Originally Posted by blueeyes_austin
Not so sure I agree with this. Award tickets have pretty decent flexibility for changing dates and can generally be refunded, and the miles put back into one's account, for a modest fee.
100% ACK. I usually book my tickets way in advance to lock in a vacation and then fine-tune the itineries over the course of the year. Sometimes, if not always, the departure times get changed and this normally gets the modest fee waived.
Currently I am holding two saver/standard tickets to LIH in April, one on United, another on NW. Each airline had only one open seat. I am pretty sure that another seat will become available sooner or later or two for another week. The absolute worst case would be to actually travel on different airlines but arrival/departure times are within 1.5h.
Even if the fee does not get waived, I gladly pay it for the flexibility the award tickets provide.