Wow I didn't mean for this thread to go down the lines of corporate greed versus personal greed, but the posts have been great!

To be fair, I can understand both sides. While I absolutely hate being forced into the lowest fare, there is leeway for preferred carrier and preferred times so it isn't all bad. And with most of my travel within NA it works out to be T+ all of the time. And, I am very conscious when spending other people's money and so I accept the rules of the organization - they're in business to make money and if they do well then I do well. So saving on airfare helps and my mileage accumulation shouldn't be a consideration at all. I get it.

However, on the other hand given the amount of time I spend at airports, away from home and inconvenienced by my job should allow me some perks. Yes, I know there are other jobs and I am not complaining about the travel, but it is something that not everyone would do and there are sacrifices to doing it. The company should understand that. In addition, let's be real here, my FF status helps the company too - FF check-in means I don't have to spend the whole day at the airport lining up, lounge access means I don't have any meals to expense while I wait and can still be productive with wi-fi access, upgrades that I get for business trips mean that I land refreshed and ready to hit the ground running. I have been given preferred rates at hotels that have been lower than corporate rates. All of this means savings to the company. So I should expect some leeway in selecting how I want to get to my destination.

As for companies paying for International F - who are they and where do I sign up??? Our company has a policy for execs only (not us in the bottom rungs) that they fly J for flights over 6 hours. I don't agree with that for many reasons, but most may be related to my own corporate situation. Whatever the policy, I think it should be fair and uniform for all - why do I have to sit in coach and risk DVT while the execs that do less work lounge in the front cabin? Sorry, another rant...

But my original post was just to vent the frustration of using our online booking tool for over 3 hours to find different routings/permutations that would be win-win for my employer and me (lower cost, 100% mileage accumulation). That EF idea is pretty interesting...