Imagine being able to fly anywhere in the world for free, at any time, and take someone with you. Sounds like a dream, right? For Mark Cuban, that dream became a reality when, at just 29 years old, he purchased a lifetime American Airlines Airpass for $125,000.

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With this pass, he and a companion were allowed to fly first class for life – no matter when or where. But that’s not all: If the flight is full, someone else has to make room to make room for Cuban. One day, that “someone else” happened to be basketball legend Magic Johnson.

Cuban told the incredible story in a 2013 interview on the Howard Stern Show. He lived a life of luxury after selling his first company, MicroSolutions, for $6 million. He had spontaneously bought the Airpass after a night of drinking. For Cuban, this pass was a golden key to spontaneity: “I went to clubs, talked to a girl and thought, let’s just go to Vegas. I had fun.”

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He also recalled how he once decided to fly to Barcelona for his 30th birthday, just because a friend suggested it. There was no planning, no booking – I just went to the airport and flew away.

During one flight, the airline had to make room for Cuban and his entourage, and the unfortunate man who was kicked off the plane was none other than Magic Johnson. According to Cuban, Johnson had no idea why he was turned away, and was probably unaware that it was because of Cuban’s airpass – “I told him, but he doesn’t remember it,” Cuban later recalled when speaking to Johnson.

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Although American Airlines eventually realized that selling these passes was a financial disaster and canceled the program, Cuban’s lifetime pass, which he later gave to his father, is a testament to the crazy, one-time deals that were possible at the time.

Today, with rising fuel prices and tight airline budgets, the idea of ​​such a pass seems almost too good to be true. But for Cuban, it was a reality that paid off in unforgettable experiences – and some very uncomfortable moments for Magic Johnson.

Mark Cuban wasn’t just a liar, he was also a pioneer in the digital world. In the late 1990s, he and business partner Todd Wagner founded Broadcast.com, a company that introduced online streaming long before it became the norm. Their foresight paid off when Yahoo acquired Broadcast.com in 1999 for a staggering $5.7 billion in stock, making Cuban an instant billionaire.

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This article For $125,000, Mark Cuban could remove anyone from a flight. Magic Johnson learned the hard way originally appeared on Benzinga.com

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