Originally Posted by
hillrider
AA tells us so.
For standard award redemptions, AA wants 45,000 miles roundtrip in economy (35,000 from mid-January to mid-March and end of August through mid-December) for the 2,556 miles of LAX-HNL but 25,000 miles for the longer (2,611 miles) of LAX-BOS .
If you're paying, the 2,556 miles of LAX-HNL starts at $609 roundtrip vs. the 2,611 miles of LAX-BOS has plenty of availability for $337 roundtrip.
In economy class (which is what the OP flew), Hawaii flights are indeed priced at a hefty premium. People's perception is accurate.
The redemption rates are a bit out of whack in general. There are other airlines that price award tickets only based on distance. I can see US airlines moving to this model at some point (if it benefits them in some way). Short hauls would go down in redemption price (e.g. PHL-MIA could be 7000 points each way) where long hauls likely would go up (PHL-LAX 15000 each way).
In the long run it may stimulate more redemptions and reduce the outstanding miles that have to be accounted for in the company annual reports as a liability. I'm not an accountant, so not sure how that affects the big financial picture of the airline, though.