There are other ways to work around non-consolidation in some programs. For example, AA lets you redeem reward tickets one-way for half the cost of round-trip. So you could use your AA miles one way, your wife's AA miles the other way, if neither of you has enough miles for the round trip. Not all airlines allow this, though, so you need to check on each you're considering.

The only downside is that if you have to change or cancel the trip, and fees are per ticket, thus doubled if you're changing/canceling both directions. But the upside is that it greatly adds flexibility, because you can redeem each award as it becomes avialable even if both directions are not available at the same time! Or you can effectively mix airlines in two directions (if you find two airlines that both allow one-way travel), if you can only find avialability with one airline's miles in one direction but another airline's miles in another direction.