I use my miles mostly for my fiance to accompany me on trips; we pay for my fare and split the cost of that ticket and I accumulate more miles and Elite status. (He doesn't fly enough on business to have a shot at Elite status).

Unfortunately, as other people have observed, CO is pretty stingy on Reward travel, especially to Europe. We were able to use points to upgrade only once, and that was on a trip to Scotland on 9/28 (i.e., when many people were too paranoid to fly) and even then we got F/C only on the trip home. We're flying to Milan in October and I had to fork over 100,000 miles for an "EasyPass" ticket. When we went to Vienna last year I booked the full 11 months ahead (forget the exact timing but it was as early as possible) and still couldn't get the codeshare out of EWR that would have given me miles towards Elite- had to take Air France out of JFK instead.

In general, I use points domestically only when a last-minute or otherwise expensive airfare is the alternative. Also used most of my remaining USAir miles to get my son to a family gathering in CLT in April- figured those miles could disappear if I don't use them.

Have used hotel points solely in Europe. Aah. Budapest Marriott. Best freebie I ever had.