Hi Clipper801, there is a flip side to all these awards too, not that I am saying for one moment that your FFP is party to it. It has been noticed in 2008, that several programs were declining to buy award seats from Asian carriers, or from carriers they didn't have a "close" relationship with, after a ceiling was put on the amount of debt one program could owe another. They were saying that there were no award seats available on XX airline, whereas FFs of XX airline could see availability on their award availability chart. This attitude can be discussed three ways, one that the airline prefers it's people to redeem their points within their own network, programs were attempting to balance their books or it was tit for tat because one Asian airline in particular did make it known, they were only interested in looking after their own first. Certainly not in the spirit of the whole alliance and difficult for a FF after awards, times are changing, we have to be one step ahead, regards and a happy new year, bkkrop