Airmiles - not a free lunch!

I learnt the other night that Airmiles are the world's biggest currency.  That doesn't surprise me given the fact that you keep on banking them and can't ever use them!  I love a loyalty scheme but I fly on so many different alliances that I'm nowhere near anything more than 'commoner' status on every one of them!  How I look over with green eyes at someone in the adjacent queue at the airline counter with their gold card... Lounge access that i'll never have..  That elusive upgrade I'll never get...

What I will say is that it can be impossible to actually use your miles so if you want to get the best out of them then plan ahead.  I have just booked a miles trip back to the UK next April (yes 11 months away) and nearly all the dates were blacked out.  I took the plunge and splurged on using up all our miles to fly myself and my 3 year old business class.  I was feeling pretty smug until I phoned Cathay to add on an infant ticket for my baby for which I would have to pay cash.  I won't write exactly how much I had to pay but needless to say it took the shine off what I thought was a pretty sweet miles moment.  Oh well...