Travel enthusiast Carl Brothers recently completed an epic quest. On June 23, 2025, he flew 4 million miles on United Airlines and gained lifetime access to global service elite status with only invitations from the airline’s top tier.
The brothers began their efforts in 2021, reaching their goals by recording near-week round-trip flights, mainly from the US to Singapore, Melbourne and Sydney. He reached his first million miles in 2022 (he flew a total of 1,072,812 miles that year, following 931,113 miles in 2023 and 1,128,303 miles in 2024).
The Million Million Miller program recognizes extraordinary loyalty from VIP customers. The “Big 3” airlines (USA, Delta, United) have a million-million-mill program, as well as some international airlines including Alaska Airlines, Air Canada and Japan’s All-Nippon Airways (ANA). While perks vary by airline, all of these programs offer lifelong benefits to travelers who have flew over a million miles.
Airlines celebrate top customers by offering the benefits of lifetime loyalty programs and elite status, including priority boarding, free upgrades, free check bags, dedicated customer service and the ability to share status profits with selected travel companions.
The brothers’ achievements are extraordinary. However, he is not the only traveler to reach millions of miles of status. He personally knows at least three million miles, including car sales consultant Tom Stuker, who purchased a lifetime flight pass from United Airlines for $510,000 in 1990, widely welcomed as the world’s most frequent flyer and has been welcomed under his belt with over 24 million United miles.
Others who created the news have been Todd O., whose top Delta customers, has flew over 15 million miles with the airline, and Stephen Rouse, the first customer of Alaska Airlines, to the 3 million miles mark.
“At Delta, we are extremely impressed with the million miles and, more importantly, our thanks for their loyalty,” said Joe Kiely, managing director of Delta’s Skymiles Loyalty Program. “Accepting this elite milestone is often a reflection of decades of loyalty and helps us recognize it in a meaningful and memorable way.”
Benefits with Million Miller Status
Alaska Airlines will likewise celebrate a new million miles that has been recognized by the public on milestone flights. (It’s not official and can happen every time, but pilots and flight attendants who notice the milestone often call passenger mid-flights.) After that, customer service representatives make personalized follow-up calls to walk those traveling with new benefits. Alaska Million Millers also get customized luggage tags made from fuselages of vintage Alaskan or Hawaiian Airlines aircraft. And now that Alaska and Hawaiian have integrated their loyalty program under the umbrella of the new Atmos Rewards, travelers can earn lifelong top tire Atmos titanium status after flying 3 million miles through the joint program.
United and Americans are not as common, yet inconsistent in their approval of million-mile travelers. Millions of miles of these airlines share anti-climax experiences on Reddit, comparing foam letters and plastic luggage tags, for example, to more luxurious appreciation displays shared by Delta and Alaska. But when people rushed back to the sky in the aftermath of the pandemic, both airlines improved their efforts to celebrate travelers who achieved the million-may position.
United, for example, rolled out the red carpet, celebrating the brothers when he and some of his fellow United Loyalists made seven stops of mileage and plunged into each United hub airport in one day. American Airlines also briefly used one of its planes as the background, soon after they wanted to film YouTube videos on a mirror of one million people.
How to get Million Million Miller Status
Earn “Bat-in-Seat” miles to reach 1 million miles is a feat of loyalty and commitment, as miles earned from credit card spending doesn’t count towards million miles status. In an interview with AFAR, the brothers revealed that they paid for their four-year adventure through their pocket, spending around $180,000 on airfares, an average of 50 nights a year, and $25,000-$30,000 on food and local transport. In 2021, he spent an estimated 665 hours in the air reaching just over a million miles. This indicator has led him to spend around 17 weeks of the past four years on planes alone.
Regarding spending some of the trips for business, he said, “I was doing legal business on some of these mileages, and I’m doing legal business with vendors overseas, but I picked up a salon fashion magazine.
Chasing a million-my status is unfeasible for most travelers. The rewards are attractive, but the cost and time commitment is phenomenal. Many million miles are business travelers, where businesses pay for the majority of their trips. However, there are exceptions to every rule. Stubborn aviation enthusiasts like their brothers are commonly referred to as Avgies and love to jump on planes with just a few excuses.
For a flight that led him to the 4 million miles mark (and lifelong global service status), the brothers have used social media to invite his Avgeek community on the route from Newark (EWR) to Singapore (SIN) that connects via San Francisco (SFO). All were tagged together with over 20 travelers tagged for his important journey. More than dozens already hold 1 million-million status at United.
It’s a difficult commitment, but if you strategize with an effective approach, you can achieve million miles. The biggest key is extreme loyalty. Choose an airline that suits your lifestyle and stick to it even if it’s not very convenient and means higher fares.
Most airline websites offer trackers to their loyalty accounts, so you can look out for the elusive seven-figure milestones. With points and miles, you can reduce some of the costs of many flights you need. The ultimate factor is patience. As the brothers did, they would need years of dedicated flight to reach their goals, unless they were willing to fly full-time.
For the majority of us, reading about a million miles is the closest thing to this mythical club. But if you care more about travel comfort than bragging rights, getting a suitable airline credit card will give you most of the perks these VIP travelers enjoy.
