<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by Efrem:
A round-trip economy air ticket in the US takes 25,000 AA miles or 85,000 HH points. Granted, that's not quite a fair comparison either, because AA points are only good on AA and partner flights, you might(?) be able to get an award from Hilton under conditions where you'd have to use a higher-mileage "AAnytime" AA award, and the numbers vary for different award types, but it's indicative of the ratio.</font>
You're analysis is correct. Most Hilton Airline Rewards are not subject to FF capacity control, only to fare class availability. Some are subject to black out dates. And, of course, you have a slew of airlines to choose from.
But in general, booking an air reward flight on a given date is much easier as far as availability goes than my understanding and experience of finding an available FF seat.
Also, check out FF1B -- free companion fare for 40,000 with purchase of any published fare (yes, that's what they mean by "full-fare ticket" -- any published fare, not any Y fare).
http://www.hilton.com/en/hhonors/rewards/airline.jhtml
http://www.hilton.com/en/hhonors/par...rs_terms.jhtml
Finally, the best value in Hilton rewards are the VIP Vacation rewards:
http://www.hilton.com/en/hhonors/rewards/vip.jhtml