Originally Posted by
diver858
Apples and oranges; WN uses a quasi-revenue-based calculation for award seats, while AA is essentially flat, region based. Your 3500 WN point example is for a relatively short, cheap flight - generally less than $100. I just randomly checked WN's WGA redemption for SAN-BWI on 3/27: 10,784 - 28,008 points, BS jumps to a whopping 69,509 - 70,514. In contrast: saaver coach starts at 12,500, unrestricted, fully refundable first class on AA ,maxes out at 45,000 miles.
WN will also jack up its WGA redemption rate for higher demand travel days.
SAN-BWI WN 3/27:
nonstop 13,174
1 stop 8,774
SAN-BWI AA 3/27:
nonstop NOPE
1 stop 12,500
BTW, you picked 3/27 because every other single day that week has NO AVAILABILITY on AA for savers. NONE. Only 30k points. WN has a ton of availability multiple days that week. And the only available tickets could be purchased for $201. Notice that all the other days start at $250+? There is nothing "flat" about the AAdvantage program. As soon as tickets reach a certain price, they take all saver availability away, regardless if a single award ticket was issued, so now they are 30k points. I see this constantly on routes out of MIA. 7+ tickets if $109, $170 "sorry no saver awards." (Cut off for SAN-BWI/DCA seems to be in the low 2's.) They're doing the same damn thing as WN but at least WN gives you the option to use points at the higher price and I can't tell you how many times its STILL less than 12.5k pts for a domestic ticket. In fact I never pay 12.5k on any airline for any domestic ticket unless its MIA-LAX or MIA-LAS. 10k max if I'm going ORD etc. Much less on WN to LA and LAS many times. 12.5k should be a "worst case scenario" and for AA I can just buy the ticket for $109 anyways if its available at 12.5k.