Congratulations are in order for Carl Brothers, who has now earned lifetime Global Services status on United Airlines after crossing the four million mile lifetime mark after an aggressive four-year mileage run that included over 100 trips to East Asia and Australia. The prize is sweet, but was it worthwhile?

Carl Brothers Just Completed His Four Million Mile Mileage Run On United Airlines

United Airlines has the most generous million miler program in the industry, awarding lifetime Global Services for the traveler and a companion after flying four million miles.

Brothers embarked in earnest on his quest for four million miles starting in 2021, flying roughly 1,00,000 miles per year, mostly to Singapore and Australia. He’d fly there, and fly back…every week, for years!

I’ve been following him for quite some time as he pursued this goal and on June 23, 2025, he passed the four million mile mark on a flight from San Francisco (SFO) to Sydney (SYD).

He now has Global Services for the rest of his life, as will his spouse. Below is a video of his momentous final flight:

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Talk about taking mileage running to a whole new level…(then again, Tom Stuker did the same thing for years and years and years with his United flight pass, racking up 24 million miles flown).

Was It Worthwhile?

I know some consider him pathetic for this jaunt (which I estimate cost him about $400,000 if he was buying $800 r/t tickets to Singapore). Others admire the stamina but question the value.

I fall into that latter camp. Figure that if he flies for the next 40 years with this status, it will have cost him about $10K/year. Even with the PlusPoints and other perks that come with Global Services status, wouldn’t you rather take the $10K and fly whatever carrier you want with the schedule that works best for you? Do you really need status if you are buying premium cabin tickets?

And if you had taken that $400K and invested it, how much would it grow in 40 years? Even a modest 3% return could fund $12K in travel each year.

But for someone who had the time (my understanding is that money was not an issue and he had no kids), this is the kind of adventure that itself must have been a lot of fun. As someone who loves to fly and has also done mileage runs to East Asia and Australia, I recognize the adrenaline rush. Being on an airplane is one of my happy places.

Still, my kids and family would prohibit such an endeavor, as would my “real” work beyond this blog. 95 trips to Singapore? Certainly, that must become taxing, even if you managed to score a whole row of seats to yourself in economy class (as was Brothers’ objective).

CONCLUSION

Congrats to Carl Brothers for achieving lifetime Global Services status on United Airlines.

I fail to see the value of status any longer in an era in which carriers are selling most of their premium cabin seats and in an era in which those seats are not obscenely priced…the benefits here do not seem to outweigh the cost. But it must have been one heck of an adventure and there’s something to be said about enjoying the journey itself, even if the numbers do not add up.

image: @_carlbrothers / Instagram