I'm generally all for the you go you get the credit, but I would be, as I've missed about a dozen games in the last 20 years despite coming back up from Portsmouth each game. I've generally got 18-19 league credits. Missing the odd league game and not purchasing doesn't punish me, because the wife wanting a Christmas holiday somewhere warm when work shuts down.
Champions League is also OK, as group stage dates are pretty rigid and announced over a year in advance by UEFA, so I can book time off giving plenty of notice. The domestic cups would be the issue for me, given that dates/times change and replays in midweek increase my chances of missing them (although my employer is quite supportive 90% of the time).
Despite planning (I thought) a Christmas holiday so I would return for FA Cup 3rd Round Saturday, they moved the 'Virgil header Everton game' to Friday and was still abroad, and I missed a League Cup semi-final (Stoke, I think) because work had paid for me to attend a conference. It sounds like in the future these would impact my chances in semi/final ballots and, more importantly, the ACS for the following season.
I'm around 700th on the ST waiting list, so hopefully won't have these concerns much longer, but my brother would.