Looking for Ideas on How To Manage a Planning Issue

[DMKEDM]

I'm wracking my brains trying to figure this one out...any help any of you experts/cyber friends can give me would be hugely appreciated!

Here's the deal: We have a Feb use year. We're totally out of 2009 points, and have borrowed most of our 2010 points, too. I have 107 2010 points I can use (if I borrow them) between now & January 31, 2010...and I can borrow all my 2011 points for vacations in 2010.

(By the way, I'm fine w/borrowing--both in general and in this instance...we currently have 465 points which is a good number for "right now." I see my need for points lessening in about 3 years, when DS finishes school and is restricted to employed vacation times...so adding on extra points right now is probably not wise because our future points needs are likely to decrease.)

I have two trips to plan. One is for mid-to-late January (that would require borrowing my remaining 2010 points), and another for mid-February 2010 (I can borrow 2011 points for that trip, if I have already used my 2010 points for the January trip.)

The problem is the January trip is uncertain. If I go ahead and book for it, and it crashes, those points will be lost as it will be just two weeks prior to the end of my use year, and the points will be borrowed and can't be returned to the 2010 use year once they're borrowed. And if I go ahead and book the Feb trip now, I do believe MS will take my remaining 2010 points before they'll let me borrow my 2011 points.

So if I go ahead now and book the Feb trip, which is "sure," it "kills" a January trip (unless we get lucky enough w/availability to allow for reallocation once the Jan trip becomes more certain). And if I go ahead and book the Jan trip, I risk losing 107 (or so) points.

Do you-all see anything I can do? (I can't pin down the Jan trip...trust me, I've tried. And it's a very high priority for me to take it, if it turns out to be possible. I'm just "learning to live" with my inability to plan on it.)

Thanks!

 

[thepops]

Why not see if the cash discount is available for the January dates (I don't think the cancellation penalaties are as bad) and use all the points for the Feb "for sure" vacation ?

 

[DMKEDM]

Thanks for the idea...but if I'm gonna pay cash, I may just add on 35 add'l points (that would give me the "wiggle room" I need for a points reservation in January)...the price would be about the same; I'd have those extra points for the 3 "high-use years" that still remain in DS' school career, and I could sell the small contract--probably winding up less out-of-pocket than I would if I paid cash for the January trip (with or without a discount)...

So, I'm looking for ideas on how to manage points reservations for these two trips...

Thanks for the input...

 

[Brian Noble]

You already know your options---you can borrow them, or not. If you borrow them, you will lose them, or you won't. It all comes down to the odds on that January trip.

Only you can know what the odds are on that January trip, and whether you want to gamble what amounts to a bit more than $1000 on it happening.

The only other thing I can think of is a points transfer, but I don't know if they retain their original use year (in which case, you can get points that straddle both trips) or if they get "washed" into your use-year. I suspect it is the latter, so this won't help you either.

 

[SuzanneSLO]

.. .So if I go ahead now and book the Feb trip, which is "sure," it "kills" a January trip (unless we get lucky enough w/availability to allow for reallocation once the Jan trip becomes more certain). And if I go ahead and book the Jan trip, I risk losing 107 (or so) points. . .
Thanks!

If you use your 2010 points and later need to borrow points from the same contract into 2009, they can be reallocated without regards to availability. Of course, the later you wait to book your Jan trip, the more likely it is that nothing with be available to book with points and a WL that requires a reallocation before it can be filled might result in a glitch. Best of luck -- Suzanne

 

[Brian Noble]

What about this.

Book two 2010 reservations. First, one for the # of points you would need for your January 2010 trip, but book it in your 2010 year, not your 2009 year---this is a "phantom" reservation. Then, book the "real" Feb 2010 trip, borrowing points from your 2011 use year. Finally, cancel your "phantom" reservation, which leaves you with 2010 points.

If the January trip materializes, you can borrow the canceled 2010 points into 2009. If it doesn't materialize it, you can bank the canceled 2010 points into 2011 (or use them for another 2010 trip).

 

[JimMIA]

Hey Dani...a points transfer sounds like a GREAT idea! What's the worst that could happen?

 

[DMKEDM]

Cute, Jim, very cute...(for those not "in the know" JimMia is referring to me having been scammed w/a botched attempt at a points transfer back in 2006...Jim was HUGELY helpful (he's my hero even if he does make "bad jokes!"...anyone who wants to read the long sad tale--it's linked in a sticky by Webmaster Doc (another of my heroes!) on the top of the rent/trade board--fair warning: it's a monstrously long thread!)...

Thanks for all these ideas...got a PM from another of the wonderful folks here on the DIS offering to do a no-cash reservations swap (he'll make my reservation w/his Dec use year points and I'll make one for him in 2010 w/my points)...I'm going to talk to him about doing that.

Pause a moment here to tell everyone how much I love-love-love the generous DISer who offered to work w/me on a reservations swap, JimMia and Webmaster Doc--and then another moment to reflect on how much I love the DIS!

Dani