Originally Posted by
eponymous_coward
If you are spending more than $100 on an award ticket from Europe, you’re probably using AS miles. BA, and FI charge carrier surcharges. The UK, France and Germany all have various forms of APD. AA and AY availability is mostly a joke. That leaves you with DE, as long as you don’t leave from Germany, France or the UK.
True although UA and *A awards tend to be quite reasonable for award redemption (IIRC it's possible to do roundtrips with UA J awards for around $100). Generally, I'll book Y tickets using cash whenever possible - may as well get the money I'm spending to earn RDM and EQM. The only time where I could see a Y award booking for a puddle hopper flight like FRA > NYC would be if the roundtrips and one-ways are eye watering expensive. Even then, I might just book Norwegian if it's available.
-James