With NW joining Skyteam, I'm obviously eager to learn more about the advantages of the alliance. Especially since we tend to vacation in Ireland, and CO/DL (with long US domestic legs) are the only options we have right now for redemption.

Since our schedule is pretty tight, we typically just plan on spending the double miles and getting non-capacity controlled awards. I know, not good in the spirit of FT, but hey, at least I go out of my way to EARN the miles.

So my question is (and I know this could easily be different when NW actually joins) -- do "RuleBuster"/Double miles/non-capacity-controlled awards generally exist among partners in the alliance?

Thanks!

Steve