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A US businessman has been rewarded for his loyalty to one single airline company after accumulating 10 million air miles.

Thomas Stuker, a sales consultant, reached the milestone after a flight from Los Angeles to Chicago.

He has boarded 5,962 United Airlines flights and flown the equivalent of 400 times around the globe.

As a reward he will never have to queue at airports, always get upgraded and has even had a plane named after him.

Mr Stuker reached the milestone after arriving to his native Chicago on Saturday.

It took him 19 years to accumulate his first five million miles and another 10 years to double the mileage.

"So we figure that we're going to be here in five years when you hit 15 million miles, because you're cutting it in half every time," Martin Hand, United's Vice-President of Customer Experience, was quoted as saying by NBC.

Before boarding the flight to Chicago, Mr Stuker admitted that many years ago he was scared to death of flying.

"I couldn't get on an aircraft, it really bothered me," he told America's National Public Radio.

"But now it's evolved to a time where if I go a week without a flight something's not right."

Mr Stuker has now enough reward points through the airlines' frequent flyer programme to take several foreign holidays a year - assuming he can find the time.

A few years ago George Clooney played the role of a man who had achieved the same feat in the film Up In The Air.