lol you conveniently left out 50% of the ticket fees
so $600 fees is 46% of the points + cash you paid
you could've cashed out 70k points as $700, therefore the 70k points becomes cash in the math
For the record, I already took that into account. My goal with these flights was to save cash, because at the moment, cash flow is the issue I'm solving for. At other times, I have other priorities.
I can't believe I have to say this, but... YMMV, I guess.