Up In The Air

I can't resist for once that I should write something about this movie I watch on my flight back from Philippines last week.

Perhaps it was not so much as I (self-declared) watch too much movie that I do "sense" a good movie. In fact, the movie was so in-tuned with my personal experience.

Flying, mileage, privileged, silver lounge....checking in and out of airport has became a matter of standard procedure - that this movie made it an art of being a frequent flyer.

60,000 miles a year normally enough to earn you a gold status in most airlines, that allows you to enjoy priority check in, priority luggage collection as well as have the luxury lounge to wait for departure - and reminder will be made personally when time for boarding.

So how much is 60k miles? that is about 1k mileage for every 2 hours of flying - one return flight SG-KL = ~500 mileage. If you make 120-130 trips annually from Changi - KLIA, then you earn yourself the gold member as KrisFlyer for SIA.

It is hard to reach it, and even harder to maintain.

So what about this?

Vera Farmiga is a 60k annual mileage gold member, who got humbled effortlessly.

Because George Clooney flies 350k a year.



The obsession has something to do with the element of "privileged" and of course, some "feel-good-factor" when you find yourself walk straight to the check in counter when the ordinary queue were as long as traffic jam.

It was not a good value to show off this way, but you do enjoy the way they look at you with envy in their eyes. That is a glorious moment you've earn by merely fulfilling your duty travelling for business purpose - it is close to impossible for ordinary traveler to earn that amount of mileage purely from personal holiday trip.



And yeah, of course all food and drinks in the lounge are free. From cheap sushi to char kuey teow; from coffee to wine or whiskey.

The airline is the most discriminative organization on earth, that service standard you received is entirely and purely determined by mileage. In another way, it is a complete "credit-based" system. haha.

But you will learn more than a credit-based system from Up In The Air.

Have fun.