Originally Posted by
EWR-6785
Otherwise I think Standard Awards are useful for last minute travel, but you don't want to create more standard awards than you expect to use within a year.
To the extent I'm not confident of using the awards within a year, I plan to let them transfer into RR points.
That's about the size of it. However I posted this trick yesterday:
The November 1, 2014 end of AirTran's A+ Rewards is rapidly approaching. Consider whether you want to convert any of your points to Standard Awards before then. I have found the capacity-controlled Standard Awards very useful when family members call me with requests to help with last-minute changes in their travel plans.
Even if you decide not to create extra Standard Awards, consider this low-risk tactic. Send just 300 points to AirTran and send that 1/4 credit back to Southwest Rapid Rewards by October 31. That will give you a 1/4 credit "seed" toward a Standard Award. You will then have a 12 month long option (starting the day you created this 1/4 credit) to add 18900 points to create your last Standard Award, which will then be usable for one full year.
I recommend creating the 1/4 RR credit for each account in your family, even those with almost no points. You might face a situation in which buying the needed 19000 points for about $500 still beats paying a walk-up fare.
One more observation. When deciding how many Standard Awards you are likely to use, consider the rate at which family members call you with requests to rescue them from their lack of advance planning or their need to retain the flexibility to cancel a trip without locking funds. The former needs Standard Awards, while points are often better for the latter.