Originally Posted by
corporate-wage-slave
I've occasionally punted the benefit of this, which I think is quite significant. One aspect that many people think is that it's economy only, it's not, and it's not shorthaul only either. Admittedly the longhauls get a bit pricey at this point, but the cash component stays the same. RFS at half term with GPR (which you can do for your extended family) must be an excellent example of their use.
The other very important factor is though there is some confusion about this with agents, GPRs can be cancelled fee free. So if "normal" availability pops up, say 3 days before departure, then you can rebook yourself down to the lower level. But yes, thanks for the reminder about the Gold Card Joker.
I do like the feauture, but it is of very limited use because of the 30 day requirement - at least for me. Often when I book Europe travel it is quite last minute (say 1-20 days in advance). Often I can find OK cash fares, or the occasional normal award with Avios. However I often end up using *A points instead [where I can do the same on SK for double points up to departure as long as they sell cash tix on the flight].
So compared to its competitors this feature is really quite restrictive.