As someone who flies out of MCO, I assure you, that even though there are cheap(er) fares available right now, all of those planes will be full the week of Thanksgiving. Looking for rewards tickets at the "discounted" level for that time frame, especially for MCO is not realistic. Even Southwest blacks out those dates for award redemption, and they easily have the most lax rules for redeeming award tickets. AA is not even telling you that you can't have a seat, but, they are just not willing to give one away at a discounted point value level. I am not sure that you have much of a gripe there.

Regards,
Stevekoe