Originally Posted by
UA_Flyer
I think that is understandable that flights are limited between China and U.S., and seats available for redemption logically have been reduced.
From my own experience, SQ is the hardest for redemption
I'm not sure what the current situation is, but for a while MU simply didn't release any (i.e. not just US) outbound international award inventory, but they made inbound inventory somewhat widely available. Basically, this was not related to capacity controls; it was simply a policy that made it impossible to leave China using Eastern Miles.
Hopefully, this recent move by CA to release award inventory across the board has a ripple effect upon other airlines and some of it makes its way to partner FFPs as well.