In 1987, Steve Rothstein bought a golden ticket from American Airlines, granting him a lifetime of unlimited travel. He paid $250,000, plus another $150,000 for a companion ticket. He managed to clock more than 10 million miles and take 10,000 flights, using his power to fly homeless strangers home, a friend to the Louvre in Paris, and a priest to Rome to meet the Pope. He made 500 trips to England, 70 trips to Australia, and 120 trips to Japan. The 61-year-old Manhattan investment banker could just show up and get a seat. However, in 2008 the airline accused him of fraud and snatched his bottomless boarding pass. Rothstein was just one of the victims of American Airlines’ initiative to review its AAirpass program and find ways to terminate some of the 66 high-flying contracts that are costing the company millions of dollars a year. When Rothstein didn’t know who his companion would be on a particular flight, he booked the flight under fake names such as “Bag Rothstein” — a practice that the airline later used to accuse him of fraud. On Dec. 13, 2008, he checked in at Chicago O’Hare International Airport with a friend, a policeman hoping to return to his native Bosnia. An American Airlines employee gave him a letter saying his pass had been terminated due to fraudulent activity. Rothstein, who felt betrayed, filed a lawsuit against the airline, but a federal judge ruled against him for booking under phony names.
