American is most definitely not free, but $75 is a reasonable price to pay in a true emergency. I have kept at least 25,000 miles in my AA, UA, and NW accounts for emergencies.

A really dedicated AA staffer spent about an hour with me researching options for ORD-ATH on a day's notice when my grandmother passed away. Since AA doesn't fly to ATH, it was a challenge, but she found me business class seats for my dad on SN/SR. He ended up not using the reservation as my uncle found them consolidator tickets on DL for $600 in coach (not bad for the next day).

Where I object to paying $75 is for last minute *upgrade* awards, where I've already paid revenue for a ticket.