use year question, please help

[kfalsey]

If you travel only mostly during the summer or possibly spring break, what is the best use year to have. For instance if you use year is sept, this means you travel from sept to end of august. How does this effect banking. Is there one use year or another better for traveling in summer. Is it better to get your points in december or january so your points are given to you early in the year vs. august.

 

[RobDoc]

If you travel only mostly during the summer or possibly spring break, what is the best use year to have. For instance if you use year is sept, this means you travel from sept to end of august. How does this effect banking. Is there one use year or another better for traveling in summer. Is it better to get your points in december or january so your points are given to you early in the year vs. august.

Use Year has nothing to do with when you can travel. Use Year is when your points are renewed each year, but does NOT dictate when you can travel or make reservations. It does determine your Banking Deadline - so it could be important if you will frequently cancel reservations.

In general you will want a Use Year shortly before the times you will usually travel since a cancellation would still give you time to bank or reuse the points from the cancellation.

If you will travel mainly during Spring Break and summer months, a Use Year of February or March should suit you well for trips during March - August. With a March Use Year, you could bank your points thru the end of October each year. No points may be banked during the last 4 months of the Use Year (Novermber - February for a March Use Year).

IMO, Use Year is an overrated concern - since it really only comes into play when reservations are cancelled.