Back to the original premise . . . why are the discounted awards often so diffucult to obtain? Two reasons:

(1) From the airlines' perspective -- put on your wannabe airline CEO hat for a minute (e.g. pretend you are Avek00) -- why would you want to give away a seat on a flight, especially on a longhaul flight in a premium class if there is even the slightest chance that in doing so, you might prevent a sale of that same seat to a paying customer?

(2) From the same perspective, why not charge as many miles as the market will bear, therby clearing extra liability off the books, particularly when your consumers are completely at your mercy? Certainly with regard to revenue tickets, this is not the case -- many of us are price sensitive -- but with frequent flier awards, the airlines control the market with an iron fist, subject to only a scintilla of market pressure.

Do I like this any more than you? Heck, no. I'd love to travel downunder in a first class suite for only 5,000 miles, but I also understand why the airlines' frequent flier programs are the way they are. The only solution is to vote with your feet: boycott airlines that don't cater to your needs as Randy suggests. For me, this means no flying on BA because I can only get 25% of the mileage for my usual peasant class travel, and no DL because by booking only the cheap seats, I probably couldn't qualify as an elite if I flew around the world every day!

[This message has been edited by cAAl (edited 08-01-2003).]