I'd rate Early Returns a D in terms of award availability for those who don't have status or live in/frequent DEN. I think there's a bit of bias in the above ratings because most in this forum have either advantage for finding awards. I can't recall more than a few times when I've found awards that don't start or end in DEN. Out of frustration I bumped up my balance to 20k and hope to use the miles on AirTran eventually.
Don't get me wrong. The 15k level is great, but I was anticipating something at least near Delta's dismal low-availability periods. FYI, I've focused on varying combos of WAS, SEA, SAN, et cetera with the extreme flexibility you'd expect from an unemployed autist.