With the capability to check domestic award availability on-line for AA, UA, AS, NW, and DL, it would appear that it is now possible to perform some direct comparisons on how award availabilty varies by program. This could be done by route, number of award seats, time of year, days in advance of travel date, etc.

I was wondering if there are any thoughts in the FlyerTalk community as to what a fair basis for comparison across airline programs would look like. For example, AA may fly a number of direct flights each day (as well as some connecting flights) from JFK-SFO, whereas someone like NW may have limited and only connecting service on the same route. Would one expect that NW should provide the same number of award seats on any given day on that route as AA? Would total number of award seats per scheduled flight on that route be a more applicable measure? Or perhaps total number of award seats available that day as a percentage of total seats flown that day on that route (to adjust for plane capacity)? Thoughts?