I'm done with this game.
The last-minute ticketing fees are for me the last straw. They are completely unjustifiable, as they cost the airline nothing. NW/DL can already restrict award tickets by controlling capacity; why further penalize your frequent customers with BS like last-minute award fees?
I think my goal will be to maintain the lowest elite status on 2 different airlines, just to avoid all the bogus bag-check, etc., fees. Or maybe we'll just quit flying altogether and go camping instead. Once again the airlines race to make their customers feel used and abused, and then complain that pax have no loyalty and shop only on price. Gee, I wonder why?