A guy I work with flies a lot (several years a 1P), but doesn't read FT, or know the ins 'n outs. I've helped him with seat selection, routing info, upgrades, and the like.

So he and his wife are planning a trip LAX-FCO this June. He calls (late at night) and gets the ICC. He works out a *A XC award routing, all on US-metal

Only problem is that ICC gets the departure date wrong by a day. He finds this out, and calls back. After an hour on the phone of back-and-forth, they finally find him an all XC routing:
LAX-JFK UA
JFK-FRA(?) SQ
FRA(?)-FCO LH

Return all on LH!

He felt bad about it until I told him he had really scored with his new routing!