It is exciting to be able to get a $17,000 first class ticket for free with miles. But then I ask myself how much I would have been willing to actually pay for that first class. Maybe $100 more than coach, max. So I need to rethink the value I put on first class awards. I don't need a big seat, I can sleep anywhere with earplugs and eyecovers. I forget about my surroundings while I'm reading. I can eat like a king before and after I land. It's far more valuable to me to get 10 free coach trips than 5 or less first class trips.

I am eager to maintain my platinum level to get double miles on each trip. So what I have been doing is using miles for travelling companions to far away places, while I join them with bargain fares and earn elite miles to keep my status. The friends I travel with know many people where I go, and speak the language. Worth it many times over, I get so much more out of the trip. This October I am doing this again, costing me 80,000 miles to get two friends from California to Moscow on AA/Finnair. Actually I might use miles for myself if I don't find a cheaper fare soon. Hard call to make.

I have also used miles when fares are seriously beyond what I would pay, and creative use of stopovers have made using miles even more compelling.

Ok I admit it I still dream of going first class one day, but it would have to be on Cathay Pacific, British Airways (no interest in concorde though), or maybe the suites on American. Some really long distance trip.