Secretary of State John Kerry has flown a ton. In fact, he
has already overtaken his predecessor Hillary Rodham Clinton in his first year as America’s top diplomat, clocking up 519,136 miles to 51 countries in 239 days, according to State Department figures.
That’s a whole lot of flying, though not necessarily more than Tom Stuker.
Kerry’s Air Force plane broke down in Hawaii on Thursday and he wound up flying back commercial on United (in first class, natch). But “most everyone else” was in coach (no word who else get to fly up front).
Kerry commented,
“Finally, some frequent-flier miles,” Kerry said when his staffers explained the alternate arrangements, according to a senior State Department official.
I wonder if:
- John Kerry is actually a member of United’s MileagePlus (or airline partner program, although it would certainly be impolitic for the US Secretary of State to credit miles to a foreign airline’s program).
- Whether he or a staffer actually went to the trouble of having his account number added to the reservation.
Secretary Kerry: if your number wasn’t in your reservation at the time of the flight, be aware that your staff can still submit a request for credit as long as you were actually already a member of the program.
I’m not sure whether it matters either way, since his wife has about a billion dollars.
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FYI I checked, and he DID NOT have a frequent flier number on the reservation. Better let him know to get retro credit!
Military in transit are “required” to fly a “US flag carrier” if available……..so I would think the rule also applies to the SecState…..
@Justsaying only US carriers are permitted to fly commercial passengers between two US cities. What you refer to related to the Fly America Act
I’ll say it 1000 times. Obama and Kerry represent the War on Fliers, and the War on Hotel Patrons. Devaluations under these two bozos have been the worst than all other government administrations combined, and they throw illegals into everyone’s hotels.
Can’t wait for Nov. 2014 and Nov 2016. Hopefully they will be impeached well before. Thanks.
Congratulations ED! You win the prize for being the very first (though not the last) to take advantage of this posts mention of John Kerry to offer your creative and oh-so-useful political commentary.
I am sure @ED is also happy to credit the President and Secretary of State for the unheard of 50K and 100K credit card signup bonuses seen under this presidency, which no doubt are just as causal as the devaluations he is happy to charge against them.
You can’t beat stupid.
Actually, the Fly America Act stipulates that anyone flying on a ticket bought with taxpayer dollars must be on a US carrier. This includes international travel, provided that an US carrier operates on the route (e.g., it doesn’t apply to a lot of within-country flights in other countries).
If S was flying HNL-IAD that city pair is serviced by UA. I’m also guessing he got booked in a YCA fare, so he got miles + the bonus. Nowdays us mortals can’t get that anymore, it’s typically -CA … Being a WCA or SCA fare, so no more mileage upgrades w/o the copayment. Plus since next year mileage is all bout the $$$, the lower USG fares won’t be earning that many miles…
I am pretty sure anyone who has been a US Senator in the past fifteen years or so has had a US airline frequent flyer number. Whether or not they all use the number or not, some don’t. Kerry had a frequent flyer number with at least two airlines in the early 1990s and used at least one of them even after he married a much wealthier woman (ie his current African-born wife).
@xou and @AS
Well, the two of you can stay at the Conrad for 80K points under ObamaCare/KerryDope. Under Hillary as Secretary it was 40K. Under Bush Jr., 30K.
I’m going downtown in CX 1st, you two can pay the fine in Ferguson, MO (aka: lawless ObamaVille) with the FAA restrictions (which is true). Thanks.
“clocking up 519,136 miles”
Yesterday Kerry gave a speech and proclaimed “Climate Change” (sic) a greater danger to the US than Islamic terrorism. He believes this so strongly, he flies half a million miles in around 8 months. Making his “carbon footprint” larger than that of the entire state of Wyoming.
John Kerry, Sec of Hypocrisy.
Nothing cries environmental damage like Robert Hanson’s boy Bush invading Iraq and making a mess of it all. Bush & Co. — being major historical backers of “Islamic terrorism” and strategically blundering “devils” at that — make Kerry look like a bumbling, patriotic saint in comparison. And same for his boss.