In my experience, the buddy passers who travel in peak times are successful when their sponsor is assisting each step of the way: Checking flight loads, assisting in reroutes, contacting you with updates. If your buddy pass provider is not such a friend, you may have future contributions to make to the above mentioned threads.
A good, pro-active buddy pass provider who helps throughout the trip is more important than money to buy a ticket back... well, almost.