I went through this same round of foolishness with the nonprofit I work for. I report to a board of 25, and some of them travel very, very little and don't have an understanding of this ff process. I had some folks who were in the "the association paid for the miles, the association owns the miles, the association gets to use the miles" mindset. I agree that my employer paid for the miles, and I am an exempt employee, (read: no comp time) but that doesn't mean I'm an indentured servant. When I, too, pointed out the number of hours outside of 40, including weekends, late nights and early mornings, that I spend travelling on lowest cost tickets, some still weren't satisfied. I finally said I'd have to revise my travel patterns and travel only during regular business hours. That wasn't holding my employer hostage, that was acknowledging that when I'm working for them, I'm absent from my family. And the bottom line is all the ff miles/points in the world can't make up for the things and events I've missed, but at least I can make a few memories with my family on the miles I've accumulated.