When I was a frequent business traveler, I developed what some people might consider an odd pastime: I recorded the tail numbers on planes.
And there were plenty of tails to log. I have accumulated 3.4 million frequent-flier miles on American Airlines — enough for lifetime Platinum status. An Admirals Club hostess even jokingly suggested that I probably had more miles than some of the pilots.
A tail number is kind of the equivalent of a license plate. American’s tail numbers begin with an “N,” as do those of all civilian aircraft in the United States.
I picked up my logging habit as a naval officer in the Vietnam War, when one of my duties was to keep the ship’s log. I guess I just couldn’t stop doing it.
I recorded my first aircraft tail on a flight from Dallas to New York in 1984. It went on my Filofax, along with the day that I flew and the aircraft type. I’ve probably flown on that particular MD-80 a dozen times since.
You can’t always see the tail number on a plane as you’re boarding. So sometimes, I had to ask a flight attendant for the number.
“Why are you asking?” she would almost always say.
“I’m keeping a log,” I replied. “I want to see how many times I’ve been on the same plane.”
Normally, the crew members thought my hobby was amusing and interesting. But every now and then — and this was before 9/11 — I would get a look of concern. No, they weren’t worried about safety. They thought I was a mystery shopper and that I might be evaluating their work.
Occasionally, I reviewed the tail number in my log and found that I had never been on that plane before. I could think of two explanations. First, it might have been a new aircraft. Second, the plane could have been rotated in from a different route.
When I never saw the tail number again, I wondered what happened to the plane. Was it rotated away from that route? Did it end up getting parked in the desert?
Passengers were fascinated by my log. They said, “You must really fly a lot.”
Now there’s an understatement. Not only did I keep a log, but I even had all of the flight numbers and schedules to my regular destinations memorized.
I also picked up some fascinating American Airlines trivia along the way. My favorite had to be the meal-service rule in first class. On odd-numbered flights, the attendants always start their service from the back of the section; on even-numbered flights, they start from the front. So if you want your choice of entrée, pick the seat according to the flight number.
I stopped recording tail numbers several years ago, when I scaled back on my business travel. I’m still a loyal American customer, but now I wouldn’t even try logging a tail.
The first time I asked a crew member for the number, I’d probably find myself pinned to the floor by two air marshals.
Bob Basché is the chairman of Millsport, a sports marketing agency in Stamford, Conn.
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