Delta tells me that I have flown 246,875 miles in their planes. That’s trivial, of course – there are many people in the Million Miler clubs, and then there’s Tom Stuker, who’s flown more than 10 million miles on United.
Still, it makes me tired to think what my total mileage would be if I added in United, Alaska, Emirates, Southwest, JetBlue, and then all the minor airlines overseas, in the South Pacific, Africa, Asia and the Middle East. I know that I flew more than 35,000 miles in the South Pacific alone.
I’ve had some great fun traveling, but I sure don’t love it like I used to.
So it makes me happy when I can give my frequent flier miles as gifts – to charity, to family. After all, I really didn’t do anything to earn them, other than do what I was going to do anyhow.
And when you fly that many miles, getting on a plane doesn’t seem like a reward.
The flights I gave away today were for a family member who is getting tests for a transplant. All the hours I sat on those planes, flying to Dubai and D.C. and St. Lucia, I didn’t know I was doing something that would someday be a big help to a loved one who’s fighting for his life.
It would be great if you could earn points for driving, wouldn’t it?
Today’s penny is a 2011, one that looks like it has seen a lot of miles in the four short years of its life. Chosen because it’s the year that Tom Stuker flew his 10 millionth mile.
I hope he gave away a lot of them.