Hottie of the Skies

Well this is sort of surreal. Who knew they let nerds in @rollingstone?

A photo posted by Ben Schlappig (@onemileatatime) on Jul 1, 2015 at 7:33pm PDT

My favorite Internet subculture is anything that involves teens and Tumblr obviously but my favorite adult Internet subculture is Frequent Flier Freaks. They are GREAT. Now Ben Schlappig, their hero, gets the proper Rolling Stone profile, which is amazing. The king of the mileage run, Schlappig is still only 25 years old. He hasn’t been home in a year — and, boys, he’s single, so you’d better learn the game. No but seriously this is a terrible way to live and as appealing as flying first class constantly is, and as appealing as it is to beat any system, this sounds consistently awful.

His trip reports betray a theme, in photo after photo entirely devoid of human companionship: empty lounges, first-class menus, embroidered satin pillows — inanimate totems of a five-star existence. On our next flight, a seven-hour run from Jakarta International to Tokyo, Schlappig tries to get himself motivated about the champagne selection, holding forth on the best meal pairings with a $200 bottle of Krug. But there are no fans waiting to surprise him here. An elderly Japanese couple sleep in the corner. Otherwise, the cabin is deserted. Many air carriers long ago made the judgment to let first-class suites go unfilled, at the risk of tainting the marketable aura of exclusivity. “I do what I love,” Schlappig whispers, perhaps more to himself, trying not to wake the couple. “You have to understand: This has always been my passion.” His words trail off, and he closes his eyes.