Originally Posted by
InkUnderNails
You will first purchase the additional 13 credits to get the standard award or SA.
The SA can only be used on certain flights and is becoming increasingly difficult to redeem. I had 6.5 (13 OW's) when RR 2.0 and I have just now gotten it down to 3 OW's. I was able to schedule one more today.
I also have 3 credits and I have decided the points are more valuable than the SA I could purchase. I am going to let them die of neglect. But, I have 250K+ points, so I have no shortage of options for booking flights. I have found that the flights in which I can use SA's are the cheap ones that do not require a lot of points. Close in, less than 48 hours, a SA may open up on a more expensive fare.
I would suggest parking those 3 credits in Airtran. They will get a new 1 year expiration date and stay there until the rewards program side of the merger is complete (which I would have to guess will be within the next year, if somehow not you could always transfer to SW and back to extend). When any remaining A+ credits get swept into SW, they will either be valid with a new 1 year expiration date for a last minute redemption. And Murphy's Law states you will need them the day after you needlessly let them expire.