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After a decade of traveling to Europe, my wife and I finally accrued enough frequent flyer miles to earn something. But thanks to expiring miles (what the hell is THAT?!) we suddenly realized we had to book a ticket fast or lose them all.

We travel enough to know that while the Internet has put a lot of (relatively) great fares at our fingertips, a smart shopper lets his fingers do some serious walking before clicking "BUY." Sometimes the best fares are on the airline sites, sometimes on broker sites like Expedia, sometimes elsewhere.

So, we plotted out a plan for a summer trip out west and did some good research. But nothing prepared us for the five phone calls totaling well over two hours required to finally get a single round-trip ticket out east.

Of the five people we talked to, a couple were helpful -- and one made a valiant, valiant effort on our behalf -- one basically blew us off completely, one was somewhere in between and another did her best to make it abundantly clear that she was really doing us a favor by doing her job.

Apparently the only thing more frustrating than flying these days is trying to book a frequent flyer ticket to fly. Of course, this may all depend on the airline you're loyal to. I know people who have used Midwest Airlines miles and have nary a complaint.

I'm still loyal (-ish) to my overseas carrier, but a little less so now that I know when it comes time for me to cash in the miles on our second account (there are two of us, after all), it's going to be a real douleur dans l'âne.