<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Not wanting to get comped today because it's a once in a lifetime offer. I believe that tomorrow always brings a new "once in a lifetime" offer. However for right now, I think that I've got to avail myself of aeverything the airlines want to offer me.</font>
I think you missed part. Are you going to be taking advantage of your status on each of these airlines? If you only fly 25K paid miles a year, why don't you stick with one airline so you get status again next year? Status on 10 airlines will do you no good if you're not flying all those carriers and it will do you less good next year if you've flown each a bit but none enough to have status in '05.
Edited to add: If you plan to fly more than 25K this year (50K or over), you're still better off sticking with one airline. The benefits go up tremendously when you have mid-level status.
[This message has been edited by letiole (edited Jan 11, 2004).]