Short Stuff: AAirpass

In this episode of Stuff You Should Know, Josh and Chuck dive into the wild story of American Airlines' AAirPass program, an incredibly exclusive lifetime first-class travel deal that the airline sold to just 28 ultra-wealthy people between 1981 and 2004. They explore how this deal was supposed to help struggling airlines during the deregulation era, but then focus on two legendary frequent flyers—Stephen Rothstein and Jacques Froome—who took the program to such absurd extremes that they were racking up millions of miles a year and costing American Airlines about a million dollars annually each. The episode reveals the bizarre ways these guys used their passes, from flying across the country just to pick up a babysitter to jetting off for motorcycle tires, and ultimately how American Airlines broke their own rules by trying to cancel the passes they'd promised would last a lifetime.