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Talk of the Bay

Local king of frequent flying takes a back seat

By STEVE HUETTEL
Published August 7, 2006

The once-undisputed king of Delta Air Lines frequent fliers got a surprise recently: The airline says he's slipped to No. 2.

T. Wallace Hawkes III, a senior executive in the Tampa office of engineering giant URS, broke Delta mileage records throughout the 1990s. It helped that he made lots of business trips to Hong Kong and Japan.

Delta used to lavish him with increasingly unusual gifts for each milestone, like the first-class seat from a Boeing 767 he received for hitting 8-million miles in 1995.

Hawkes kept racking up miles - he's just short of 11-million. But the airline business, especially for traditional carriers like Delta, has changed dramatically.

As the airline's frequent flier incentive program celebrated its 25th anniversary, Delta recognized an Atlanta CEO as its reigning champ, with 31-million SkyMiles.

That number includes miles earned through credit card use and other promotional purchases. But Delta says Hawkes isn't even No. 1 based purely on miles flown. The distinction belongs to customer from Oregon. Delta didn't identify the flier or his mileage total.

That was news to Hawkes, who thought he'd regained the lead after a globe-trotting Kansas City businessman passed him, then retired. He doesn't know the new champ but has no hard feelings, especially considering the grind of flying these days.

"I'll send him my condolences," Hawkes said. "He's suffered through more than I have."

[Last modified August 7, 2006, 06:02:14]