Congratulations are in order for Carl Brothers, who has now earned lifetime Global Services status on United Airlines after crossing the four million mile lifetime mark after an aggressive four-year mileage run that included over 100 trips to East Asia and Australia. The prize is sweet, but was it worthwhile?
Carl Brothers Just Completed His Four Million Mile Mileage Run On United Airlines
United Airlines has the most generous million miler program in the industry, awarding lifetime Global Services for the traveler and a companion after flying four million miles.
Brothers embarked in earnest on his quest for four million miles starting in 2021, flying roughly 1,00,000 miles per year, mostly to Singapore and Australia. He’d fly there, and fly back…every week, for years!
I’ve been following him for quite some time as he pursued this goal and on June 23, 2025, he passed the four million mile mark on a flight from San Francisco (SFO) to Sydney (SYD).
He now has Global Services for the rest of his life, as will his spouse. Below is a video of his momentous final flight:
Talk about taking mileage running to a whole new level…(then again, Tom Stuker did the same thing for years and years and years with his United flight pass, racking up 24 million miles flown).
Was It Worthwhile?
I know some consider him pathetic for this jaunt (which I estimate cost him about $200,000 if he was buying $800 r/t tickets to Singapore). Others admire the stamina but question the value.
I fall into that latter camp. Figure that if he flies for the next 40 years with this status, it will have cost him about $10K/year. Even with the PlusPoints and other perks that come with Global Services status, wouldn’t you rather take the $10K and fly whatever carrier you want with the schedule that works best for you? Do you really need status if you are buying premium cabin tickets?
And if you had taken that $200K and invested it, how much would it grow in 40 years? Even a modest 4% return could fund $8K in travel each year.
But for someone who had the time (my understanding is that money was not an issue and he had no kids), this is the kind of adventure that itself must have been a lot of fun. As someone who loves to fly and has also done mileage runs to East Asia and Australia, I recognize the adrenaline rush. Being on an airplane is one of my happy places.
Still, my kids and family would prohibit such an endeavor, as would my “real” work beyond this blog. 95 trips to Singapore? Certainly, that must become taxing, even if you managed to score a whole row of seats to yourself in economy class (as was Brothers’ objective).
CONCLUSION
Congrats to Carl Brothers for achieving lifetime Global Services status on United Airlines.
I fail to see the value of status any longer in an era in which carriers are selling most of their premium cabin seats and in an era in which those seats are not obscenely priced…the benefits here do not seem to outweigh the cost. But it must have been one heck of an adventure and there’s something to be said about enjoying the journey itself, even if the numbers do not add up.
image: @_carlbrothers / Instagram
Unitl United takes back their Million Miler promises, circa 2013
Yep, makes no financial sense.
But if it brings him attention that gets him p###y or c##k, whichever he prefers, and he’s rich & bored, why not?
After all, he’s now “famous”.
Douchebag Dave Edwards. Thanks for proving that you have no life other than post vile comments here and elsewhere every single day. Thanks for proving Mark Twain correct “it is better to keep your mouth closed and let people think you are a fool than to open it and remove all doubt.” Thanks for another terrific self-own, you’re obviously a pussy who loves cock and is sanctimonious and hypocritical by projecting that to others. Thanks for living up to your obviously completely accurate Douchebag nickname every single day. You make this blog, and probably the entire world, a less enjoyable place. Please crawl back under whatever rock you crawled out from and please shove your nasty vile lies and accusations where the sun doesn’t shine. Don’t waste your time replying, I rarely read your vitriol and even more rarely reply.
Maybe he can go up on the next Bezos rocket….then he can be an “astronaut”. Rich, stupid people doing rich, stupid people things.
@CHRIS … +1 .
I quite enjoy that the airlines’ systems are able to track your mileage so closely, they can celebrate your crossing thresholds as you do it, but can’t accomplish simply tasks at their websites.
@This … +1 . This !
I think it sounds fun. GS for life will certainly have its benefits. I’m amazed he has 31 friends. It seems that the more I travel, the more I seem to alienate my friends.
He must not value his time and comfort very much. $400k isn’t a lot to spend over a few years, but the benefits don’t make any sense.
“I know some consider him pathetic for this jaunt” Yes, that includes me. What a moron! Put $400K today on S&P500 and according to estimates based on the last 40 years, he would have over $7MM by age of retirement. But if he is happy with becoming “famous”, good for him.
He wasn’t doing it to make money or get famous. He just likes it.
Bless his heart and remember Ginsberg vs. Northwest.
$800 r/t EWR-(SFO)-SIN every week for 4 years is about $170k, not $400k.
Apparently he posted on Instagram that he spent a little over $200k. Again, put that amount on a S&P500 fund until retirement age and he would have $4MM. People have choices in life.
Maybe he has already done that as well.
STFU Aaron
Gosh and you had the nerve to call Billy Bob boring. The irony if it all.
Carl is a friend of mine. He did it mostly in economy, spending $700-800 per trip, back and forth to Singapore, Sydney, Melbourne, every week. He at one point was planning to start the same on Alaska, but I think he gave up on that idea.
“Carl is a friend of mine.”
Amazing that he has time to do this much flying AND dedicate time to the mentally challenged
I Imagine that’s the same reason you have neither friends nor family.
Also really Billy Bob, your insults suck. I’m going to pick a fight with Aaron because you’re so boring. You should really work on that. Watch and learn.
Come on, guys. We are all running like crazy on our different hamster wheels and criticizing the guy who does it “all the way?”
Good for him. He hit it out of the park.
This is a hobby after all. Therefore, it has different value for each one of us.
Please quit sounding like jealous high school princesses.
Agreed. This wasn’t something I found worthwhile, but he did and worked hard to achieve it.
Matthew, you should consider moderating (comments) on YOUR blog similar to the way FlyerTalk is moderated. Clearly prohibiting inappropriate comments doesn’t hurt its popularity and/or click numbers, probably increases click numbers as there are likely more people who would not click if inappropriate comments were allowed than people who would click because of nonsense. Your allowing it and silence about it can be regarded as condonement and/or complicity, “remaining silent in the face of wrongdoing, injustice, or harmful actions can be interpreted as tacit agreement or support for those actions.” You’re the lawyer, there may also be liability issues for you as publisher/host. Douchebag Dave’s comments are inappropriate in many ways, you belittle and demean yourself by allowing them to stand. Your blog would be much more enjoyable, and in all likelihood way more popular, if all comments were (from FT Rules) civil, friendly, helpful, collegial, welcoming, non-personal, non-disruptive and non-trolling. Please stop feeding the trolls by allowing their nonsense to stand.
The money was almost certainly just a drop in his ocean-sized trust fund. Find something useful to do with your life, kid.