I do 90%+ of my awared travel based on the use of cards and promos from the airlines. And if there's a scheme, I'm usually on it to grab more miles and feel all cool about it! I wrote in a few places in here how I think that's actually harder than being a business traveler who does not pay for the tickets but does get status and many miles for flights. They pay with their souls, though, because they must fly to survive and never see their own home for long periods of time. I do what I can to avoid paying marked up fees on miles and I HATE all fees of late that airlines charge to eat into my "free" travel. I spend a lot on credit cards. That's loyalty but it gets you not so far with the airlines because, well, they only get a small portion of that revenue, as it is often split amongst several partners involved in the process of giving me my one mile per $ spent, etc.

I dont really care what class of service I sit in the plane, but I do wish economy was not HORRIBLE, just normal. These days it can be horrible at times. Eatible food and water and coffee should be served for free in paid or award flights to everyone forced to breathe in recycled air for more than 90 mins. Period.

MM