when i first joined ft, the prevailing wisdom was that miles should be redeemed as follows:

-for international upgrades because doing so provides the biggest bang for the buck
-for emergency domestic travel

i lived by these maxims from 1990 through last year, but during 2003 i changed gears. i worked out a deal with my company where they pay me $500 for each domestic award i redeem for business travel. while i've logged quite a few miles in Y over the past 12 months, i got an extra $3k in pocket money in the process that i put to IMO better use than i would have playing the notorious upgrade game.

some of you may call me a fool because several of my award itineraries could have been purchased for less than $400 (a pretty poor value), but i did so anyway because i don't like paying change fees (even if my company foots the bill) and stopovers/open jaws are quite convenient.

perhaps my change in view is due to the fact that my current job isn't as rich as previous endeavors, but even were that not the case, i'd still be a likely proponent of my new approach. simply put, i put more value in getting from a to b than in doing in style.

your thoughts?