Is it? Maybe I am missing something, but if you typically reach 100K in, say, August, your SWUs will be valid from August to August. If you reach it on December, they'll be valid until Dec 31 the next year. One way or another you have a 12 month window to use them. The problem (only) arises when you sometimes reach 1K early in the year and in subsequent years later as it then takes you longer to earn new ones. But then, if you're like me, you sometimes use them early and sometimes late, depending on when your vacations/trips are. So really, it doesn't seem to be a big deal to me. Just look at how excited many people here get when UA offers early deposit of SWUs in October or so...