About a month or so back, I get this message that I just joined the Million Mile Club for American Airlines.
ONE FRICKIN’ MILLION MILES!
My butt has sat in AA plane seats for one million miles since I started flying AA as a kid to today.
On one level, I’m happy about it. I got this little icon on my Exec Platinum card that says 1 Million Miles, and I get lifetime Gold status.
On the other hand, I’m not so sure.
ONE FRICKIN’ MILLION MILES!!!!
One million miles of sitting in back wrenching, trapezoid tightening, swollen leg plane seats whose failing cushions and poor ergonomics challenge any sane person while propping up the chiropractic and inflatable pillow business. One million miles of sitting in seats designed twenty years ago when humans were of smaller stature and now through trans-fat fast food and working out humans are just that much bigger. One million miles of watching security getting beefed up to the point where we’ll have to strip naked soon to get on the plane.
And how many hours spent just sitting in airports waiting…and waiting…and waiting….
But yet, the world is truly smaller. Decades ago, the expense and difficulty of flying made the world seem so much less accessible. Today, I think nothing of hopping on a plane to go to another country, or just cross-US to do some business or visit family or friends. So one million miles of growing, mounting discomfort for one million miles of watching the world grow smaller, more accessible, and less lonely.
To me, this is a potential positive balancing act turned a zero sum game. If we improve all the crappy things about flying, the positives are actually pretty compelling. But no, we get benefits and sacrifice other things for it. It’s really a shame.