Looks like several topics have evolved from the original post, which is one of the great things about this forum.

I paid $2.03 for gas this week in San Antonio - the ongoing price around town is $2.39. Amazing how prices can differ so much in small distances. I guess because they can!

Haven't compared dollar costs on flights recently, but we got round trip for two on AA for a total of 50,000 miles, leaving on Sep 8, for almost two weeks. But, we had to change our flights to Sep 27 departure, and the points were the same (I know, hurricane season, etc). I think Carol and a couple others stated there was no change fee with points on AA if you keep the same itinerary - I can also confirm this. We actually got a better flight - originally we had to lay over in MIA for a night on the return, but on our new itinerary we leave SAT at 6:05 AM and get to SXM at 2:00 PM, and depart at 3:00 PM and arrive in SAT at 10:00 PM. Seems we got the only flights I could find with those times. All other AA flights arrive in SXM at around 9:30, and all other returns require an overnight in MIA. So, a good thing for a change. (Now, hopefully all this doesn't change by then).