Upgrade Me!

[Vancouver Lee]

A friend of mine recently embarked on a quest to earn 1,000,000 frequent flier miles in 60 days. Air Canada offers an flight pass that allows unlimited flying in North America for a 60 day period. My friend bought one, and on October 1 commenced his quest.

Since most of the next 60 days of his life will be spent on an airplane, he will attempt to sample each of the 17 "special order" meals that Air Canada offers its passengers. This is, of course, in addition to sampling each of the regular menu options that are available.

He has started a blog to record his progress and you can see it here:

http://gcmr2005.blogspot.com/

I know this gentleman reasonably well and despite the evidence to the contrary, he is not insane. His experiences will be make for some very interesting reading.

[Minko]

OK - I've bookmarked your friend's site. What a wild thing to do! What possessed him to embark on this experiment (other than the Airmiles)?

[Daddy-A]

I don't know what's crazier ... subjecting your body to that much air travel, or subjecting your body to that much airline food. At least he's ordering the Special Meals ... Air Canada food is pretty much crappy.

A.

[Vancouver Lee]

I don't know what's crazier ... subjecting your body to that much air travel, or subjecting your body to that much airline food.  At least he's ordering the Special Meals ... Air Canada food is pretty much crappy.

A.

←

Oh, I seriously doubt the special meals are any better.

Apparantly word has gotten around inside Air Canada and Mark is getting a bunch of upgrades to business class. At least that will slightly improve the basic food service and greatly improve the comfort level.

BTW, for the definitive word in Airline food, check this out.

[Susan in FL]

This is an adventure in eating, for sure. Too cool! I would love to do it. Are you at liberty to say how much this 60 day flight pass costs?

[*Deborah*]

It was a special offer; $3499 plus tax per month for two months. Unlimited flights anywhere in North America that Air Canada flies.

Here is the information.

[*Deborah*]

He's made the wires!

Canadian Press story.

[Vancouver Lee]

He's made the wires!

Canadian Press story.

←

You beat me to it, I was just about to post that!

I forgot about the BMW lease....makes the whole idea seem more interesting.

[jmsaul]

If you're thinking of doing this, two things you should know:

1. You need to join Aeroplan first or you won't get the miles

2. You need to register for Aeroplan with a Canada address (which rules me out)

[*Deborah*]

I don't think it's available any more, in any case: I think you had to buy in by September 30.

[Vancouver Lee]

I don't think it's available any more, in any case: I think you had to buy in by September 30.

←

Correct. This pass is an experiment for Air Canada, so they were only selling it for a limited time. If it's successful, they will do a full roll out and make it available anytime.

[Vancouver Lee]

I wanted to close the loop here and let everyone know that Marc made his goal with a handful of miles to spare: 1,003,625.

Update here

[Susan in FL]

Cool! Thanks.

[Ninjai Fanatic]

wow.. this should be pretty interesting..

[CharityCase]

More media coverage:

Yahoo! Article