Sometimes the luxuries and perks associated with travelling on business seem like a thing of distant memory.

Take the plight of 100 employees of a Los Angeles manufacturing company. A few months after 9/11, they were instructed to share rooms when attending a sales meeting in Chicago. 'Two to a room?', they asked. No, four - somewhat reducing each person's share of minibar goodies and toiletries.

But more worrying is a decision made by a German court earlier this year. It ruled that any air miles accrued on business legally belong to the company paying for the trip.

So instead of an employee using their loyalty points to pay for a holiday flight to the Caribbean - or perhaps an upgrade to business class - any air miles racked up on business could be claimed by a company and used to offset their travel bill.

In the UK and (especially) US, such loyalty bonuses - and there are 160 frequent flyer airline schemes worldwide - are seen as a staff perk. So businesses may shy away from such stinginess should the German ruling set a precedent over here.

But if the German ruling does become law in the UK, one way around it could be book trips yourself: the ruling applied only to trips paid by corporate credit card. Already over a third of UK business travellers self-book online, according to the latest Barclaycard Business Travel Survey, and so many traveller's benefits are already out of their employer's grasp.

But not that of the taxman. Even if the German judgement does not set a precedent here, travel perks are under threat: the Inland Revenue has voiced interest as to whether such benefits need to be declared for tax purposes.

Still, for the time being there are a few ways to blag loyalty points for your own use when travelling on business.

Canny travellers can maximise their loyalty bonuses by choosing the most appropriate scheme and sticking to it. Otherwise it can take forever to reap the benefits of membership: millions of pounds' worth of points go unclaimed.

For example, if you travel regularly on bmi or Singapore Airlines, it would be worthwhile joining one of the Star Alliance frequent flier programmes. Doing so would mean that flying with any of the 18 member airlines would quickly earn you points towards free flights and airport lounge access.

Likewise, if you fly more regularly with British Airways or Qantas, it would be worthwhile joining the oneworld alliance and 'suggesting' to your firm that you fly with the eight member airlines whenever you book a trip away.

However, one seasoned business traveller from the UK, who regularly claims loyalty points under the Skywards scheme operated by Emirates and SriLankan airlines, says that choosing a carrier under criteria is against company policy.

'Some companies get funny with employees keeping air miles but mine is fine with it,' he says. 'But all they insist on is that an airline isn't selected to specifically to gain more miles. So if BA offered cheaper flights it wouldn't be appropriate to fly Emirates just to clock up miles with one company...'

'I first signed up at a business class lounge in the Middle East. On returning to the UK I phoned the airline, told them which flights I had been on and they checked their records and added the miles to my account.'

'But I don't think it's that petty for companies to keep the air miles - my company could have saved thousands if they kept hold of them.'

You should also choose a loyalty scheme according to your high-street shopping habits. Official Airmiles can be collected at over 80 online and high street partners. And Nectar Points - mostly clocked up in Sainsbury's - can also be earned at ebookers, Thomson and Hertz: companies that may be legitimately used for business travel.

Other loyalty schemes include those run by hotel chains such as Marriott, and by non-air operators like Eurostar. And, for the time being, the benefits should go direct to the business traveller - whether they're staying in a quad room or not.

Tips for making the most out of frequent flyer miles

- Plan your trip as far ahead as possible: 'award' seats fill quickly, especially in first and business class. If seats are not available ask to be put on the waiting list. Check for cancellations by calling as early in the morning as possible.

- A general rule, redeem your frequent flyer miles for expensive tickets, not cheap ones. You may be better off buying a cheap ticket for your vacation and saving your mileage for another trip.

- Top fliers should focus their mileage on one or two carriers and aim for frequent flyer status, the first level of which typically requires 25,000 to 30,000 actual miles flown in one year.

- Read the small print. Miles earned on partner airlines, hotels, credit cars and car rentals may not count. Some frequent flyer programmes count qualification by calendar year; others calculate the year from your first flight.

From 'The Survivor's Guide to Business Travel' by Roger Collis (published by Kogan Page)