You may not have to rush to use all the points but remember that there are thousands of people whose points will all expire at the same time. For example, our family has 1,000,000 to use up. That is going to make getting seats at the published redemption rate (i.e. 25,000 for a trip in North America) almost impossible.

Last minute rewards are really "expensive." I've paid 80K plus 'taxes' to do YOW-LGA with only a week's notice. Some would say it wasn't worth it, except to buy a seat then - it was the May 24th weekend - was also insanely expensive. And when the opportunity arose we decided to jump at it in order to make a great memory (the weekend itself, not spending 80K for a 15K reward!)

So, now is the time to plan well in advance for a trip.The best value awards need to be booked 10+ months in advance. Don't leave it until AP's website reminds everyone that they only have 24 months to use their points or you'll find very few seats available anywhere.