I certainly admire the travelers on this board who can stick in one alliance. For most of 2000 I was able to stick with One World but toward the end of September, American became totally uncompetitive pricewise. Yes it's easy to finagle routings on personal time but to finagle dollars out of the company checkbook, you have to be prudent. For example for a Y class AA flight SJC-FRA later this year, the best fare is $3500!! Thru 1st Air, I can go C for $3300 but on a Star Alliance partner. My trips to Asia, Korean beats Cathy and Singapore hands down fare wise.

So, you are not stupid, perhaps, like me, just a victim of uncompetitive pricing.