I see nothing surprising about this. Perhaps it was a trip of a few hours. I wouldn't waste the extra 20K miles for FC on that either. In fact, my rule is domestic US (except AK and HI) is always a coach award if I am not buying the tickets with cash. FC is for the two exceptions and elsewhere.

What I really don't understand is people who redeem twice the miles for the unrestricted awards. I can understand if you have a family emergency and the fares are astronomical, but there are many people who routinely redeem 2X the miles when the "saver" awards are not available. Imagine paying 70K miles for coach to HI. That is a ticket that can fairly easily be purchased for $700 or less. I would likely change my travel dates before coughing up the extra miles.