<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by nsx:
Or just fly Southwest, where every award is a Standard award. No capacity controls. You can walk up to the counter with your award and get on the next flight.</font>
Which makes sense if you are a) flying primarily domestic routes, and b) willing to put up with flying WN.
Given that the OP mentioned his future travel to Europe in 2004, the former may make WN largely a non-option.
Mike