The change in nomenclature is a very small step toward truth-in-advertising on mileage awards. And it is clearly a way to change perceptions toward using more miles for travel.

The fact is that Standard awards have become very difficult. Yes, with a "little" flexibility standard awards can sometimes be secured, usually pretty close to travel date. This, of course, is opposite of what lots of fliers want--many look for advance reservations using their miles. CO's attitude seems to be that standard award inventory will come from seats that the airline is almost certain not to sell, and the decisions about this are made fairly late, This makes using miles for planned-in-advance trips exceedingly difficult.

The bottom line: recent semantic changes have done nothing to increase award availability; they are only an attempt to "spin."