Tom Stuker on Nightline

travel for most of us mere mortals means running the gauntlet the crowds the hassles the heches and the delays not for Tom stooker whenever he lands he gets met at the gate like a rock star whisked past all of us without so much as having to grab his own carry-on he's the guy on that golf cart loudly beeping at the rest of us to get out of the way people always ask me I say you know how can you f why so much Tom stooker is a frequent flyer in the truest sense of the word the only guy I think that's been flying longer than I have is this guy right here as a traveler stooker is a T-Rex surpassing all others on United Airlines by millions of miles the airline's most frequent flyer Bar None So if it's not too rude a question yeah how many miles do you actually have next month I hit 9 million 9 million miles yeah it's around the world 360 times something like that 250,000 miles to the moon is itar no no no it's the circumference of the earth is 20 approximately 25,000 mil so what's 9, 25,000 is about 360 I guess he logs all those Miles by helping automotive dealers around the world sell cars many of his clients are in Asia and Australia look at Tom's flights last year new Yark to Honolulu Dubai to Chicago LA to Melbourne Sydney to oare in all 272 trips and more than a million miles to know me is to fly with me this is where I live He's the real life Ryan Bingham the world weary frequent flyer portrayed by George Clooney in the Oscar nominated film up in the air a man who is only truly at home when he's headed somewhere else did you see the movie up in there yeah yes I did it was uh you know George CL you could have picked someone better looking but the the big difference between George and I is he packs really good me I just throw everything in there the thing you have to understand about Tom stooker is he loves to fly do you feel at home when you're flying oh gosh yes oh man you know people have vacation homes you know I have United my family doesn't treat me as nice as this and I love my family Tom's miles and title him to special treatment he doesn't just have Elite status gold or platinum his card is black not that he ever needs to show it you got your own entrance yeah yeah yeah he has his own line at check-in and the Agents know him by name they always greet him with a smile hey Sally how you doing all right I just want to check in for the the Melbourne flight real flight what a real flight yes it's a real flight how often do you see him Sally oh at least yeah at least once a week maybe twice a week look like a mug shot holy Moses right he can just about always get through security in a matter of seconds so you're sort of entitled to walk right up to the front well well you're not cuz it's rude his status also gives him access to a secret lounge you know hair it's just behind that massive line at the customer service counter the doorway is not even marked invitation only if you don't know it's there you definitely don't belong somehow I don't think we made any friends though I know I know hey Emily While most of us turn right when we board an airplane Tom almost always turns left into that tampered world of sleeper seats gourmet meals and ample leg room and it doesn't stop there it rains freaking flyer miles on me people say you have so many freaking fire miles you have more than you could ever use I use them all I use them all Thomas cash miles for a walk- on roll on Seinfeld that's him there in the coffee shop he routinely gets tens of thousands of dollars in gift cards in the mail $4,000 in Macy's perhaps coolest of all United Airlines christened a plane after him did you fly on that plane ever once once and I didn't even know it still at the end of the day the movie may have gotten it right about the life of a frequent flyer no matter how comfy the pillows or how attentive the flight attendance it can all be just a little bit empty at the end of the day that movie yeah was kind of depressing like he had no connection to anybody he's flying all around the world it's terrible I mean this but is that your life no my life is good you know Lord Tennyson once said absence makes the heart grow fer and it does the minute I leave home I can't wait to come back I really can't can't I mean I enjoy the experience I enjoy the champagne the beds the movies the first guys treatment treating me like I'm royalty I love that but I can't wait to go home finally the question everyone is probably too embarrassed to bring up 9 million miles in the seat not in this one I got to ask other ones mile high club um no no no no no no and do you get a special card for that I'm sure oh no no hope it's hope it's double Mar I see even the most frequent flyers have something beyond their reach I'm David right for Nightline at 40,000 ft

Channel: MillionMilerFlyer

Views: 58,612

Keywords: auto, industry, frequent, flyer, united, car, dealership, consultant, dealer, salesman, concierge, key, up, in, the, air, movie, real, life, ryan, cunningham, tom, stuker, nightline, news, exclusive, viral, global, services, airlines, interview

Id: 7z2dPHkOTRM

Length: 5min 46sec (346 seconds)

Published: Wed Oct 13 2010