Originally Posted by
hindukid
You have any proof AA pays this much. I personally sincerely doubt this. Don't see how AA sells billions of miles in the one cent range to partners like Citi and then pays more than 4 cents per mile redeemed. It would be financial suicide. Even if they don't expect many F redemptions they control how many miles are required for F so presumably its set at an equivilant rate.
Why do airlines give AA 25K seats for under $3500? Because the seat will surely not be sold anyways. That's why they have capacity control.
Also I would suggest that worth means how much you would be willing to buy them or sell them for. Then it matters very much how much you are willing to pay for it. I say a ticket to Baghdad is worth zero dollars because I will simply throw it away. However I am sure it cost significantly more than zero dollars.
How much the airlines pay to each other for partner awards is the 64,000 question. I doubt it is very much, as it is for space that would otherwise go unsold. Probably closer to the ID90 prices they give to interline nonrev airline employees rather than multiple cents per mile. And of course they would only pay on the net difference between AA and QF redemptions.