I'm just curious to see if other United FT'ers have changed their travel patterns as MileagePlus has become less useful.

Back when I joined MileagePlus in 1981 I was practicing lawyer and had the luxury of traveling in paid First. I used to fly out in the morning and return after business in the evening. When paid first was no longer possible, I was always able to apply an upgrade and flew in upgraded first 95% of the time. I always reached the highest membership level, only to have the bar raised, first to 75,000, then 100,000 then 1K with $12,000 spend. I finally reached Lifetime 1K, but the program has changed so much that it is virtually impossible to find an upgradeable flight, especially transcon.

So, I now take the redeye in coach when going east, take an Ambien and get a fitful sleep. Don't need First to sleep. (I never took redeye's in the past) I usually end up buying the cheapest first available for the longer flight back to the west coast. Of course I'm now 35 years older, adding to the wear and tear.

20 years ago I used to lament the loss of "the good old days of air travel". Who knew it would get so much worse?

So, how have you accomadated your travel to the new realities?