Man reacts years later after American Airlines cancels lifetime first-class ticket that cost them $21 million
- Steven Rothstein bought an American Airlines lifetime pass in 1981
- They canceled it in 2008, and sued him right after
- Rothstein only spoke about it over a decade later
Published on Feb 05, 2025 at 5:13 PM (UTC+4)
by Alessandro Renesis
Last updated on Feb 06, 2025 at 1:09 PM (UTC+4)
Edited by
Tom Wood
In 2008, American Airlines sued Steven Rothstein after canceling his lifetime first-class ticket, an AAirPass.
Rothstein claimed he’d done nothing wrong, while the airline accused him of being ‘fraudulent’.
It was an interesting story, but it didn’t have a happy ending.
It clearly took a toll on Rothstein because it took him over a decade to come to terms with the situation and speak out about it.
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A timeline of what happened between American Airlines and Rothstein
In 1981, American Airlines wasn’t doing well financially and so the company started selling a lifetime first-class ticket in an attempt to get back on track.
The lifetime first-class pass worked as advertised, allowing the pass holder to travel first-class on American without restrictions.
Rothstein made the most of his AAirPass ticket and, by 2008, he’d booked $21 million worth of fares and racked up 30 million miles with his AAirPass tickets
Obviously, he’d never paid a cent, because that was the whole point of his lifetime pass.
Then, one day in 2008, American Airlines abruptly decided to cancel his pass, and then they sued him on top of that.
Steven Rothstein admitted he regretted buying it, but denied any wrongdoing.
What’s interesting is that Rothstein only spoke out on the issue over a decade later, in a 2019 interview with The Guardian.
Steven Rothstein’s side of the story
“When I bought the AAirpass, in no uncertain terms, they told me that there was only one rule: I couldn’t give anybody the AAirpass,” Rothstein told The Guardian.
Even after a decade, Rothstein was still thinking about it, not just because of the stress the lawsuit caused him, but also because he thought American Airlines hadn’t been fair to him.
“I’m still angry. And they did it maliciously. If there had been a problem, the proper thing to do would have been to telephone me and tell me they’d like me to change the way I used the AAirpass,” he continued.
We’ll never know for sure what happened because the lawsuit was settled out of court, which means this is now a ‘he said, she said’ scenario between an individual and a giant corporation.
The only thing we know for sure is no one will be able to do what Rothstein did, at least not in the foreseeable future.
This is because lifetime tickets are no longer a thing and equivalent passes, WizzAir’s All You Can Fly springs to mind, are tilted way in favor of the airline due to the million clauses in the fine print.
