I live in CHI - a Southwest city but Southwest awards are worth far less than 25K AA miles to me. Why?
1) With the rare exeption of a last minute - every 25K AA award I redeem is when I need to go to two places, not just one. So I would need 3 SWA certs - not just two.
2) Many of the cities I go to SWA does not serve - or serves somewhere 50-100 miles away - inconvenient.
With promos, 17 RTs (many international ofcourse) on AA this year netted me about 700K miles, enough for:
- 14 non-capacity controlled awards anywhere in the USA and Canada
OR
- 28 capacity controlled awards anywhere in the USA and Canada and I have been able to get capacity controlled seats when I want them
OR
- 16 capaciyt controlled first awards
OR
- many, many good international options that I have and will use miles for
My average domestic flight is 1500 miles - 3000 RT. Without any promotions netting me extra miles - 4 AA RTs (with my status bonus and online booking bonus) will give me more than enough miles for a free domestic ticket. 7 RTs give me enough miles for an non-capacity controlled domestic USA and Canada award - including many more cities than SWA flies to. With promos it gets even better.
So, in my opinion, SWA only has a good program for someone who flies short hops. For anyone who flies longer domestic - its a bad deal.