You've pointed out that this is unlikely to be happening with people who are employed by major companies. In this, you are likely quite correct. But an awful lot of FFers are self-employed or work for small companies, which they may also own. In such cases, awards are often used for business trips.

I run two small businesses and am always using miles for business trips, to go to conferences/festivals, and on market development missions. This is part of my company's development activity and my investment as shareholder.

While I know some of you are bored by my occasional lapses into history, but...

I am using my miles for the exact reason I proposed to the Canadian Transport Commission that they permit Canadian airlines to start up FF programs back in 1984 when hearings were held across the country. At that time, I noted that small businesses in western Canada faced a major cost when trying to develop a customer base in Central Canada. FF programs would help equalize the playing field by providing us to access to "free" travel to meet with potential customers more often.

And for me, when based in Alberta, that was indeed the case. And now that I am in Central Canada, I use miles to travel the other direction to keep in touch with my business partners and customers back there.

On one of my recent films, we could not find the cash in the budget to fly the crew to NYC for a three-day shoot [over $3,000 even discounted], so I cashed in miles for award tickets. Next month, I will likely use miles to do some meetings with BC government officials to try and get some work assignments from them, as well as meet with one of my co-producers to work on a new film project.

Sure, I am not representative of the vast number of Aeroplan members, but among my acquaintences, many are self-employed or working for their own small companies, and they use their miles for business trips.