Hey all, looking for some award‑strategy wisdom.

We are a PNW family of 2 adults (SEA/PDX area) but bounce to the East Coast pretty often for work. We have a couple trips to Europe coming up, and the flights we want are:

• Same points on Alaska and AA
  
• Operated by AA
  
• Open availability on both programs
  

So now I am a little confused as to which miles to use?

Our currently planned annual travel trips in next couple of years

• SEA/PDX ↔ East Coast couple of times a year
  
• Hawaii at least once a year (Alaska miles usually shine here)
  
• Possible South America trip end of next year (AA miles could be great for LATAM + AA)
  

My current thought process

• Alaska miles feel more “special” since they’re harder to earn and still have some good long‑haul partner sweet spots. I kinda want to save them.
  
• AA has been devaluing more often, so burning them sooner seems safer but they are also valuable for travelling to South America and no other airline has such good award points as AA.
  
• AA devaluation pattern is not looking good, but… Alaska has been doing some un‑Alaska‑like devaluations too, so who knows anymore
  
• For these Europe flights, the experience is identical either way since it’s AA operated flight
  

If you are sitting on both Alaska and AA miles, and the award price/flight is exactly the same… which miles would you spend first?

Trying to think long‑term since we want to keep doing Hawaii + domestic + maybe South America later. Leaning toward burning AA first, but open to being convinced otherwise.

TL;DR : SEA/PDX‑based, flights to Europe are the same price on Alaska & AA for AA‑operated flights. We do Hawaii + East Coast often and might do South America next year. Should I burn AA miles first and save Alaska miles, or does it not really matter?