A 106-year-old woman who still likes to fly is so extraordinary that even airport computers are stumped.
Cretora Biggerstaff flies at least twice a year from Texas to Florida and back to visit her daughter in Gainesville, but there’s a problem every time.
She was born in 1919, but when she checks in for her flight, her birthdate is automatically changed to 2019.
When Biggerstaff arrives at security, TSA agents expect a 6-year-old girl. Since her ID doesn’t match, she’s sent back to check-in.
“They call the supervisor and then they discuss it. And I’ll tell you, I’m fed up with it. I go through that every blessed time,” Biggerstaff, who lives in her own apartment in suburban Houston, tells TODAY.com.
“They’re supposed to be so smart. Well, why can’t they correct those computers?”
The great-grandmother recently wrote letters to United Airlines, Delta Air Lines and the U.S. Department of Transportation urging their systems be updated to accept centenarian travelers. “People are living longer now,” she notes.
Her daughter, Sue Biggerstaff Tosi, says the problems started when Biggerstaff turned 100.
The Transportation Security Administration explains what’s likely happening. A passenger’s date of birth may appear as a four-digit year in an airline system, but when carriers submit their booking data to TSA Secure Flight — a program that screens people before they arrive at the airport — they use a two-digit year, a TSA official tells TODAY.com. So 1919 and 2019 are both submitted as “19.”
United says it has reached out to Biggerstaff’s family and looks forward to “making her future travels with us go smoothly,” the airline notes in a statement to TODAY.com.
Delta did not respond to a request for comment.
Preparing to fly to Italy
Tosi, who accompanies her mom when she flies, says some gate agents still believe she’s traveling with a 6-year-old girl, not her 106-year-mother. Tosi now carries the centenarian’s birth and marriage certificate for extra proof of her age.
There’s much more travel in Biggerstaff’s future: After the 106-year-old told a TV station that she’d like to go to Italy, a Virginia couple invited her to go to Italy with them for 10 days this summer. Biggerstaff is in the process of renewing her passport to make the trip.
“I enjoy flying,” she says. “I enjoy traveling.”
Biggerstaff has been to England, France, Scotland, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Thailand and “from one end to Canada to the other,” she says. She took all those big trips when she was in her 80s.
Biggerstaff lives on her own in an apartment in a retirement community near Houston. She handles her own banking account and says she feels good.
“People have the wrong opinion of people when they reach 100. They think they don’t know what they’re doing. Well, I’ve got news for them. I have an excellent brain,” Biggerstaff says.
“I have people who have said to me, ‘Are you sure you were born in 1919?’ And I looked at them and I said, ‘What do you think, I’d make myself older than I am?’”
Here are her six tips for a long, healthy life:
Don’t smoke or drink
The centenarian doesn’t drink alcohol and never cared for cigarettes. Not smoking and drinking top the list of a 101-year-old nutrition professor’s rules for a long life.
Move your body
“I was very active when I was younger,” Biggerstaff says. “I did a lot of walking.”
Walking comes with many health benefits. Just 11 minutes of daily walking reduces risk of disease and early death, research has found.
Enjoy what you eat
The 106-year-old didn’t follow any specific diet when she was younger, other than avoiding seafood due to an allergy. Older age has brought some digestive issues, but Biggerstaff still has a good appetite.
She loves steak filet mignon and fried okra. She also eats a lot of healthy dark chocolate, and enjoys coffee and biscotti.
Find your passion
Biggerstaff is a creative person, so she’s always looked for ways to channel her talents.
She was a florist, worked in a craft store, did some interior designing and now organizes fashion shows in her retirement community. She likes to style the models, helping them pick colors and designs.
“If I don’t think they look good, I tell them, ‘Go back and find something else,’ because I know how colors are,” the centenarian says.
Be a lifelong learner
“Whenever I decided I wanted to learn to do something, I would go take courses to learn how to do it, because to me, you can’t get too much knowledge,” Biggerstaff says.
“That’s why I do a lot of reading.”
Stay engaged in life
The centenarian has a lot of interests that keep her busy, including painting and tending to the flowers on her balcony.
“I tell people, ‘You need to read a lot, listen to the news, get up every day, get yourself dressed. Go down, mingle with other people,’’ she says.
“Don’t go sitting in your room saying poor me. Don’t look at life that way. There’s more to life than that.”
