reflect on how damn much time you have spent in airplanes in your life.”
View on Threads
I’ve flown over three million miles, but many of them were on frequent flyer points or my old girlfriend’s buddy passes, which don’t get credited. I’ve flown over a million paid miles on American Airlines, and they didn’t recognize that milestone at all. I’m also close to a million miles on United, followed by Delta.
I hear that United does a much better job recognizing their ultra-frequent fliers. I once flew with their top flier, Tom Stuker, who at the time had flown 18.9 million miles on United. This was back in 2017, on the airline’s last 747 flight (we flew from San Francisco to Honolulu). According to a quick search, Tom has now racked up over 24 million miles, which is insane. He basically flies the equivalent of L.A. to Australia 1.5 times a week.
According to some of the comments on Chris’ video, not all believe it’s because of how many miles he’s flown but because he’s a high profile sports announcer:
@mcwaday007: Hey Chris – welcome to the 2M mile club. I have to think this was more to do with you being you as I (not an celeb) never got this when I crossed this threshold- and I’m at 2.2 on UAL now.
@mica.lesser: I have over 4Mmiles with @southwestair and NEVER got a thank you for that EVER! Didn’t even know until one of my flights got canceled and the A-List customer service agent said she has never spoken to someone with so many miles. @united you are doing it right, I live in Denver maybe time for a switch! I am not an ESPN TV commentator but I fly multiple times a week and am extremely loyal, I guess to a fault
Others agree that reaching that milestone is bittersweet:
@Vkomlos: Congrats and my condolences too. I travel a lot for work too, but not as much as you. Separately, We first met in December 1987 when you were the Scholastic Sports America reporter for ESPN. You covered the Texas 5A High School Championship game in Austin TX. Stratford HS vs Plano HS. Congrats on a great career covering sports.
@Bradcheslock: Well said. As a traveling salesman over 40 years, now retired, I understand where you are coming from. I’ll be happy to take some of those mileage rewards off your hands. 🤣
I used to travel to over 20 countries and be on the road 80% of the year. But once I had kids, I had no desire to get on a plane unless they were coming with me. Fortunately, I’m able to take them on a lot of trips, including to Fiji and Australia in November and December. My 8-year-old son has now been to 19 countries, and my 5-year-old daughter has been to 15. So they’re way ahead of where I was at their age. My first international trip wasn’t until I was 23.
Have you ever reached a milestone with an airline and did they acknowledge your business?
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