Possibly Bad News: there appears to have been a significant change in the way reward travel is reserved. Based on some of the above posts, it seems TY Network/Global Impact may now be negotiating rates for reward travel, and might require certificates (with expiration dates) before redeeming (or even searching) for travel. I have not tried to reserve travel since the new website came up in the last 30 days or so, but here is a cut-and-paste from the section about "Flights to Continental U.S.":

"From the bright lights of New York to the sunny, sandy beaches of Los Angeles, fly to any of the 48 continental U.S. states with the help of ThankYou NetworkSM.

Airline tickets to the continental U.S. begin at 25,000 ThankYou PointsŪ and there are no blackout dates. Additional taxes and/or fees may apply.

To redeem your ThankYou Points for this reward, please call our ThankYouSM Service Center at 1-877-7REDEEM (1-877-773-3336), Monday to Friday, 9 a.m. to 11 p.m. EST."

Compare this to the prior version, when restricted tickets WERE 25,000 points; now tickets BEGIN at 25,000 points. I'm worried this means 25,000 point travel may be less available than before.

So any recent experiences, especially in the last 2 weeks? Has anyone been successful redeeming directly with GI? Or have certificates been required? This might explain the situation coylerj described in his/her post above.