In the 1980s, I loved getting the Houston Chronicle and the New York Times travel sections on the kitchen table and combing through them for what seemed like hours on end. I was enthralled with travel from a young age and I wanted to know all of the travel trends as they were being publicized.
I remember arriving in the massive conference hall and seeing all of the travel companies that were set up with booths and tables. I knew that I was in for a real treat moving from table to table filling up the free travel bag that I received during registration.
When I got to the Continental Airlines booth, I was greeted with the question, Do you have a OnePass Frequent Flyer account with us? I did not so right then and there I filled out the form and got my account number.
I was now ready to rack up the air miles that would lead to free travel!!!
Starting in the 1990s I began to travel a lot for my job which gave me ample opportunity to start adding the air miles to my OnePass account. I was flying weekly and the numbers started adding up quickly.
I made the goal as the account balance hit double digits to redeem 75K miles for two round trip economy tickets on QANTAS to Australia. I was beyond excited as the account balance got closer to the magic number.
What happened next is still shocking, I surpassed the 75K miles needed and went on to exceed the 125K miles needed for two roundtrip business class tickets. I ultimately had a balance that more than covered the 250K miles needed for two roundtrip first-class tickets to Australia!!!
In 1992, I made the first of two trips to Australia in first-class on QANTAS by redeeming air miles. At the time, the two tickets were valued at over $10K. I made the same trip to Australia on QANTAS in 2002 in first-class and by then the tickets had nearly doubled in value.
Continental Airlines had one non-stop flight a day to London-Gatwick at that time and I had the idea to go to London over the Thanksgiving Holiday weekend, which meant I was not using any of my coveted PTO.
Throughout the 1990s and well into the 2000s, I made as many as 15 trips to London for my Thanksgiving Holiday weekend by either redeeming air miles or qualifying with a promotion for earned free travel to Europe.
All of my flights were in Business class until Continental flight launched their new BusinessFirst service, which was a new hybrid cabin that felt more like First-Class than Business-Class. I remember seeing the dollar value of the tickets at the time and thinking that was a hefty price tag.
My MOM and I traveled on one of the first Boeing 787 flights between Houston and London in 2013 in BusinessFirst class on air miles. It was now United Airlines and not Continental Airlines, but I knew the crew was Continental with their superior level of service.
I started my first global role in 2008 which allowed me to travel to Europe, Asia, and South America all within my short tenure.
My second global role increased my global travel significantly and the OnePass account that I had opened in 1987 was branded by United Airlines.
In my heyday as a global road warrior, I was racking up the six-figures worth of miles each year-these were base miles and did not include the bonus miles for flying business class or being an elite member of the program. Before I knew it, I was gifting friends and family massive amounts of miles for them to travel.
In June 2017, I left my global role and started the process of decompressing from the hectic pace and the travel routines.
Shortly thereafter, my husband and I emptied my account by redeeming the balance for a cruise to Alaska. We booked a suite on Holland America for a week and didn’t pay any cash. The experience was phenomenal.
We also book the flights in first-class on miles to Seattle which meant that the whole trip was paid for with air miles that I had wracked up during my times as a global road warrior.
We were well on our to visit the city where we got married for our second honeymoon!!!
I often think that I have done more travel in my life than I ever could have imagined or dreamt of as a kid. When I look at my passports the country stamps remind me of some of the most amazing trips I was fortunate to experience by redeeming air miles.
The opportunity to get to travel so extensively for my jobs over the years and to get to keep the air miles made so many trips happen that would have otherwise been out of reach.
How do you make your dreams come true?
Where do you want to travel and how will you get there?
How can you exceed your expectations and goals?
With much gratitude…
Editor’s Note: Phil worte this before his unexpected passing this past May. We publish it now as a tribute to him, in hopes his well-lived life and untiemly death will serve as an inspiration to others to go after their dreams.
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