The other downside is that on Alaska you must fly your entire trip on the same airline. On American you may fly on combinations of partners. For example, last year I needed to get to the Big Island of Hawaii on a certain date and return on a certain date. American could do that by flying 3 segments on Hawaiian Airlines and 1 segment on on American. (Hawaiian was far superior, by the way. Free food!) Alaska had access to both airlines, but could not find an entire round trip on either one of them, and so could not accommodate me.

Also, Alaska will not allow stopovers, at least not on American, unless the stopover is necessary to complete the trip. On a trip to Belize this year, Alaska did give me a ticket to Belize with a stopover in Miami, but only because that trip could not be completed in one day on American flights. The trip could be completed in one day on Continental, but Continental award tickets were not available, as usual.