Originally Posted by
thepla
people that buy only Y/B/M fares for refundability are the exceptions (of course if you ONLY buy Y/B/M tickets AA's would be 67K miles and DL wold be 83K miles. The Y/B/M thing is only better if your choose all 10 PMU's compared to 8 VIP awards from AA. Once you start to use miles at Y/B/M AA is only 15K each way and DL is 15K each way. According to what I read Y/B/M are sometimes difficult to find "Z" space.
Small point: the "M" fares on Delta are comparable to AA's "H" and/or "K" fares in many TATL markets. For H and K fares, AA only gives 1X EQPs (the points system is the preferable method to use when buying more premium fares).
Again, speaking from personal experience, for someone who buys a combination of premium fares as well as the rock-bottom ones, I get penalized one way or another with elite qualification accumulation on AA (if I choose EQMs, I don't get bonuses for Y or B or J or F; if I choose EQPs, I don't get 50% for the cheapies).