I have never had a problem using UA miles, even when I was looking for pretty difficult tickets to obtain--for instance, I recently got my daughter a trip home to Seattle from New York on the evening of December 23rd, which actually surprised even me. We were also able to book 1st class tickets SEA/SYD next spring, and during the BA strike at LHR, UA came through for us with last minute back-up award tickets. We didn't have to use those back up tickets, but it was sure nice to know they were there.

I only tried to us AA miles once, at the last minute, and they wanted to charge me $75.00 a ticket. Whatsupwiththat? I think I will save those for retirment.

Of course, getting what were among the very last award ticket in existence on the Concorde, using Qantas miles, was a real surprise, which we will remember for the rest of our lives.

However, the very easiest miles to use are Alaska miles. They are partners with everybody and can almost always find you a ticket anywhere in the world.