The common aspect of these problems is people cutting things rather closely. That's not a good idea on any hot deal. Give yourself some margin for error, whether it be yours or the company's.
True, but spending waxes and wanes--and for many, heavy spending comes between late Nov. & late Dec.
Last year, we had "earned" the CP by Oct., so we traded out the SW CC in favor of earning some hotel points over the holiday season--that was why we started off 2013 earning CP points slowly.
Had I understood the discrepancy between earning and posting, I probably wouldn't have done that.
And really, in my case, by the time I realized the shortfall end Nov. [when I paid my SW CC card] the die was already cast and there was nothing I could do.....I just didn't realize it because I was fixated on being able to earn points until 12/31. Believe me, I'd have a lot more AVIOS had I picked up on the problem sooner.......