I'm moving in the same direction. Have stopped collecting CO & DL miles completely, other than an occasional transaction to keep the accounts active, and am looking for opportunities to burn those miles. (Recently used 200K CO miles for Virgin upper class tickets to London for next May.) With the dropping of the 500 mile minimum at US, I now look at Southwest and AirTran out of BWI to cities where they provide direct service and go with whoever is less expensive; a few hundred miles from US are no longer an incentive. Aside from the reduction in minimum mileage earnings, the increases in a number of program's award levels, the increase in additional fees for last minute award bookings (and in some cases any award bookings), and the tightening of overall award availability, it seems that some airlines (notably DL and CO) are throwing up new hurdles to flyers traveling on award tickets when schedules change or flights are delayed / canceled. I also note that UA award tickets state they are only valid on UA and provide no DBC in the event flights are oversold. This may have always been the case on UA (although I've never noticed it), but the high load factors in the industry at the moment make this a new concern. Flyers on award tickets would seem to be at the top of the list for denying boarding in oversold situations with little recourse but to take the next available UA flight, which may be several days out.