BY BRIAN O’KEEFE
We were about 500 (511 to be exact) miles outside Los Angeles when it happened. Just last week. I couldn’t believe it actually was finally happening. You’d never know it. It was quiet when it occurred, when my personal milestone was surpassed somewhere over north-eastern Nevada. No noise. No yelps. No balloons. No Marching Band. No Applause. And No George Clooney to toast me. Yes, “up in the air”, somewhere over an Elko, Nevada exurb I had reached the 100,000 mile yearly threshold of Executive Platinum on American Airlines, the ultimate frequent flying finish line.

It wasn’t the first time, either. I had that status on United Airlines for more than a decade when life interrupted my mileage run. What’s truly amazing is that after that hiatus, I didn’t start flying until March. And I usually needed a couple international legs to reach that plateau. But for some reason I kicked into overfly in 2014. I hit 100,000 miles two days under the deadline. St Judith of Orlando always told me I created my own luck. Even with mileage accrual.

I vaguely remembered this penchant I had from a very very early age growing up under the final approach near Long Island’s Belmont Park racetrack, the JFK homestretch where the parade of Sunday night 747s were stunning to the eye and ear. The Concorde would scare the hell out of us, too. My bedroom was the attic, so I sometimes feared lowered landing gear would yank the roof of our house….along with me —into oblivion. In fact, I had many a panic-dream with plots sub plots and air crashes, growing up.

The flying thing. Its a bit OCD-ish. I can even tell the sound of a 757 or A320 as it begins to descend….a certain engine murmur and decibel shift begins. Another beauty, the Super 80 (MD80) where I particularly love sitting up front. It has a rather quick ascent that truly is so smooth, like an elevator. And it feels like an elevator in First where there may only be four or six passengers. However, even after more than five million miles flown, I still have no idea what “cross check” really means!

And the Big Magilla…There’s nothing. Not a thing. No dopamine rush or neurotransmitter overload that could ever surpass the feeling I get flying in First on a 747 on any one of the Legacy carriers …but British Airways is truly the best. But, only long flights. Really long flights. I mean, seriously long flights.

In the early 2000’s my hobby was finding the longest flight possible in a First or Business seat. I even made my way all the way to Dusseldorf to fly cheapo Air Berlin to Mauritius (Google it) so that I could fly First from Mauritius to London for a 13 hour flight in First. It was just me and the pilots children. And a chef who cooked eggs to order! The pajamas are the coolest. Another time flying Rio to London in lowly, less-than-First ….mere Business Class —under cloak of a lowly lit sleeping cabin, I gave away my Duty Free Bounty: a huge new canister of Dulce de Leche— to a flight attendant flying BA as a bribe for a serious contraband: First Class PJ’s.

My obsession with long flights became ridiculous. (Really, Brian ?!) When I board one of these treasured flights I don’t ask what the movie is….or the meal…or what time we will land. Nope. All I want to know is: “What is our flight time today?” Not the scheduled, published or average flight time..but factoring in weather, our pilot’s desired route…our fuel load, how many hours will we actually in fact be in the air. I would actually pray that they would say 13 or 14 or 23 hours! I know its weird but there’s nothing more depressing than hearing a cheery flight attendant deliver the bad news: “we have good headwinds on our side…we will get there in ten hours” Nooooo,ooo!!! …. I’d yelp to myself. Whenever the number was on the lower end of a projection, I would slump in my seatbed all depressed to the surprise of many a flight attendant.

I once flew to Paris to take an Air Singapore A380 double decker in Business. It didn’t matter where I was flying to. In fact I don’t even remember. I was in Business on the Upper Level and for crossing the velvet sash to PEEK at the First Class “Apartments” I was treated like an air pirate. And just today I have booked myself a BA A380 double decker from London to Los Angeles in early March. Now I just have to figure out a way to get to London, comfortably of course.

Looking back there were hints of my need to fly and travel early on. Mary Ellen Crean, a childhood friend brought a piece of paper to our sixth grade Facebook reunion a few years ago. On the paper were a few essays that our class wrote in the Second Grade. Mine was a little story about a guy named Jerry who was stressed about catching “the red eye” to California. It was written with dialogue. I was SEVEN. The second grade teacher joined us at the reunion almost 40 years after being our teacher. She said that I was the only student that she ever taught who wrote in dialogue in their second grade short story.

An adorable and frightening footnote is the prescience I had. That I would in my twenties and thirties often take the red eye FROM California. And I now live in California. Harried, mad dashes catching planes are a weekly thing, if not more often.

I went with a high school group to Belgium and Italy and studied and worked in the UK several times so my penchant for flying more often was accompanied by my Passport.

Flying across country or even across the Atlantic to go to a birthday party or have dinner ….and then immediately return..is not unusual for me. And, at work, I always say “geography doesn’t stop me”. As a hands on producer type, if I love a story I’ll insist I travel to shoot it, no matter where it is. If its physically possible to fly and shoot and get to a NY or LA edit room, I will just do it all myself, more than happily.

It certainly has become hassling and hectic to fly…and I did have a few air scares: losing an engine three hours outside of Bangkok, the repeated attempts at landing in a thunderstorm at Oklahoma City to cover the Murrah Building bombing (see one of my earliest posts on http://www.bokblog.org about that trip) , a Delta pilot dying onboard after landing in Milan. And I pray for the passengers, crew and their families every time there is an accident.

But I sincerely love to travel. My mother always told me to “go see the World.” The incredible innovation of air travel and its bounty of vistas, adventure, history and exposure to this Earth I think is more valuable than we realize.