IME, it's business folks who have operational responsibilities on multiple continents, are engaged in a trade business that requires their presence on both ends, or are launching a venture overseas. For example, in June I sat next to a manager in a midsize manufacturing company. They're adding manufacturing capacity in the Southeastern United States to supplement existing capacity in East Asia and Southeast Asia. For operational reasons, everything must be interchangeable between their facilities in the U.S., China, and Vietnam. He was on his 20th trip to Asia of 2013, on pace for between 40 and 45 trips. Several other members of his team were racking up similar numbers.

All in paid J -- but that's new this year. Last year he had made more than a dozen trips in paid Y -- although several were on fares from which he was able to upgrade with SWUs and he had a few op-ups, but his situation persuaded the company to change its travel policy for long flights.