(I used my last lot on two first class tickets to Tokyo which would have cost a lot more than $12k each if bought for cash.)
I can totally see the appeal of flying in an almost empty 747, but at least according to this source[1] that makes a truly shocking 1MPG between the five of you. I can't help thinking the world would be a bit better off if they'd just apologised, and put you on the next flight.
[1] http://science.howstuffworks.com/transport/flight/modern/que...
Sometimes the sizes of the passenger streams between two destinations aren't perfectly in balance. This is most clearly visible on shuttle services between a small and a large city - busy going to the large city in the morning and to the small city in the evening, and semi empty in the opposite directions.
Also seasonal flights - the first flight of the season to depart the destination (and the last to arrive) will often be pretty lightly loaded.
When that situation arises, you will need to reposition a less-than-full aircraft, otherwise your operations obviously falls apart. The GP clearly experienced an extreme case of this, but most likely that aircraft was being filled up at its next departure, and so needed to be there.
This is obviously expensive for airlines, so they try all they can to fill up these flights - which explains that the cheapest tickets are often on times that will be slightly odd or inconvenient, at least to business travellers.
Also, schedules are built around keeping the plane in the air as much of the time as possible, which sometimes means there's a mostly-empty "positioning" flight to get a plane to where it needs to be to carry a full load. I know with US Airways, for example, you can sometimes randomly snag a seat on a widebody international plane between Philadelphia and Charlotte (usually coming out of maintenance and onto transatlantic service, or switching which hub the plane operates from), and on Delta you can occasionally fly a 747 domestically between Atlanta and Detroit (to get the 747 in position to fly from Detroit to destinations in Asia).
I wanted to try first class on the 777 when it first came out, so I just connected in DFW for a PHX-ORD trip, and did the DFW-ORD segment on a 777.
As it turns out, domestic flights are GREAT in big aircraft. (Though I do like the smaller A321Ts too. International-class accommodations, but a really small feeling, like a private plane.)
(I know they're in the same group) I would take LX (Swiss) over LH any day.
When trying to help them in a bad situation on their end, they'll snap at you. (I.e. when they had a plane downgrade in FRA, I offered to be transferred to a UA metal flight on my way back to ORD.. their reaction "WHO TOLD YOU THIS!" [I was trying to help the person avoid involuntary bumping, worse.. I and my travel companion was on an award ticket.. even if it matter anyways]
Back when US Airways (which is where I have my status) was in Star, that was a consistent complaint. Now we're in oneworld with the AA merger, the complaint is British Airways' ridiculous "fuel surcharge" which makes a premium-class mileage-award ticket still cost the same amount of cash as an actual economy-class ticket.
Of course, this is unhelpful if you don't want to go somewhere far away and expensive in a premium cabin. I've always found the value in frequent flyer miles to be in redeeming tickets that I could never afford with money. Using frequent flyer miles to fly from Chicago to Minneapolis is not getting you much value.
I used to love flying United (note: I mostly flown transatlantic flights with them; only one domestic US flight and the difference was stark), for a simple reason:
While basic economy in United isn't all that great, their frequent flyer program is (or used to be, been a few years) very good in terms of ease of getting upgrades or perks. Getting up in the tiers enough to always get free upgrades to Premium Economy didn't take much, and the top tiers are actually possible to reach if you travel a bit for business, unlike e.g. British Airlines where you practically have to live in the air to get to their higher tiers.
Business on United did not match business on e.g. BA or Virgin, but on the other hand upgrades to business on United was as reliable as clockwork - I got upgrades ca. every 3rd leg once I'd gotten to one of their upper tiers (which includes a multiplier on miles).
If you fly now and again for leisure, base it on what you'll pay for, sure. But if travelling for business, how the upgrades stack up makes a huge difference.
Especially with United's latest performance report indicating less than 1/3 of flights operate on time now.
(granted, I still have to avoid AA's hubs like the plague since they shut down for days whenever there's a hint of rain within 500 miles, but at least US Airways is still plenty reliable)
Which is kind of like saying that Ebola isn't any worse than any other hemorrhagic fever.
(FWIW, I've flown >800k miles. Every one of my "top 5 worst flights" was on an American airline, bar one that involved a planeload of drunken Irish football hooligans and a seatmate who was both lecherous and morbidly obese.)
http://www.united.com/web/en-US/content/account/lifetime.asp...
Although it was different in the past, all the US carriers now differentiate between miles earned by actually flying (in the industry and the frequent-flyer community referred to as "BIS", or "butt-in-seat" miles), and miles earned from all other associated programs (credit cards, affiliate shopping, etc. etc.).
Only the mileage from actual flying counts toward frequent-flyer status, lifetime benefit thresholds and so on.
Can this be sold?