In the movie 'Up in the Air' George Clooney plays the high-flying character Ryan Bingham, a frequent flyer who earned no less than 10 million miles. Some real people come close to that, like Tom Stuker, who flies about 700,000 miles per year for work as an automobile sales consultant. Meanwhile, he has collected almost 9 million miles on United Airlines. ABC News writes that “airport lines are a thing of the past for Tom Stuker. So are middle seats, waiting on hold when calling

ABC News also quotes Randy Petersen, founder of FlyerTalk.com and editor of InsideFlyer, as saying: "There is no such thing as weather delays for these types of people. It is the service that all of us as travelers wish we had."

If this quote is correct, Peterson must have had an off-day. Airlines will probably treat their top frequent flyers respectfully. Airline agents may greet them by name, they may whisk away their bags, and they may lead them to the VIP room avoiding waiting lines.

But even top frequent flyers will have to pass security, which will take some time, and they are not immune to delays and missed connections. It is outright nonsense that there would be no such thing as weather delays for top frequent flyers.

Airlines cannot change the weather conditions all of a sudden if a top member of their frequent flyer program reports at the gate.

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