Originally Posted by
kinet3k
Not sure why would you call 60k ticket free. I get it if you called it a good deal, but free? Buying 60k miles straight is $2000. I understand airlines are in the business to make money but releasing 1 seat per flight is pretty cheap in my book.
Because it's virtually free. The aviator red nets you 70'000 AAdvantage miles with a single purchase and costs 99 USD. I'd call that virtually "free". JAL is likely aware how freely AA gives out frequent flyer miles and doesn't want to just give away their F seats and cabin for so cheap when they'd prefer to maintain the integrity of their cabin and make money on it.
And as moondog said - AA does not pay JAL 2000 USD for that redemption.