Originally Posted by
JFKLAX321
The "book value" of an SWU has nothing to do with the real value of an SWU. People will value each of these awards very differently. I couldn't imagine picking anything other than SWUs, but I get a lot of value out of them--certainly more than $125 (half of trip credit) / 15k miles (half of miles credit) worth. I can see how others wouldn't though. And that is why it's nice AA offers choices.
Agree with all of this. You also have to keep in mind that AA doesn't value miles based entirely on what well-informed, value-minded flyertalk members redeem miles for. They value the miles in the aggregate, taking into account how everyone redeems their miles. Most people don't redeem wisely, and that means the overall liability of miles is much less than that of a cherrypicked scenario when someone redeems a one-way in J to Europe or Asia for under 100,000 miles (which--at least from the west coast--takes work to find).
I 100% agree with you, I personally value SWUs around $500--I'd buy them at $100 all day long if I could. That being said, I was responding to someone who IIRC said SWUs cost AA nothing, and I wanted to let them know that they do in fact have a book value to AA.