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The point that the OP needs to understand is that when you use your points as cash to buy something, you pay whatever the price is at that time. If a DFW-MCO-DFW Coach roundtrip is going for $400, you would end up paying more points than if you could get the same trip as an award for 25,000 BA miles. That's why you have to see if there is award availability for your desired dates of travel, and then determine whether it would cost fewer points to redeem for award travel (using BA miles), or to use the points as cash and just purchase a regular ticket.