<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">while redeeming 25K miles for domestic tix just to go from point A to point B is not the most efficient way to use your miles, when you throw in the one allowable stopover on either outbound or inbound leg, plus one allowable open jaw, your 25K tix suddenly becomes a lot more valuable.</font>
On UA award tix, stopovers or open jaws are NOT permitted on U.S. domestic flights (except continental U.S. to Hawaii). In fact, they are ONLY permitted as follows: "between the continental U.S. and Hawaii or between the U.S. and the Caribbean, Asia, Australia, New Zealand, Central and South America or Europe" (from UA website). Also, it's "one stopover en route to your final destination or one open jaw," not BOTH. Of course, Star Alliance awards have a different set of rules than UA awards.
It's dangerous to make generalizations to ALL airlines based on your experience with one airline.
Kathy