To be clear, I think that relatively speaking AA still offers good value on J redemptions on wide bodies even on own metal. However, so many people have been lured into the game and now **expect** to be able to redeem their points for biz class seats that inventory is constrained due to increased demand. Those same people then get sticker shock when the exact routing they want on the exact dates they want is exorbitant. In the past under a published award chart this inventory just would’ve not have been available all else equal.

A correction is likely coming for the industry, unless they can rethink their revenue generation strategies completely. The industry is still being buoyed by strong demand which manifests BOTH in strong bookings generating traditional revenue AND daily credit card spend.