[Apologies if this needs to be in an existing thread.]

What tactics do you use to maximize the PQP/PQF you earn in a year for the least amount of $ spent on flying? I can think of a few:
1. Credit card spend: finally I got the Quest card, so I'll probably end up earning 2-4K PQPs on that.
2. Cheap partner fares, particularly long-hauls: I've done this in the past. But I just don't like that none of the partner airlines have the kind of flexibility that UA provides in terms of canceling and/or changing your tickets. Some airlines are in fact very inflexible. I value flexibility above all in my travels, so unless I'm absolutely sure (which only happens very close to the proposed trip date, by when fares are high, thus negating any partner advantage), I try to stay away from them. Has anybody hacked the partner ecosystem to get UA-style flexibility while earning partner-level PQPs?
3. Flying multiple stops or short hop flights to increase your PQFs and thus reduce the PQPs needed to achieve a particular status. This is hard for me because most of my travel is long-haul international. But I'm considering taking unneeded mileage-run type same-day cheap flights (e.g., SFO-LAX) to bloat my PQFs.

Are there any others that I should look into?