but it seems hard to justify spending my miles/points when I know my typical travel patterns do not maximize their economic potential.

Somehow I never seem to get around to planning/booking international J trips and it just seems like such a waste to use my miles on the domestic trips that I'm more apt to take.

Either that or just as I've convinced myself to take advantage of my miles/points, some sale or other promo happens to make using miles less attractive than scoring some extra bonus points/miles.

Not to mention, that it's tragic to see those hard earned balances dip.

There is 1 exception to my insanity, I'm new to UA and for some reason I now seem to be more than willing to pony up (miles or AMEX points) for upgrades whereas I previously never even considered doing that.

oyyyyyy