Up in the Air

Ryan Bingham works for Omaha-based Career Transition Counseling, whose contracts are in corporate downsizing. In other words, they fire people. Ryan is flying around the U.S. over three hundred twenty days of the year, which he feels is the best part of his job. He does whatever he can to rack up frequent flyer miles, the goal not to use them, but just to accumulate them to a specific number he has in his mind. A secondary job he has is to give motivational speeches on relieving one's life of excess physical and emotional baggage. He truly does believe what he espouses as he lives out of his carry-on suitcase (his apartment in Omaha is really in name only), he is not close to his siblings (although he does do a favor for his sister while on his travels), nor does he have or want a significant person in his life. Ryan's life may change when the company hires Natalie Keener, a young overachieving woman who recommends that the company change the nature of the work by conducting the "firings" via remote computer access. Ryan believes that Natalie does not fully understand the nature of the business, and as such, their boss, Craig Gregory, suggests that she accompany Ryan on a business trip. Ryan is also trying to protect his way of life, which now includes hooking up with a woman named Alex Goran whenever their flight schedules mesh. Like Ryan, Alex, whom he met in an airport hotel bar, is constantly travelling for work, and is as equally turned on the by the concepts of "elite status" or "preferred member" as Ryan is.