Inaugural Flights Draw Airline 'Geeks'

"My friends don't get it. They think I'm a geek," Andrew Gibbons said of his interest in taking inaugural flights. (By Jahi Chikwendiu -- The Washington Post)

Andrew Gibbons will spend the next 38 of 48 hours on airliners -- for fun.

The 29-year-old Northern Californian, who admits to being an airline geek, simply couldn't pass up the chance to fly on United Airlines' inaugural flight from Washington's Dulles International Airport to Beijing yesterday.

Gibbons won't even leave the Beijing airport because, he says, he doesn't want to miss the inaugural return flight. He has done this kind of thing before. In October, he took United's inaugural flight to Kuwait, spent a few hours on the ground and hopped on the return leg.

"I know it doesn't make a lot of sense," said Gibbons, director of operations for SmugMug, a photo-sharing Web site, who giddily took video and photographs of an elaborate ceremony before yesterday's flight. "My friends don't get it. They think I'm a geek."

Gibbons is part of a subspecies of frequent fliers who chase inaugural flights because they adore airlines, airplanes, even airports. They seek to be part of airline milestones. Among their ranks are those who like the prestige of being the first passengers on the world's longest flight, or the first or last travelers aboard a specific type of airplane. Some want to be the first passengers to take a short hop on new routes offered by low-cost, low-frills carriers.

These airline maniacs are like spurned lovers -- maintaining their affection for an industry that continually conspires against them with increases in flight delays, packed planes, lost luggage, and cutbacks in food and service.

Gibbons was not the only inaugural flier on United Flight 897 -- a nearly 14-hour, 6,920-mile haul with 346 other passengers on a Boeing 747. At least two other people were aboard just to notch another first flight.

Members of this super-elite crowd enjoy traveling -- no, flying -- so much that they don't always need hotel reservations. Like Gibbons, others said they have taken inaugural flights and simply returned, never setting foot outside an airport.

Most have difficulty explaining why they take these quixotic journeys. Some are enamored of the romance of flight. Others are addicted to airplanes. A few said they like escaping cellphone calls and e-mail for a few hours.

They usually sit in business or first class, using frequent flier miles to upgrade from cheaper coach seats. Several mentioned they liked the attention and status that comes with such luxury seats.

They are also motivated by the possibility of earning massive amounts of frequent flier miles.

But that isn't always the case. Gibbons, for example, cashed in a substantial number of frequent flier miles and spent more than $1,000 to get his business-class tickets and Chinese visa for his two-day aviation marathon, he said.