More miles.

I want to upgrade as often as possible and I have points. What's the easiest way to upgrade, by Internet, phone or in person with an agent?

Travel consultant Tom Parsons, CEO of bestfares.com, says it's easiest to upgrade online. "Not every flight will be available for upgrades, and the online function will give you dates and times without wasting time waiting and talking to someone who has the same information," says Parsons. The computer puts you on a priority list. "Usually customers with the highest-level classifications will get the first rights to an upgrade," says American Airlines spokesman Billy Sanez. If you don't get good results online, pick up the phone and call a service representative, Parsons suggests. The outcome of the call can depend on your frequent flyer status. "If you are a platinum 100,000-mile-plus person, they are likely to bend over backwards to help, because the higher you are in the frequent flyer food chain, the more they want to keep you from swapping your points with a competing airline," says Parsons. If you fly at least 50,000 miles a year and can't get frequent upgrades online, Parsons suggests you phone a representative and say: "You see the miles on my statement. If you can't take care of me, other airlines will." That tactic can work especially well for flights to Latin America because it's a high-cost destination, adds Parsons.

Last trip, they took away my nail clipper, but I know people who manage to get through five screenings with pocketknives. What gives?

According to Transportation Security Administration (TSA) spokesperson Amy von Walter, "taking away a nail clipper may have been a mistake on the part of the screener." Nail clippers were prohibited carry-on items until the spring of 2002, when the agency changed its policy to permit passengers on board with grooming tools, including those with sharp-pointed nail files attached. The TSA has always banned pocketknives--the second most confiscated item after scissors, according to federal documents obtained by news organizations under the Freedom of Information Act. Still, security personnel sometimes fail to spot pocketknives using X-ray machines, metal detectors and body pat-downs. "The technology is much better at detecting small objects than before 9/11 but don't expect security checkpoints to be perfect," says von Walter. TSA critics offer harsher assessments. Some passengers sneak pocketknives past security while others have unknowingly packed the objects and discovered them after passing through checkpoints, says Michael Boyd, President of the Boyd Group, an aviation consulting firm based in Evergreen, Colorado. "Security can't stop passengers from bringing pocketknives and other pointy objects on airplanes. We don't have good screening. Any security expert except those under contract to the TSA will tell you that," says Boyd.