Help with Continental OnePass Rewards

[Tinkaroo]

Can anyone give me some advice for using Continental OP Rewards?

I don't have any experience with Continental, as they don't typically fly direct to anywhere I need to go.

That being said, my SIL has contacted me, asking for some help/advice - they are attempting to book tickets using miles for a trip we're taking to WDW in December of this year (12/2-12/7) from IAH. She said that nothing is coming up for her dates, and if they moved their dates out one day each way (12/1-12/8), it's only showing availability for the EasyPass awards, which are the more expensive ones mileage-wise. So right now if they were to book, they'd be looking at adding on 2 days to their vacation, plus burning 200,000 miles, instead of 100,000 (they're a family of 4).

She's asking me if they should book now before there is no availability, or if more availability will open up down the road. As I'm not familiar with Continental, I don't know what to tell her. All the airlines I use have wide-open reward availability on those dates.

Any experienced Continental flyers out there that can give an opinion? I plan to post this on FlyerTalk, but have to wait until I get to my home e-mail address to go through the verfication process for them.

TIA for any advice!

 

[disneyag]

We use Continental reward miles, but it is difficult. Generally, if you can fly on a Tuesday or Wednesday, you have a better chance of getting what you need. Otherwise, you have to turn in double miles. More flights can definitely open up the closer you get to your travel date. Unfortunately, Platinum, Gold, and Silver members get first dibs (in that order) before everyone else. Sometimes you can call Continental and get wait-listed for the tickets.