AA can generally get me where I want to go - usually on my preferred dates, but sometimes via a funky routing.

I usually prefer coach awards, but I'll take an F award in most cases to get my dates. I need to do this about half of the time to get my dates.

I find US Airways to be the worst: I sometimes find entire months blocked out for award seats, even in non-peak seasons.

I find United to be somewhere in the middle: they are very tough for Hawaii, but I've always got what I want for Europe. I've started burning US miles for UA awards: that's the only way I've found to use US miles.

Obviously the answers you get to this question will be very individual because we all like different types of awards on different airlines. For me personally, my pure-award redemptions (as opposed to upgrades) are Hawaii, short-notice domestic, and odd cities in Europe (e.g., not the places where there are always cheap coach tickets for sale).

[This message has been edited by pinniped (edited Nov 30, 2003).]