These strategies are all great when they work, and I have successfully used many of them myself in the past. My biggest problem now that we have school-age children is that, unlike single people or those with no children/grown children, most of our travel must now occur at the most "peak" periods: President's Week, Spring Recess, Memorial Day, Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's. Getting flights/a hotel room at all during those times is challenging, much less a comp upgrade.