I officially crossed PAL’s Million Miler status on December 19, 2023, when I took PR105 from San Francisco to Manila.
The crew made me feel special. It would have been a perfect flight except for the turbulences that terrified me.
PAL’s Mabuhay Miles executives, Darlin Buendia and Eileen Galindez, visited my office in Makati on June 18 and gave me a Plaque of Recognition and my jumbo jet.
These tokens were hard-earned on my part. To achieve PAL’s Million Miler status took a lot of Bonamine (hilo and nerbyos from flying), jet-lags and so much more.
The first thing Eileen asked me, and I guess that was the standard question, why I was flying frequently. Was it because of my job?
The answer is no.
I first started flying internationally when I was in my early 20s when one time my brother invited me to spend a few days in Hongkong. He was on a business trip and he was flying from somewhere, me naman, flew from Manila, and we met at the HK airport. That sparked my traveling frenzy. I went back to HK many times on my own, and to many other countries.
HK, in the early days of my travels became my 7 times a year thing. We were publishing a directory called Buyers Guide to Philippine Manufacturers and Exporters and at that time, having them printed in HK proved cheaper.
When I was in college, Kuya was already a PAL frequent flyer because of his job. He worked for a company based in San Francisco which also had a mother office in Makati. His travels intensified when he put up his own company which had an office in San Francisco and in Manila. He traversed the Pacific Ocean many times a year. It was the personification of the kasabihan “ginawang Quiapo lang ang America”. He has since slowed down but his mileage to date is over 3,000,000. Wala daw regalo ang PAL sa kanya. Only when he hit the first million. Nay ko naman PAL, huwag kuripot, imagine this guy remains a loyal customer for 55 years, please regaluhan nyo naman. Give him a Sky-Dweller. Oink oink.
When Julienne was born and subsequently Marvin, I made it a point to bring them to my family in the US almost every summer or every other summer, or Christmases. My parents and siblings, except for Kuya Ben, were all in the Bay Area. I wanted my children to grow up knowing the Tans too. Those trips added up, plus I made additional trips to Europe. It helped that Philippine Airlines also flew to Paris, London, Rome, Frankfurt, before. The mileages multiplied but not fast enough.
When my parents were still alive, there were times when I hopped on the plane to San Francisco 2, 3, or 4 times a year.
When Oyen was studying in New York, we visited her at least once a year but we took Northwest or Delta because they flew from Manila to Narita to John F. Kennedy International Airport rather than taking PAL to San Francisco, change plane to NY. Sayang din yung mga mileages na yun. I think I accumulated more than 100,000 miles on Delta in a span of 5 years.
PAL discontinued their European routes so I took Emirates, or Qatar, or Turkish, etc. to and from Europe, otherwise I would have been a Million Miler long time ago.
Even during the post pandemic months, Edmund and I hied off to the US two times to get vaccinated, Dagdag rin yun sa miles.
I wish PAL continued success. May they acquire newer and more advanced jet planes.
Maraming salamat Darlin and Eileen, the plaque and jet are most appreciated. We are flying soon on PAL of course.
We look forward to an enjoyable flight. Mabuhay!
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