In 1981, the airline American Airlines came out with the Unlimited AAirpass. This pass allowed people to fly unlimited hours.

The idea was to pay a one-time fee of $250,000, after which the buyer could fly around the world in unlimited first class for the rest of his life. If an additional 150,000 was paid it became possible to purchase a Companion Ticket and the pass owner was allowed to take someone with him every flight.

Ultimately, the action resulted in major losses for American Airlines. Two customers, Steven Rothstein and Jacques Vroom, flew for $1 million annually. Employing a private investigator, the airline hoped in vain to find a way to revoke the card. It discovered that Steven was haphazardly surprising people at the airport with a first-class ticket; Jacques was suspected of reselling tickets. Despite the fact that the men did not do anything wrong according to the terms, American Airlines revoked the cards for fraud. To avoid similar situations, the airline had raised the price of the pass substantially and later in 1994 stopped it altogether.