Originally Posted by
drminn
I can see that being a useful benefit for flyers living on the coasts or in a AA hub. Less useful for those of us in flyover country.
I would argue AS is not a particularly useful airline for someone living in flyover country, unless you're spending most of your time flying to the West Coast/Hawaii (or the limited network in DAL appeals to you), or you're willing to forgo most meaningful benefits while flying AS international partners. The fact that AS does not allow mix/match of partners means AA availability in "flyover country" restricts you to AA longhaul.
I mean... I GUESS you can do the "buy miles cheap, cash in for CX/EK/what have you". But AS doesn't have a partner like AMEX/Chase to generate flexible RDM that can go into multiple programs.
Originally Posted by
Happy
I believe it would be MORE HELPFUL that the thread puts more focus on the "bookable" sweet spots. Those look good in theory (on the chart) but practically near impossible to book, are worth mentioning but not really useful at the end because without availability, the charts mean nothing.
AS Hawaii and Mexico add-ons to awards are not particularly impossible in my experience. AA Y to Europe/Asia isn't difficult at all during low season. AA J/F and AF/KL J is definitely in the QF F/J class of "not QUITE a unicorn but hard and you need to be lucky or flexible, book early and keep an eagle eye out".