answer to your question
The answer to your question is no: I do not ask airlines for free travel, upgrades, lounge access etc for my family or myself when travelling personally. We pay for it like everybody else, fly at the back of the bus and pay painful airport prices for our food and drink.
Also, Geoff is right when he says the story you refer to at the start of this thread was in the Sydney Morning Herald. It was not in The Australian and I was on holidays at the time anyway.
Steve C.