Mark Cuban revealed the big splurge purchase he made after his first major payout: a lifetime flight pass he bought over the phone during a boozy night of celebration.
Cuban secured the now unavailable lifetime first-class pass through American Airlines on the day he became a millionaire back in 1990. He had just sold his first company for $6 million at 32-years-old, and celebrated with friends that night.
"My buddies and I went out drinking and just got destroyed," he told Shannon Sharpe during an appearance on the "Club Shay Shay" podcast. "They're like, 'What do you think you're going to do with all this money?' And I'm like, 'I don't care about cars or houses, but boy, you know, I fly a lot for work."
Cuban had a corded phone brought to him and dialed the American Airlines number he knew (and demonstrated he still knows) by heart.
"I called them up and just slurred my words, 'Do you guys sell lifetime passes?" Cuban said. Unsure if such a thing existed, Cuban was pleasantly surprised when they transferred him to their AAirpass department.
"I forget how much I paid, but it gave me almost unlimited miles for me and somebody else for the rest of my life," Cuban continued.
According to a 2012 Time report, American Airlines premiered the AAirpass in 1981, offering a lifetime of first-class travel. Reportedly, it was first available at $250,000, but by 1993 prices had raised to $1 million. A contemporary AAirpass offered fixed-rate flights for frequent fliers but the program was discontinued in 2022.
Cuban doesn't mind, as the Dallas Mavericks owner bought a private jet in 1999 to celebrate his newly-achieved billionaire status.
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