Is award availability tied to city of origin rather than to the flight itself?
Example: I can get a saaver award JFK-MCO-MIA-GND. I really don't want an overnight in MCO, so I'm willing to buy myself a ticket to MIA, and then use miles for MIA-GND. However, MIA-GND is apparently only open if I first fly JFK-MCO-MIA. Is this normal? I thought a given flight either had availability or didn't.
(and btw, AA miles are feeling real useless right now. So many options out of JFK, but ONLY if I'm willing to have a miserable overnight. Like an overnight in Boston - but if I look for awards from Boston, it wants to force an overnight in SFO...do they not want me to redeem at all?)