Originally Posted by Flying for Fun

May I ask how you arrived at your statements bolded above? Last month I booked 2 F Apartment awards AUH-SYD for the second week of January. I found availability for the dates I wanted (just like anyone could do). When I called AA and fed them the dates and flight number they could see them too and within 10 minutes they were booked. (just like anyone could do) There was absolutely no reluctance from the AA agent and he was appreciative that I had done my research saving him a lot of time and effort. So your statements are wrong on all accounts in my experience. Keep in mind that EY awards were devalued for AA redemptions too now requiring 110K up from 90K last year. That is a 22% increase in required miles for a redemption. Would you be happy if you could redeem your EY miles ONLY on EY? Are you suggesting that AA should not be able to book on EY but EY can book on AA? It is the partners the allow a further reach around the globe rather than being limited to a particular airlines Network.

You can call me a leech if you like but any airlines Frequent Flyer Award Program would be of no value to most if limited to redemption only on that airline and would be counter-productive to the concept of loyalty.

Between American Airlines and Alaska airlines I have booked EK, EY, QS and CX premium awards for a seven week RTW itinerary from credit card spend and butt-in-seat flying. If this was not a possibility I wouldn't be loyal to any of them. Sign-up bonuses are a very small part.

Have a great day.

James