Sorry to belabor what may be obvious, but I'm not sure how electronic certs change things.
I have 850 points expiring at the end of the year. I rarely see BXP1 space confirmable in advance these days. If nothing shows up, can I request a BXP1 before year end, which will give me another year to use it? And if I cancel it afterwards, I will get points back in my account with the same expiration date as the BXP1 I'm cancelling?
And if I cancel while I'm still Ex Plat (which I won't be after Feb 2020), then no fees are involved?
I like using them for J to F LAX-JFK (which is usually confirmable) but I happen to be holding J saver awards for the dates I want to fly, and the difference between J&F isn't so big that it seems worthwhile for the two of us to cancel award tickets and use BXP1s to get into F when saver J awards on that route seem to have become extinct. So even though there is a great fare the day I want to fly ($559 one way in J), if I don't need the EQD because I won't requalify anyway, then it seems silly to give up the J saver seats.