It's all a big game. I need to get in 16.5 round trips before December 31 to keep Select. My preferred route is Burlington, NC to Greensboro for the fantastic sum of $9.00 per round-trip (it only works when the southbound Carolinian is less than 30 minutes late which is pretty much never.) Combined with the double and triple points promotion I earn 800 points for $9. Is that cheating?

Earlier this week I flew Tampa-Miami-Nashville-Dallas-Seattle, spent the night and returned Seattle-Santa Ana-Dallas-Miami-Tampa. Eight segments and 15,302 miles for $202.90 paid with a voucher. Was upgraded to first on every leg except Seattle to Santa Ana because that was operated by Alaska Airlines. Cheating? Naw, just playing the big game.