I think he saw a stockpile of points and was happy to be able to take six people for no cash. He's not going to Europe or whatever in the future and he didn't want to pickle his points.

Some people only want to fly F, some are satisfied with Y. I would't use points for F from East Coast to Europe, but some people will every time. To each their own...

I am surprised that some of the bloggers don't mention this kind of thing. At first I would have transferred to UA, but that would have added complication. Using the UR travel proved to be the best use of the points, only because it is a terrible redemption for most FT'ers.