RIP *HighFlyah*
 

I am in disbelief and saddened to post that *HighFlyah* passed away this week.

While *HighFlyah* might not have been known by the newer members of this forum he was quite active earlier this century especially on the United boards as he often was flying transpacific to Hong Kong where his family was and still resides. I flew with *HighFlyah* a few times, but probably the craziest thing we did was a mileage run from OAK- ATL on UA. If I am not mistaken our routing was OAK-LAX-MIA-IAD-ATL-IAD-JFK-LAX-OAK.

My heart breaks for his United colleagues, his many friends in the Chicago area and around the world, but most importantly his family in Hong Kong who he cared so much for. Crazy to think just one short month ago he was on a family trip in Japan.

RIP Michael.

Shocking news. He was so young, so vibrant. I met *HighFlyah* with klua88 at the United Club in Los Angeles 20 years or so ago. Since then, we've stayed in touch on Facebook where he has posted his travel adventures. I remember his story of being in Indonesia when the tsunami hit. He and some of his family members rode out the storm in a boat in the water. When they were able to return to shore, they did not know what they would find. Were his parents alive? His grandmother? And indeed all of his family survived. I loved following along as he celebrated his parents' 50th wedding anniversary last November in Hong Kong.

I'm so sad for his family who meant so much to him and all of his friends for whom he was a integral part of life.

How shocking and sad.

Michael was a unique guy who loved flying on United. I actually went to SIN for a do many years ago with him and we shared a room at the Ritz there. And we would occasionally get together here in Chicago for lunch or dinner.

My sincere condolences to his family. A truly great guy. He will be sorely missed.

Every time a member leaves us we lose a little bit of our community. When they are far too young to do so, that feeling inevitably multiplies.

I wasn't fortunate enough to know Michael, so I'll leave others to add their tributes. I certainly can't add any more to that which kluau88, SanDiego1K and iluv2fly have written, and I'm sure there will be others who will be able to share their own memories.

As is usual, in recognition of a member's contribution and to reflect their passing we add "In Memoriam" below their username. This has been done for Michael.

As Michael's best friend of 22+ years, this has been incredibly difficult to process. I can confirm he died of natural causes (heart failure); everyone is shocked.

He was traveling in Rome, so it was quite a process to head there immediately and manage everything, especially using my own brand of Spanish/Italian language (which is basically Spanish, but I just loudly extend the vowel sounds at the end of words, throw my arms around a lot more, and say "ciao." :) ).

Here is his memorial site if anybody is interested, and contributions are welcome. His parents have enjoyed reading all of the kind tributes.

I know that he felt a sense of community within FlyerTalk; points and travel were one of his greatest passions, and not everyone understands what it means to redeem 110k for ANA First, but around here they do, and that meant the world to him.

Back in the early days, circa 2001/2002, we did a trade. While I never met Michael, he was still one of the original gang here. Rest in peace.

Dan