I was able to use my PlusPoints this year, but it required some work/flexibility -- flew into LHR instead of EDI to take advantage of likely PZ inventory, did a bunch of monitoring to move my flight around when it popped and just incorporated a day in London and a stop in Manchester into my trip. I don't think I would have been able to use them if I just followed my normal pattern of booking the best time/price flights.

That said, it was pretty worth to pay economy and get a Polaris seat on a redeye to Europe, so I feel pretty good about it. I usually end up happy with my E+ seat on the way back from Europe since I tend to take morning flights back and can often snag the first row of E+ in a 2 on the 767-300ER.