Originally Posted by channa
Nwa.com won't give you a lot of the choices, too. I noticed that you're also a West Coaster, and for us West Coasters, arguably some of the most convenient routes to Europe won't show up at nwa.com (e.g., in your case LAX-CDG-FRA, LAX-IAH-FRA). The website is pretty good at showing NW stuff, KL stuff, and some DL stuff (sorta). It really doesn't like to show CO without some prodding, and AF, you really gotta force it.
The sad thing is nwa.com is one of the better airline sites out there in terms of reward redemption. UA, for example, can't handle a single partner; CO can handle some, but not a multi-city/open jaw.
I've never put any real effort into booking tickets for myself. I'm always borderline for elite status, and as long as I'm an active elite (especially Plat), I've got more to lose by using miles for my own ticket than I have to gain. I paid $850 for this ticket, which wasn't too bad. If I had to pay over $1k, I would have probably burnt the miles ESPECIALLY if I could have gotten the 50k ticket. Personally, I'd rather dish them off to my parents for either cash or hotel costs.
I'm booked LAX-DTW-FRA, which doesn't seem to terrible. I tried looking into the KL LAX-AMS-FRA, but I was advised the 333 is a good product.