A Vancouver businessman has struck mileage gold.

According to Canada’s Globe and Mail, Chris Solomon, an owner of a cruise-ship elevator servicing company, found one of those loopholes that frequent flyers dream about.

Apparently, Solomon bought a ticket from Vancouver to Hong Kong for $1,100 on Destina.ca, Air Canada’s online travel agency. A glitch in the system allowed him to include stopovers that would otherwise have been prohibited.

Sensing an opportunity, Solomon then routed his trip through Sydney, Australia, back to Vancouver, through Toronto and back to Asia.

As a result, (and with a few extra days of flying time), Solomon earned enormous quantities of frequent flyer mileage. In fact, he booked three more tickets the same way.

Solomon, an Aeroplan Super Elite member, has run into a hitch, however. Destina refused to honor his request to change the dates of one of the lucrative tickets, saying that the fare no longer existed, and that the best they could do was to extend credit for a new ticket.

Not to be denied, Solomon has entered into negotiations with Destina, asking them to honor his changes in exchange for providing Destina with information about potential errors in the future.

So, how many miles did Solomon earn? How about 250,000 miles per $1,100 ticket — or so we estimate.