This will soon be merged into the thread dedicated to exactly this kind of issue:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/ameri...iscussion.html

I would also recommend reading

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/ameri...es-2014-a.html

There is a lot of useful information about using miles (not points - in AA, they're different animals), which sites can be used for finding awards not reflected on aa.com (including a link to Award Nexus, which allows some free use by FT members, etc. etc.

/Moderator