Caryn Carson is a flying ace of sorts. She travels so much that she won a contest for it. Photo by Can Türkyilmaz
For her European travels, she invented her own language — Springlish, an amalgamation of English, French, Spanish and Italian. She has a favorite seat on 763, 777 and MD80 airplanes, and if it’s not available, she sometimes changes her flight. And she once packed for a weeklong business trip in seven minutes. That’s why Caryn Carson is American Airlines’ American Way magazine’s 2010 Road Warrior.
Just making it into the final five was a thrill, the Tenet Healthcare attorney says. (Entrants had to write reasons why they are “Road Warriors”, as well as a rock-album based travel essay). “It is a pretty well-publicized contest, so there was a lot of competition,” she says.
When American Way let her know she was a finalist, they told her to get her campaign together. They weren’t kidding. In order to win the grand prize — 2 million Hilton HHonors bonus points, 1 million AAdvantage bonus miles, a BlackBerry Storm smartphone and a $100 Verizon Wireless gift card — she would have to procure more online votes than the other four finalists.